The massive explosion that ripped through Beirut’s port in August 2020 left behind a tangled mess of concrete, metal and broken glass. The force of the blast, in which a stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded, was felt more than 20km away.

With the Lebanese capital facing a massive cleanup effort, arcenciel was one of many non-profit groups to step in, gathering 12,000 tonnes of mostly shattered glass from destroyed neighbourhoods.

That glass would be crushed, melted and remoulded for future use.

“Following the Beirut blast, we had several projects to help rehabilitate neighbourhoods and collect shattered glass,” said Marc-Henri Karam, who leads arcenciel’s environment programmes.

The effort was emblematic of the role that arcenciel, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, has played in helping Lebanon manage its waste over the past two decades.

In a country that has struggled with waste management, the volunteer-led organization, which was founded in 1985, has launched programmes to recycle everything from medical waste to clothes. With years of expertise as a leading entity on treating hospital waste, it also helped Lebanon to develop its first waste management law.

“We identified lots of problems affecting the environment and especially the community and the health of society,” said Robin Richa, arcenciel’s General Manager. “We have tried to be strategic in identifying activities where we can make a sustainable impact.”

Managing waste

Arcenciel was created to support people wounded in Lebanon’s civil war. Its ethos of serving society has carried through to its present-day activities, which focus on helping marginalized people contribute to their communities, while encouraging environmental sustainability and the conservation of natural resources.

Through its Sustainable Agriculture and Environment programme, arcenciel provides solid waste management services, expertise and advocacy in Lebanon, a country which needed all the support it can to dispose of garbage safely and systematically. In 2003, the organization began treating medical waste which, if left untreated in open dumpsites and landfills, can cause infection, transmit diseases, contaminate water and pollute ecosystems.

Today, arcenciel treats 87 per cent of Lebanon’s hospital waste, using steam sterilization machines to convert it into domestic waste. Its role was even more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic, which generated tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste globally – from syringes, needles and test kits to masks, gloves and personal protective equipment. In 2020 alone, arcenciel treated 996 tonnes of medical waste.

“We are reducing the risk of infections and infectious waste in landfills. The impact is cleaner soil, cleaner groundwater and better health for everyone,” said Karam.

“Reducing waste and promoting recycling is critical to dismantling the throwaway culture that is polluting our planet and driving the climate emergency,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “Arcenciel’s leadership in waste management is inspiring. The organization is helping to build a healthy environment for future generations.”

Crisis response

Environmentally sound waste management is critical for protecting ecosystems, and ultimately public health, which are core objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Responding to crises has been a hallmark of arcenciel’s work. In 2015, when the closure of the Naameh landfill caused rubbish to pile up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, arcenciel more than doubled the amount of material it recycled, collecting 852 tonnes of waste. It also published a manual on effective waste management, trained municipalities in running their own waste management centres and raised public awareness on the issue.

The organization’s reuse-and-recycle philosophy also extends to old furniture and clothes. Anything that can be salvaged is saved from the landfill, repurposed and re-sold.

Legal precedent

Using its expertise in healthcare waste management, arcenciel, with the support of Beirut-based Université Saint Joseph and the Ministry of Health, published a manual setting out different types of healthcare waste, their proper treatment and disposal. This has become a vital tool in the application of Lebanon’s 2002/13389 decree on healthcare waste.

“The law makes it mandatory for hospitals to treat their waste and this is one of our biggest achievements,” said Karam.

In addition, arcenciel contributed to the drafting of the first solid waste management law that includes sorting from source and recycling, which passed in 2018. Together with the Ministry of Environment and Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform, arcenciel also crafted a national strategy based on years of work in the waste management sector.

Building for the future

In the Domaine de Taanayel, a 2.3 sq km plot of land in the Bekaa region, arcenciel has built a farm which runs almost exclusively on solar power, part of an effort to promote sustainable agriculture. To reduce soil erosion and water consumption, arcenciel uses fertigation, a process by which liquid fertilizer is delivered to plants in a more targeted way through the irrigation system. The Domaine is also the region’s only producer of biopesticides, which produce less toxic residue than conventional chemical pesticides. An ecolodge at the site helps to promote responsible tourism which respects the local environment and its ecosystems.

