The UN Environment Program (UNEP) announced the appointment of renowned Lebanese designer Rami Kadi as its Regional Goodwill Ambassador for sustainable fashion in West Asia. As Regional Goodwill Ambassador, Kadi will utilize his influence to shed light on the detrimental impacts of the fashion industry on the environment and promote sustainable practices that can be adopted to build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic. Kadi's career began at the age of 25 when he first launched his showroom and atelier in Beirut, Lebanon; since then, he has designed a total of nine collections, and began showcasing his works in 2014 during Paris Fashion Week. His Spring Summer 2020 Couture collection, Kaleidoscope — presented through the region's first virtual fashion show — highlighted global issues such as the progressive and destructive nature of climate change, and featured the region's first-ever couture dress made completely from recycled plastics. "I am excited to be a part of such a change and I am looking forward to working with the UN Environment Programme in the region," said Kadi. "Sustainability has been something that I have been trying to incorporate into my collections and has become a topic that is very dear to me. "Responsible production will become a reoccurring theme throughout my collections, and I cannot wait to join forces with the UN Environment Programme to achieve our goal. I truly believe that together, we can help shape the future of the industry and promote better and more responsible behavior." The fashion industry is the second-largest water-consuming industry on the planet, consuming 215 trillion liters of water annually, uses a quarter of all global chemicals and emits 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. While the industry provides employment for tens of millions across the world, it is a major pollutant, poisoning waterways and posing a threat to the communities and biodiversity around them. Furthermore, activities such as cotton cultivation take an environmental toll due to land uses that cause habitat loss, excessive consumption of water, and soil degradation from high chemical use. "The UNEP Regional Office for West Asia is thrilled to have Rami Kadi on board as the Regional Goodwill Ambassador to support our programme on sustainable fashion. Through this, we hope to promote behavioral change within the industry and its consumers that will benefit the future generations and help protect our environment. "We are excited to be working alongside such a prominent figure towards our common goal of transitioning to more sustainable practices and influence consumers to become more mindful of their actions," said Sami Dimassi, regional director and representative of UNEP in West Asia. "We have seen the incorporation of environmental responsibility in Rami's latest works, and we hope that through this partnership and programme, we will be seeing more designers following in his footsteps." UNEP's sustainable fashion program in West Asia was launched in early 2020 to push the industry towards more sustainable practices. It aims to spread awareness on the industry's detrimental impacts, promote circularity and sustainable consumption and production, while encouraging cross-sectoral collaborations to find innovative solutions. Awareness raising, circularity and sustainable consumption and production are at the heart of UNEP's fashion activities. The UN continues to work to drive more sustainable fashion; the UN Fashion Alliance, an initiative jointly lead by UNEP and International Trade Centre, comprises nine UN agencies that seek to change the path of fashion from a social, economic and environmental perspective to work towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. — SG
