Doñana National Park in southwestern Spain contains one of the largest wetlands in Western Europe. Lying within the estuary of the Guadalquivir River, the park covers over 110,000 hectares and includes dunes, marshes, temporary ponds, Mediterranean scrub and pine forests.

When Chakravorty, a 31-year-old journalist at the Indian Express, discovered that plastic pollution is so pervasive that it affects our food supply, he was shocked.

“I was staggered to say the least,” he explains. “I felt that writing about the issue was not enough, so I decided to embark on a plogging journey—a combination of jogging with picking up litter.”

The Dominican Republic has one of the most dynamic and diverse manufacturing sectors in the Caribbean, which implies the use of hazardous chemicals. As a Party to the Basel, Stockholm, Rotterdam, and Minamata Conventions the Dominican Republic aims to raise awareness of the dangers and risks of chemicals on human health and the environment and establish guidelines on how to address them.

Coral reefs provide food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people around the world, support more than a quarter of all marine life, and protect communities and coastlines from natural disasters—and if urgent action is not taken, we risk losing them forever. 

“Mama, why do I have to wear this again? It hurts my mouth,” says Norik, 5, to his mother, Igballe, before she puts a small, child-size air pollution mask over his face.

Igballe Ferati, a finance specialist, makes the usual walk to a local kindergarten every weekday with Norik along the streets of central Skopje, a city which often experiences dangerous levels of air pollution.

It was a cold, dark night. Navigating a bustling evening in Paris, Sarah Canner wound her bike through the busy roads on her way to a writers’ meeting. A recent commuter by bike, the film screenwriter had mustered the courage to take to the streets on two wheels.

After four weeks in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the first results are in for Dutch inventor Boyan Slat’s hugely ambitious attempt to clean up the enormous marine dump with a giant U-shaped floater nicknamed Wilson. It’s a mixed picture.

At the precise moment when ISIS fighters were prepping for their retreat from the Iraqi city of Ramadi in February 2016, Hassan Mohammed lay in bed struggling to breathe.

World Soil Day on 5 December reminds us why healthy soil is vital, how pollution affects it and what can be done.

Did you know that a handful of soil can contain millions of bacteria and fungi as well as tiny insects and strange, microscopic animals like tardigrades? Healthy soil depends on a vibrant range of life forms living below the ground, but across the globe it’s being severely damaged by pollution.

UN Environment is working with governments to collect internationally coherent data on fossil fuel subsidies that can help advance global efforts to address climate change.