Arcenciel has helped improve waste management in two of Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camps and in three Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa region. In Bekaa, the organization showed residents how to collect, sort and recycle waste, improving living conditions and providing an income for refugees.

Although Lebanon’s successive crises have presented many challenges, arcenciel’s team say they are determined to continue their work to protect the environment for generations to come.

“Building something for the future is what motivates us,” Richa said.

Constantino Aucca Chutas’ interest in conservation began more than three decades ago with the fieldwork he did as a biology student in Cusco, Peru.

At the time, the breath-taking slopes of the Peruvian Andes that surrounded the city were under pressure from annual fires, illegal logging and expanding farms.

“Conservation became a necessity,” Aucca said recently during an interview with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). His calling to defend nature grew stronger at the urging of his grandparents, indigenous Quechua farmers. “They told me, look, your name is Aucca, it means warrior. Please try to do something for us farmers.”

Aucca has spent the past 30 years honoring that request and is leading local communities in a push to protect forests across South America, which are critical for fighting climate change and home to unique plant and animal species.

The Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), which Aucca founded in 2000, has planted more than 3 million trees in Peru and protected or restored 30,000 hectares of land.

For his efforts, Aucca has been named a Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, the United Nations’ highest environmental awards.

Latin America and the Caribbean contain some of the world’s most biodiverse forest ecosystems, yet more than 40 per cent of the region’s forests have been cleared or degraded to make way for mining, agricultural and infrastructure projects.

Aucca’s community-led conservation has helped indigenous communities, a traditionally marginalized group, to secure legal rights to their land and establish protected areas for their native forests.

“Constantino Aucca Chutas’s pioneering work reminds us that indigenous communities are at the forefront of conservation,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “As some of the best custodians of the natural world, their contributions to ecosystem restoration are invaluable and cannot come at a more urgent time for the planet.”

Restoring highland and ‘cloud forests’

The Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos has mobilized thousands of people in Cusco to protect and restore ancient Polylepis forests, which once dominated the high Andes. Growing at up to 5,000 meters above sea level, higher than any forests in the world, these “cloud” trees play a vital role in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.

They harbor endangered wildlife, store carbon, fix soils and help to capture water from the Andes’ melting glaciers which is then slowly released to farming communities downstream. From their high vantage point, Polylepis forests absorb mist and retain huge amounts of water from clouds, which is gradually discharged through moss cover to keep mountain streams flowing.

Vast areas of the Andes were once covered in Polylepis trees but only 500,000 hectares are left standing today as decades of deforestation for firewood, livestock grazing, logging, mining and roads take their toll. The loss of these mountain forests impacts water scarcity, affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.

To ensure the survival of future generations of indigenous farmers, Aucca’s association organizes tree-planting festivals in Cusco every year. The day begins with ancestral rituals derived from the region’s rich Incan heritage. Musicians blow conch shells and beat drums in honor of nature as villagers make their way up steep mountain trails to plant trees, some carrying bundles of seedlings on their backs – others, babies.

“When we plant a tree, we give something back to Mother Earth. We are convinced that the more trees we plant, the more people will be happy. It’s a celebration, a day of happiness,” Aucca said.

Giving back to local communities

In return for their efforts to restore threatened habitats and conserve birds and other wildlife, local communities receive help from Acción Andina to secure titles to their lands, which provides legal protection against exploitation by timber, mining and oil companies.

Aucca and his team have also created protected areas, brought doctors and dentists to remote mountain villages and provided solar panels and clean-burning clay stoves to communities to improve their quality of life.

Aucca’s vision for ecosystem regeneration goes beyond his native Peru. In 2018, the Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos and U.S. non-profit Global Forest Generation established Acción Andina to scale-up the community-led reforestation model in other Andean countries.

As President and co-founder of Acción Andina, Aucca now oversees plans to protect and restore 1 million hectares of critically important forests in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as Peru, over the next 25 years with support from Global Forest Generation. His work exemplifies the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’s call for global action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.

