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Relevant, up-to-date data and information are key to support decision-making. Another initiative UNEP has launched is the Environment Live platform.

Nearly 30 per cent of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted every year. This waste contributes to biodiversity loss through habitat change, overexploitation, pollution and climate change. Food is the primary source of landfill gas and the largest component of materials sent to landfills, which leads to methane emissions that cause climate change.

Humans use over 100,000 different chemical elements and compounds, including lead, mercury, cadmium and persistent organic pollutants. Global chemical sales are projected to almost double from 2017 to 2030.

The continuous growth in the amount of solid waste that humans generate, and the very slow rate at which that waste degrades, are together leading to a gradual increase in the amount litter found at sea, on the seafloor and along coastlines around the world.

Healthy soils regulate water flow, filter pollutants, cycle nutrients, and support plant and animal diversity. Land and soil pollution dramatically disrupt this delicate balance, with far-reaching consequences on human and ecosystem survival.

Freshwater pollution originates from many sources, including municipal, industrial and agricultural waste, wastewater and nutrient run-off, power generation, heavy industry, automobiles, and others.

Air pollution, which kills more than 7 million people every year, is the biggest environmental health risk of our time.

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, the world’s ministers of environment, gathered at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in 2017, expressed their political commitment to working towards a pollution-free planet.