Jamaica's Matthew Samuda elected president of UN Environment Assembly; he pledges inclusive action on climate crisis

Jamaica's Minister of Water, Environment, and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, has been elected president of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

The 193-member UNEA is the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment.

Samuda is leading the Jamaica's delegation to the seventh session of the UNEA (UNEA-7) in Nairobi, Kenya.

His election by acclamation was presided by Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Amri, the outgoing president of the assembly.

Samuda, who was endorsed by the Latin America and Caribbean region, will preside over the eighth session (UNEA-8) of the assembly.

In his acceptance statement, Samuda emphasised the urgency of global environmental stewardship, pledging to lead UNEA-8 with "inclusivity, transparency, and practical action".

“Environmental stewardship is no longer an isolated agenda item - it is the defining challenge of our century,” he said, highlighting Jamaica’s frontline experience with climate impacts.

"I stand here on behalf of all countries that understand, from lived experience, the urgency of protecting our natural world," Samuda added.

The UNEA undertakes policy review, dialogue and the exchange of experiences and sets the strategic guidance on the future direction of the UN Environment Programme.

Roles and Functions of UNEA President

United Nations Environment Programme: The President of the Environment Assembly is the guardian of the rules of procedure and, with the assistance of the other Bureau members, is responsible for the general conduct of the business of the Assembly. The Environment Assembly mandates the President to convene formal plenary meetings, informal meetings and the meetings of the committee of the whole, including working groups on resolutions.

Earlier this week, Jamaica threw its support behind two global environmental resolutions on coral reefs and sargassum seaweed at the assembly.

Samuda highlighted the country’s escalating climate-related losses, including the US$8.8-billion devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, and urged urgent collective action to protect Small Island Developing States.

The minister noted back-to-back extreme weather events over the past four years, including hurricanes, tropical storms, record heat, and severe droughts, have exposed the urgent vulnerability of Small Island Developing States to the “triple planetary crisis.”

“In one day, our quality and way of life was severely, and some may say irreversibly affected,” Samuda said of Hurricane Melissa, which caused damage equivalent to 41 per cent of Jamaica’s GDP and destroyed 51 per cent of the island’s primary forests.

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