The common good

Studies show that restoring 20 million hectares of degraded ecosystems in the Latin American and Caribbean region could yield US$23 billion in benefits over 50 years. Thriving ecosystems are also essential for keeping global warming below 2°C and helping societies and economies to adapt to climate change.

At the heart of Aucca’s work is his profound connection to his Inca heritage and the Incan principles of “Ayni and Minka,” a deep commitment to work together for the common good, which runs through plans to scale up reforestation in other Andean countries too.

“Once in South America we were the greatest empire, united by one culture, Inca culture,” Aucca said. “It was the first time we all came together. The next time we came together to create a movement was to free ourselves from the Spanish yoke, to seek our independence. Now we’re coming together for the third time. Why? To protect a little tree.”

When the United Kingdom Treasury approached Sir Partha Dasgupta in 2019 to carry out a review of the economics of biodiversity, the first time a finance ministry is believed to have commissioned such a study, the eminent Cambridge University economist did not think twice about saying “yes”.

Over the next 18 months or so, Dasgupta and his team combined scientific, economic and historical evidence with rigorous mathematical modelling to produce The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review.

Published in February 2021, the landmark report shows that economic growth has come at a devastating cost to nature. It makes clear that humanity is destroying its most precious asset — the natural world — by living beyond the planet’s means and highlights recent estimates that 1.6 Earths would be required to maintain current living standards.

“Economic forecasts consist of investment in factories, employment rates, [gross domestic product] growth. They never mention what's happening to the ecosystems,” said Dasgupta, who is this year’s United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Champion of the Earth laureate for Science and Innovation. “It really is urgent that we think about it now,” he said.

The report was the culmination of four decades of work in which Dasgupta has sought to push the boundaries of traditional economics and lay bare the connection between the health of the planet and the stability of economies.

The Economics of Biodiversity is the foundation of a growing field of what is known as natural capital accounting, in which researchers attempt to assess the value of nature. Those numbers can help governments better understand the long-term economic costs of logging, mining and other potentially destructive industries, ultimately bolstering the case for protecting the natural world.

“Sir Partha Dasgupta’s ground-breaking contributions to economics over the decades have awakened the world to the value of nature and the need to protect ecosystems which enrich our economies, our well-being and our lives,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.

Economics as part of a ‘tapestry’

Dasgupta was born in 1942 in what is now the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. (At the time, the city was part of India.) His father, the noted economist Amiya Kumar Dasgupta, had a huge influence on him and his path towards academia. After completing a bachelor’s degree in physics in Delhi, Dasgupta moved to the United Kingdom where he studied mathematics and later gained a doctorate in economics.

Through his many major contributions to economics for which he was knighted in 2002, Dasgupta has helped to shape the global debate on sustainable development and use of natural resources.

“Nature is a wondrous factory, producing a bewildering variety of goods and services at different speeds and of varying spatial coverage. Think of, for example, all the beautiful processes that shape wetlands – the birds and insects that pollinate, the water voles that dig round for food, the way tiny organisms decompose material and filter water,” said Dasgupta.

“It is a bewildering tapestry of things that are happening, many of which are unobservable. And yet they are creating the atmosphere in which humans and all living organisms can survive. The way we measure economic success or failure, the whole grammar of economics, needs to be built with this tapestry in mind.”

Affection for nature

Dasgupta traces his interest in the idea of living sustainably in a world of limited natural resources to his now classic 1969 paper On the Concept of Optimum Population. In the 1970s, Swedish economist Karl-Göran Mäler encouraged him to develop his ideas on the links between rural poverty and the state of the environment and natural resources in the world’s poorest countries, a subject that was notably absent from mainstream development economics at the time.

This led to further explorations of the relationships between population, natural resources, poverty and the environment, for which Dasgupta has become acclaimed.

“I’ve had a ball working in this field,” he said. “One reason it’s been fun is that I had no competition. Nobody else was working on it.”

Grasslands, forests and freshwater lakes are some of Dasgupta’s favourite ecosystems. He believes children should be taught nature studies from an early age and that the subject should be as compulsory as reading, writing and arithmetic. “That’s one way to generate some affection for nature. If you have affection for nature, then she is less likely to be trashed,” he said.

