Landfills around the world are filling up. In 2016, humanity generated over 2 billion tonnes of waste. In the next 30 years, that figure is expected to grow to 3.4 billion.
Where will all this waste end up?
Bright lights brighten up the buzzing streets of Kathmandu at night. Markets spin with people, traffic weaving in and out of fabric shop fronts laden with orange, blue and turquoise clothes and wraps.
Thirty-year-old Sonika Manandhar is standing outside a conference hall. She has been working late, and bus services end at 8 p.m, so private hail rides are her only option.
A new UN Environment Programme report shows how waste management is closely linked to gender inequality
“Women can’t be truck drivers because it is dirty work. How would she cook for her family in the evening with dirty hands?”
Air pollution affects us all to some degree. Whether we live in highly polluted cities or the countryside, there is no escaping the impact dirty air has on our bodies and—as is now becoming apparent—our minds. Seven million people die every year from breathing unclean air.
An interview with UN Environment Programme’s peatlands expert Dianna Kopansky
Over the past few months, a series of air pollution episodes have set new records across Asia. Earlier this summer, hundreds of people were evacuated, and schools had to be closed due to poor air quality in many parts of Indonesia, during a crisis that made the skies over the region turn red. More recently, air quality levels have worsened in India creating public outcry with dire consequences for large swaths of society.
Since 2011, the World Customs Organization has been an active partner to the Green Customs Initiative, which is coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
When Arpit Dhupar won the Young Champions of the Earth prize, he was in a bar with friends and didn’t believe the news.
“Are you sure I have won?” He repeated. Finally convinced, he celebrated with his friends, who echoed, “Are you sure you’ve won?”
Joshua Wowo discovered and secured 1,400 boxes of DDT in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province. Now he waits for the day when his township’s toxic timebomb will finally be defused.
