POLLUTION
Pollution has enormous human costs. Particulate matter in the air we breathe, organic pollutants and heavy metals in our food supply and drinking water — all of these pollutants cut short millions of lives every year. 6.5 million people die annually as a result of poor air quality including 4.3 million due to household air pollution.
Tackling the environmental scourge of single-use plastics through legal and voluntary approaches
Marine litter leads to ecosystem degradation and costs economies billions of dollars every year, and the agricultural and fisheries sectors approximately 15 percent of total revenue. The panel discussion, Addressing Single-Use Plastics – Legal and Voluntary Approaches, which took place at the Fourth UN Environment Assembly, in Nairobi, Kenya, gave different stakeholders an opportunity to share experiences and plans on regulating single-use plastics. Read more...
Marine litter and environmental justice
The panel discussion on Marine Litter – Impacts, Inequality and Environmental Injustice - held during the Fourth UN Environment Assembly, in Nairobi, Kenya, addressed the role of environmental justice on communities affected by marine litter and micro-plastics pollution. "Unless the environmental rule of law is strengthened, even seemingly rigorous rules are destined to fail and the fundamental human right to a healthy environment will go unfulfilled," said David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment. Read more...
Regulatory landscape for single-use plastics shows widespread momentum with mixed results
On 6th December 2018 in Geneva, a report on single-use plastics was released by UN Environment and the World Resources Institute, offering new insight on the global movement to curb single-use plastics. Among the key findings, the report found surging momentum for plastic bag bans, while other harmful single-use products, such as microbeads remain largely overlooked. Sixty-six percent of countries worldwide have adopted some form of legislation to regulate plastic bags, while only eight out of 192 countries assessed (four percent) have established bans of microbeads through national laws or regulations. Read more...