Inclusive wealth

Dasgupta is passionate about the need to replace gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of the economic health of countries because it tells just part of the story. He argues instead for “inclusive wealth”, which not only captures financial and produced capital but also the skills in the workforce (human capital), the cohesion in society (social capital) and the value of the environment (natural capital).

This idea is embedded in the United Nations-supported System of Environmental Economic Accounting which allows countries to track environmental assets, their use in the economy, and return flows of waste and emissions.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has developed the Inclusive Wealth Index. Now calculated for about 163 countries, the index indicates that inclusive wealth expanded by an average of 1.8 per cent from 1992-2019, far below the rate of GDP, largely because of declines in natural capital.

Nature as a capital asset

Echoing the urgency of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation, Dasgupta’s Economics of Biodiversity warns that critical ecosystems, from coral reefs to rainforests, are nearing dangerous tipping points, with catastrophic consequences for economies and people’s well-being.

The 600-page report calls for a fundamental rethink of humanity’s relationship with nature and how it is valued, arguing that the failure to include “ecosystem services” on national balance sheets has only served to intensify exploitation of the natural world.

“[It is] about introducing nature as a capital asset into economic thinking and showing how economic possibilities are entirely dependent on this finite entity,” said Dasgupta.

Dr. Purnima Devi Barman, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision, was only a child when she developed an affinity for the stork, a bird that was to become her life’s passion.

At the age of five, Barman was sent to live with her grandmother on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam. Separated from her parents and siblings, the girl became inconsolable. To distract her, Barman’s grandmother, a farmer, started taking her to nearby paddy fields and wetlands to teach her about the birds there.

“I saw storks and many other species. She taught me bird songs. She asked me to sing for the egrets and the storks. I fell in love with the birds,” said Barman, a wildlife biologist who has devoted much of her career to saving the endangered greater adjutant stork, the second-rarest stork species in the world.

A species in decline

Fewer than 1,200 mature greater adjutant storks exist today, less than 1 per cent of what they numbered a century ago. The dramatic decline in their population has been partly driven by the destruction of their natural habitat. Wetlands where the storks thrive have been drained, polluted and degraded, replaced by buildings, roads and mobile phone towers as the urbanization of rural areas gathers pace. Wetlandsnurture a great diversity of animal and plant life but around the world they are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities and global heating.

Human-wildlife conflict

After gaining a Master’s degree in Zoology, Barman started a PhD on the greater adjutant stork. But, seeing that many of the birds she had grown up with were no more, she decided to delay her thesis to focus on keeping the species alive. She began her campaign to protect the stork in 2007, focusing on the villages in Assam’s Kamrup District where the birds were most concentrated – and least welcomed.

Here, the storks are reviled for scavenging on carcasses, bringing bones and dead animals to their nesting trees, many of which grow in people’s gardens, and depositing foul-smelling droppings. The animals stand about 5 ft (1.5 metres) tall with wingspans of up to 8 ft (2.4 metres) and villagers often prefer to cut down trees in their backyards than allow the storks to nest in them. “The bird was totally misunderstood. They were treated as a bad omen, bad luck or a disease carrier,” said Barman, who was herself mocked for attempting to save nesting colonies.

Conflict between people and wildlife is one of the main threats to wildlife species, according to a 2021 report from the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This conflict can have irreversible impacts on ecosystems which support all life on Earth. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration provides an opportunity to mobilize the global community to re-balance the relationship between people and nature.

‘Hargila Army’

To protect the stork, Barman knew she had to change perceptions of the bird, known locally as “hargila” in Assamese (meaning “bone swallower”) and mobilized a group of village women to help her.

Today the “Hargila Army” consists of over 10,000 women. They protect nesting sites, rehabilitate injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arrange “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks. The greater adjutant stork regularly features in folk songs, poems, festivals and plays.

