Youth Love Egypt Foundation wraps up participation in 7th UN Environment Assembly

NAIROBI, December 13, 2025, SPA -- The Youth Love Egypt (YLE) Foundation has concluded its participation in the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), held in Nairobi from November 29 to December 13.

The participation reflects the foundation’s close monitoring of the assembly’s proceedings, including meetings of the Youth Environment Assembly, the Open-ended Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR), sessions of major groups and stakeholders, as well as the assembly’s closing plenary meetings.

Under the session’s theme, “Advancing Sustainable Solutions for a Resilient Planet,” the YLE was represented by its Founder and CEO Ahmed Fathy, who moderated the press conference of major groups and stakeholders.

 

The conference served as a platform to present the core demands of civil society and youth, conveying their priorities as articulated during the negotiation days, directly and without mediation or rephrasing.

Throughout the UNEA-7, the foundation closely followed the course of negotiations and draft resolutions, and published a near-daily newsletter on LinkedIn in six consecutive editions.

The newsletter reached more than 45,000 followers and specialists worldwide, with over 15,000 confirmed readers, helping to share developments inside the negotiation halls with a broader audience of youth and environmental stakeholders.

Within its available capacities, the YLE also worked to facilitate the participation of a number of international youth by supporting their access to event badges.

In terms of outcomes, the assembly adopted several significant resolutions, including those addressing wildfire management, coral reef protection, responses to sargassum algal blooms, and glaciers and the cryosphere.

 

The decisions also covered governance-related issues, such as supporting youth participation in environmental action, highlighting the role of sport in sustainable development, enhancing coordination among multilateral environmental agreements, and addressing artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, the ongoing negotiations toward a legally binding international agreement to tackle plastic pollution received clear political backing from the assembly.

The political discussions accompanying the session reflected several key messages, most notably the emphasis on the ministerial declaration as a guiding political framework for the next phase.

They also covered the continued spotlight on the persistent gap in means of implementation and financing, still the greatest challenge to translating decisions into concrete action on the ground.

The discussions underscored the pivotal role of the United Nations Environment Programme, alongside rising political ambition on cross-cutting issues such as climate, nature, and the One Health approach, contrasted with consensus-related constraints globally.

Fathy, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the YLE, affirmed that their participation in UNEA-7 “was not symbolic.”

 

“We were present in the halls, engaged in the discussions, and conveyed the voice of youth and civil society as it is,” he stressed.

He stated that the assembly’s decisions were important “but the real test begins now: will adequate means of implementation and financing be secured, or will these commitments remain confined to paper?”

The YLE’s participation formed part of the foundation’s broader regional and international engagement. It coincided with the presence of another YLE team at the Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention in Cairo.

This parallel engagement reflects the expanding scope of the foundation’s work and its role in bridging international negotiation processes with on-the-ground youth engagement.