Jamaica’s Matthew Samuda poised to become next president of UN Environment Assembly

Jamaica’s Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, appears set to be named the next president of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the world’s highest decision-making body on environmental matters.

Samuda is currently leading Jamaica’s delegation to the seventh session of the UNEA (UNEA-7) in Nairobi and is expected to succeed Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Amri, president of the Environment Authority of Oman, whose term has ended.

Up to Thursday, Samuda — backed by Caribbean and Americas states — was the sole nominee for the position. While UNEA rules allow nominations from the floor at the time of voting, regional support appears solid.

Vincent Sweeney, head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), told the Jamaica Observer late Thursday that the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) has formally endorsed Samuda.

“The presidency of the next meeting of the UNEA (UNEA-8) will be announced officially tomorrow [today] at the end of the seventh meeting of UNEA and at this stage GRULAC has put forward Mr Samuda as their candidate,” Sweeney said. “On the basis of the rotation of the presidency we expect the next president will come from GRULAC and we expect it will be Mr Samuda.”

This year’s UNEA session is being held at what experts describe as a critical moment for the planet, as the three interlinked environmental crises — climate change, biodiversity and land loss, and pollution and waste — intensify and push natural systems toward collapse, with potentially severe consequences for humanity.

In his address to the assembly on Thursday, Samuda called for urgent action aligned with the UNEA-7 theme, “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet.”

“Time is not our friend. The matters before this assembly are of incredible importance to Jamaica, and indeed all SIDS (small island developing states),” Samuda said. “Over the last four years Jamaica has experienced all aspects of the triple planetary crisis with extreme impact.”

He highlighted the devastating effects of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica earlier this year.

“By now you would all be aware of the devastation associated with the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. In one day our quality and way of life was severely, and some may say irreversibly affected, having experienced over US$8.8 billion in damage which is equivalent to approximately 41 per cent of the country’s GDP,” Samuda said, noting that the storm also caused severe damage to 51 per cent of Jamaica’s primary forests.

He added that Melissa was not an isolated event, pointing to a series of extreme climate shocks Jamaica has faced in recent years.

“Over the last four years Jamaica has experienced two tropical storms — Category 4 Hurricane Beryl, and now Melissa. In that period we have also experienced our hottest and wettest day on record, and our worst, third-, and fourth-worst droughts on record,” Samuda said. “All of this has led to deteriorating soil quality, reduced pollination rates, and salt water intrusion in our water sources.”

Despite these challenges, Samuda told delegates that Jamaica remains committed to recovery and long-term resilience.

“We are honouring our commitments globally, while increasing environmental protection, and climate resilience locally,” he said.

Samuda said UNEA-7 presents an opportunity for collective global action.

“The decisions that we take at UNEA-7 must be inclusive and cover the gamut of climate and environmental issues,” he said.