Barman has also helped to provide the women with weaving looms and yarn so they can create and sell textiles decorated with motifs of the hargila. This entrepreneurship not only spreads awareness of the bird, it also contributes to the women’s financial independence, boosting their livelihoods and instilling pride and a sense of ownership in their work to save the stork.

Since Barman started her conservation programme, the number of nests in the villages of Dadara, Pachariya, and Singimari in Kamrup District have risen from 28 to more than 250, making this the largest breeding colony of greater adjutant storks in the world. In 2017, Barman began building tall bamboo nesting platforms for the endangered birds to hatch their eggs. Her efforts were rewarded a couple of years later when the first greater adjutant stork chicks were hatched on these experimental platforms.

Restoring ecosystems

For Barman, safeguarding the adjutant stork means protecting and restoring their habitats. The Hargila Army has helped communities to plant 45,000 saplings near stork nesting trees and wetland areas in the hope they will support future stork populations. There are plans to plant a further 60,000 saplings next year. The women also carry out cleaning drives on the banks of rivers and in wetlands to remove plastic from the water and reduce pollution.

“Purnima Devi Barman’s pioneering conservation work has empowered thousands of women, creating entrepreneurs and improving livelihoods while bringing the greater adjutant stork back from the brink of extinction,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Dr Barman’s work has shown that conflict between humans and wildlife can be resolved to the benefit of all. By highlighting the damaging impact that the loss of wetlands has had on the species who feed and breed on them, she reminds us of the importance of protecting and restoring ecosystems.”

Barman says one of her biggest rewards has been the sense of pride that has been instilled in the Hargila Army and she hopes their success will inspire the next generation of conservationists to pursue their dreams. “Being a woman working in conservation in a male-dominated society is challenging but the Hargila Army has shown how women can make a difference,” she said.

Growing up in a remote part of Cameroon, Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet was acutely aware of the hardships endured by rural women. She saw her mother and others labouring from dawn to dusk, growing crops, tending to animals and raising children. Many did back-breaking work on land that, because of traditional sociocultural practices, they could never own.

“I realized that women were struggling a lot,” Ndjebet recalled “I wanted to protect my mother and to advocate for these rural women, to improve their lives. They were suffering too much.”

Those early experiences would shape Ndjebet's life. She would go on to become a leading voice for women’s land rights in Africa, spending three decades advocating for gender equality while also repairing hundreds of hectares of nature marred by development. This includes over 600 hectares of degraded land and mangrove forests which have been restored under her stewardship of Cameroon Ecology, an organization she co-founded in 2001.

For that work, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named Ndjebet a Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

Humanity has significantly altered three-quarters of Earth’s dry land, chopping down forests, draining wetlands, and polluting rivers at rates experts warn is unsustainable.

Ndjebet is among the leaders of the movement to repair that damage.

Her vision has resulted in a project by Cameroon Ecology to train women to revive more than 1,000 hectares of forest by 2030.

Since 2009, Ndjebet has also spearheaded efforts to promote gender equality in forest management across 20 African countries as the President of The African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF), an organization she co-founded. Ndjebet’s advocacy both at home and abroad has focused on encouraging women’s interests to be represented more widely in environmental policies.

In 2012, she was elected Climate Change Champion of the Central African Commission on Forests for her leading role in mobilizing civil society organizations to sustainably manage forests. Ndjebet is also a member of the advisory board of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global push to revive degraded landscapes.

Keeping the forest alive

Women make up almost half the agricultural workforce in sub-Saharan Africa and can play a key role in fighting hunger and poverty. Yet women, especially in rural areas, often encounter problems owning land or inheriting it after their husband dies.

Despite this bias, women continue to protect forest ecosystems in countries such as Cameroon, where roughly 70 per cent of women live in rural areas and depend on gathering fruits, nuts and medicinal herbs from forests to earn income for the family.

“Women are really driving restoration. They are reforesting degraded areas, they plant trees, they develop nurseries. They do agroforestry. Even those engaged in livestock production have trees. They keep the forest alive,” Ndjebet said.

