The Environment and Emergencies Forum (EEF) is an inclusive global forum focused on the interface between the environment and humanitarian emergency response. It brings together stakeholders from around the world to showcase progress in environmental emergency preparedness and response and highlights current efforts and existing challenges as well as opportunities in integrating environmental risk in humanitarian action. The Forum offers environment, humanitarian aid and disaster management practitioners a unique opportunity to discuss global policy, share experiences and knowledge, forge new partnerships, and agree on key actions to make sure that our common response to emergencies is more efficient, local and sustainable.
The Forum has been organized every two years since 1995, as requested by Member States through a 1993 UN Environment Programme (UN Environment) Governing Council Decision. Unfortunately, the 2021 Forum was cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2019, it was held as a strategic retreat to inform the stakeholders of the 5-year strategy. The 2017 EEFwas held at the UN Gigiri compound in Nairobi, Kenya.
Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and co-organized with the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit (JEU), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection on behalf of the Strategic Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (SAGEE). The event will take place from 22 (12 PM) to 23 (13:30 PM) March 2023 in Brussels, Belgium, and it will explore the nexus of environmental risk, disasters, humanitarian crisis and other trends. It will provide a platform for taking action to strengthen environmental resilience through an increased focus on the readiness of member states, regional and national organizations, civil society, and academia, to respond to the environmental dimensions of emergencies.
Themes and Topics of the 2023 EEF
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Readiness for response
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Response and recovery
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Environment in Humanitarian Action (EHA)
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Environment in protracted conflict settings