In Kenya, UNEP supported the installation of air pollution sensors at Nairobi’s main airport. Combined with meteorological data, these sensors allowed officials to warn residents more accurately about surges in airborne toxins, like PM10, nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide. The model is being replicated in Timor-Leste. In Yaoundé, Cameroon, sensors helped identify open dumpsites that were major sources of air pollution.

The Stockholm Convention, whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP, added two potentially toxic chemicals commonly found in plastic to its list of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which now stands at 34 items. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2024, the convention is designed to protect people and the environment from POPs, including those known as “forever chemicals”.

The Secretariat of the Basel Convention, also hosted by UNEP, supported 40 nations as they prepared for new rules that prohibit the export of electronic waste to countries that have not provided their prior informed consent. The requirement, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, is important to control this fast-growing type of hazardous waste.

UNEP also assisted more than 22 countries in stemming the flow of pollution, from nitrogen to plastics, into the sea from land-based sources. UNEP provided technical advice to Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago as they developed national plans for reducing nitrogen pollution. UNEP supported the development of national source inventories on plastics, which will inform the development of strategies and plans in 19 countries. Finally, UNEP worked with communities in Saba, Malaysia on wastewater treatment solutions.

UNEP continued to play an important role in the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which new data suggests could claim 39 million lives from 2025 to 2050. As part of the Quadripartite partnership on One Health, UNEP supported countries in their efforts to prevent the release of antimicrobials, and drug-resistant organisms and genes, into the environment, focusing on sectors from pharmaceuticals to agriculture. This comes amid a global push to counter AMR. The UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration calling for a more concerted effort to address the threat and recognizing the leading role of the Quadripartite in crafting a response. That was reiterated in a ministerial conference on AMR.