REFACOF has supported women’s groups to reforest degraded land and mangrove forests, establish nurseries and plant orchards across Cameroon and other member countries. It has also worked to persuade village chiefs to allow women to plant trees on coastal land as part of a buffer against rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Through its broader, continent-wide advocacy work, REFACOF has proposed forest policies to governments in 20 states to secure women’s rights in forestry and natural resource management.

Studies have found that if women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, agricultural production on their farms could increase by 20 to 30 per cent - enough to transform lives.

Ndjebet said when she asked women what their hopes were for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, they named three things: recognition and support of their role in restoration, access to funding, and knowledge sharing.

Ndjebet said she has been guided by a long succession of women, including her grandmother, mother and sisters. An encounter with Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, also left a lasting impression that has shaped her work ever since.

“She said, ‘Tell African women to care for their environment as they care for their babies. Tell them to plant fruit trees. They will give them food, money and the trees will stay there for the environment and for humanity’,” Ndjebet recalled.

Quezon City Mayor Josefina “Joy” Belmonte’s commitment to environmental protection can be traced to the aftermath of the worst storm to hit the Philippines in decades. 

When Typhoon Ketsana struck in 2009, it unleashed ferocious downpours and floods that submerged roads and forced residents onto their rooftops for refuge. As the floodwaters receded, they left a river of plastic bags, sachets and other litter in their wake. 

That sight left a lasting impact on Belmonte, who successfully ran for vice mayor of Quezon City in 2009 before becoming its mayor in 2019.

“I'm a good governance advocate,” Belmonte told the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Good governance involves good stewardship of the environment.” 

Only the second female mayor in the history of Quezon City, home to 3.1 million, Belmonte has pursued a raft of policies to end plastic pollution, counter climate change and green the city.

For her efforts to transform Quezon City into an environmental trailblazer, Belmonte has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Policy Leadership, one of the UN’s highest environmental honours.

"Mayor Josefina Belmonte’s passionate leadership and policy achievements exemplify how local authorities can solve global environmental problems,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Cities can be the dynamic engines of change we need to overcome the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste – and mayors can help to lead that charge.

Fighting the throwaway culture 
Quezon City was the Philippines’ capital for 27 years until the title returned to Manila in 1976. Today, it is the country’s most populous city and is part of Metro Manila.

Belmonte’s connections to this place run deep. Not only was she born and raised here, but her father, Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, was its ninth mayor.

Despite an early exposure to politics, Belmonte’s interests initially led her elsewhere – including to a career as an archaeologist. But in the end, the call to public service proved too strong. 

“If you can be in a position where you can be a source of inspiration to others and become the root of positive change for millions of people, then it is worth it,” she said.

For Belmonte, positive change means prioritizing action on the environment to create a liveable, green and sustainable city.

Under Belmonte’s leadership, Quezon City has focused on reducing plastic pollution and extending the life of plastic products already in circulation.

“Plastic pollution is a major problem in the Philippines, as in many parts of the world, because of the throwaway culture,” Belmonte said. “Plastics clog our drainage systems and end up in the oceans. We know that plastic waste becomes microplastics that can be consumed in the food we eat, the air we breathe and even in the water we drink, which affects our health.”

Globally, humanity’s addiction to short-lived plastic products has created an environmental catastrophe . Around 19 to 23 million tonnes of plastic annually leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas. To stem that flow, experts say the world must fundamentally alter its relationship with plastic by using less of the material, eliminating single-use products, reusing what plastics are produced and finding environmentally friendly alternatives.

Under Belmonte, Quezon City has banned single-use plastic bags, cutlery, straws and containers in hotels, restaurants and fast-food chains for dine-in customers, as well as single-use packaging material.

Since 2021, residents have been able to trade in their recyclables and single-use plastic products for environmental points that can be used to buy food and pay electricity bills under the “Trash to Cashback” scheme. City authorities have even started a “Vote to Tote” programme to turn tarpaulins used in election campaigning into bags.

Still, millions of single-use plastic sachets are thrown away every day in the Philippines, which is a major source of ocean plastics. Though sachets allow households more affordable access to essentials for cooking, hygiene and sanitation, they cannot be recycled effectively, causing serious environmental harm, experts say.

