The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat have agreed on a more coherent and integrated approach towards the implementation of the sustainable development goals in 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states.

UNEP Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw and the ACP Secretary-General Patrick I. Gomes signed on December 20 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the margins of the 32nd session of the joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly from December 19 to 21 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The MoU aims to reinforce collaboration between the two international organizations in the field of environment and climate change.

The MOU with the ACP Secretariat aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as other key international agreements such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the SAMOA Pathway. In addition, it recognizes UNEP's strengthened regional mandate, as agreed in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012.