Brussels, 24/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Cooperation between the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is intensifying. On Wednesday 23 January, Janez Potoènik, the European Commissioner for the Environment, and Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, adopted a joint declaration which launches a strategic partnership for joint activities to be funded, up to 2013, under the “Thematic programme for environment and sustainable management of natural resources, including energy” and the work of the United Nations on the Green Economy. On this occasion, the Commissioner announced that the EU would support, via UNEP, the Kenyan government's strategy for the rehabilitation and restoration of the north-western part of the Mau forest, a key part of the natural infrastructure of Kenya and eastern Africa, the Commissioner stressed, adding: “The European Commission and UNEP share many common priorities, from climate change and sustainable energy to environment and development. Sustainable management of natural resources, sustainable consumption and production and the Green Economy are among those key priorities”. (A.N./transl.fl)