“Sachet culture really gets to me. It really is something that makes me angry because it is there because we are a poor country,” Belmonte said. “Major manufacturers need to do their part and change the way they package products to make them more environmentally friendly.”

To combat plastic pollution, Belmonte launched in 2023 an initiative to help put refill stations for essentials, such as washing-up liquid and liquid detergent, in convenience stores across the city. With products that are often less expensive than their packaged counterparts, the stations have been received positively and will be piloted in over 6,000 stores next year, Belmonte said.

Last year, a historic UN resolution was passed to develop a legally binding international instrument to end plastic pollution. Belmonte has been vocal about the need for a “truly ambitious” global instrument.

“Mayors want to be part of the negotiating table because we have very practical experience to bring,” she said. “The real work is at the level of cities. We already know that when change happens at the level of cities, it happens much more rapidly.”

Earning trust

Under Belmonte, Quezon City has also developed an ambitious plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 per cent in 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. It has declared a state of climate emergency to unlock spending, amounting to 11–13 per cent of the city’s annual budget, on programmes that mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis.

There are plans to double the number of parks in the city, introduce more electric buses and almost quadruple the network of bike lanes by 2030 to fight pollution. Other green initiatives include promoting urban farming and deploying equipment that allows community farms to transform organic waste into methane gas that can be used for cooking.

Although Belmonte has worked hard to forge her own path, she considers one piece of advice from her father to be priceless: “Always spend time with the people. Especially go to the poor communities, because when you go to the communities and you see how difficult life is for people in the grassroots, you'll never think of abusing power.”

It is advice that has shaped her political approach, helped her to build public trust and contributed to her popularity among voters. She was re-elected mayor in 2022 and regularly scores the highest approval ratings among metro Manila’s mayors.

“People will buy into your vision if you value what they have to say. That is the best way to get all of our environmental issues across,” Belmonte said.

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)Champions of the Earth honours individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

Ellen MacArthur was only 24 when she secured a place in the history books by becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world in 2001. Four years later, she broke the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, taking just over 71 days to complete the voyage.

Her account of battling squally gales, skirting icebergs and narrowly avoiding a collision with a whale enthralled millions. The mental and physical exertion of sailing, the freedom of the high seas, the thrill of being immersed in the breathtaking power and beauty of the ocean were all MacArthur ever dreamed of. 

Then, at the peak of her career, she retired from competitive sailing and changed course entirely. 

Time spent alone at sea, surviving on limited supplies of food, water and fuel, had given MacArthur an acute awareness of what it meant to live with finite means. She saw a parallel with humanity, which was consuming beyond what the Earth could provide. 

“You cannot use up finite resources in a world with a growing population. It just cannot work,” MacArthur told the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We need to rethink and redesign our entire economic model.”  

In 2010, the trailblazer set up the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to rally support for a more circular global economy focused on eliminating waste and pollution – including from plastics –promoting the reuse of products and materials, and regenerating nature. 

For its efforts, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been named 2023 Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

“We need a systemic transformation to address the plastic pollution crisis,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been instrumental in engaging businesses and decision makers, enabling large-scale solutions that can steer us toward a future unblighted by plastic pollution.”

From a straight line to a circle 
Since the launch of its first report in 2012 at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, the foundation has radically shifted the discourse of some of the most powerful global corporations and helped governments understand the changes needed to create more sustainable economies. 

It has spearheaded global initiatives on plastics, fashion and food, while creating a network of business leaders, policymakers and academics to pilot sustainable practices. This year, it launched the Circular Startup Index, a public database featuring more than 500 start-ups accelerating the transition to a circular economy. The foundation has also helped to develop the curriculum for the first-ever Master of Business Administration focused on this model.

Today, 430 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year, two-thirds of which quickly becomes waste. Plastic pollution causes between US$300 billion and US$600 billion a year in social and economic costs and has precipitated what has been called an environmental catastrophe by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

When the Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010, few were talking about plastic pollution.

In 2016, the foundation produced the first big global study on plastic packaging. Its findings, which immediately captured headlines around the world, were a wake-up call. The report concluded that most plastic packaging is used only once and that 95 per cent of the value of plastic packaging material, worth a staggering US$80 billion to US$120 billion annually, is lost to the economy.

A follow-up report in 2017 showed that, without fundamental redesign and innovation, about 30 per cent of plastic packaging will never be reused or recycled.

“Plastics are very high volume, low value. They are the ultimate linear economy example,” MacArthur said. “If we really want to shift from a linear to circular economy, then this is a really good place to start.”

By 2040, a shift to a lifecycle approach could reduce the volume of plastics entering the environment by over 80 per cent, slash virgin plastic production by 55 per cent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent. Redesigning how humanity produces, uses, recovers and disposes of plastic could also save US$4.5 trillion by 2040.

In collaboration with UNEP, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation leads the New Plastics Economy; Global Commitment. It unites more than 1,000 organizations – including consumer goods giants such as H&M, PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company – as well as governments representing 1 billion people behind a common vision to stop plastic from becoming waste.

Lessons and data from the Global Commitment offer valuable insights as negotiators push for an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution by 2024.

A third round of negotiations on the instrument’s draft document is due to start in Nairobi on 13 November. Observers say the final instrument could be the most significant multilateral environmental pact since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. 

For the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the deal must prioritize the shift from single-use to reusable plastic products.

Discussing the future, MacArthur hopes that the lifecycle approach will one day be so normal that the foundation will no longer be needed.

“One thing that ocean racing and record-breaking teaches you is the importance of the goal,” MacArthur said. “You have to be driven, and you have to understand exactly where you're trying to get. I see the circular economy as an opportunity. It's such a fantastic place to get to.”

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution, a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

In a scene unchanged for generations, fishers rise before dawn to trawl the coastal waters of China’s Zhejiang province, hoping for a bountiful catch.

These days, many are just as likely to return to shore with a cargo hold full of plastic as they are with fish.

That is because since 2019, the Blue Circle environmental initiative has paid Zhejiang’s fishers – and residents in coastal communities– to collect plastic debris, such as bags, bottles and discarded fishing nets.

The plan is part of an ambitious effort, backed by cutting-edge equipment and blockchain technology, to remove and manage plastic pollution along parts of the province’s 6,600km coastline. The push is also designed to provide benefits to local communities.

Since its launch, the initiative has enlisted the help of 10,240 boats and 6,300 fishers and local residents to recycle nearly 2,500 tonnes of plastic.

“We hope that Blue Circle’s marine waste management model can expand beyond this country and to the world, galvanizing more people into action to address marine pollution,” said Chen Yuan, marine ecological environment division chief from the Department of Ecology and Environment of Zhejiang province.

For its contribution to fighting plastic pollution, Blue Circle has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision , one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

“Humanity’s addiction to plastic is threatening the health of our planet, our well-being and our prosperity,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “To ensure a just transition and improve livelihoods, we must embrace innovation. Blue Circle is demonstrating what is possible when technology and sustainability come together.”

Novel solutions 
Developed by the Department of Ecology and Environment of Zhejiang province and Zhejiang Lanjing Technology, Blue Circle says it is the largest marine plastic waste recycling programme in China.

The initiative has developed a digital platform that uses blockchain technology and internet-based tracking to chart the journey of individual plastic pieces.

Live feeds from boats, ports and production lines, along with interactive maps, catalogue the collection, shipment, storage, recycling and remanufacturing of plastic. Shoppers can access that information by scanning QR codes on goods made of certified plastic from the ocean.

Blue Circle’s use of blockchain technology and the web offers an exciting glimpse into the future of environmental action.

“We have created a digital platform that can serve as a model for the world,” said Chen Yahong, general manager of the Marine Business division of Zhejiang Lanjing Technology, in an interview with UNEP.

By 2025, Blue Circle plans to make its digital system public and expand to integrate a range of businesses, including small and informal sector, governments, and public welfare organizations.

Humanity’s’ produce-use-and-discard’ approach to plastic is causing an environmental nightmare. More than 90 per cent of plastic that has ever been produced is buried, burned or has leaked into the environment, usually after just a single use. Emissions linked to this short-sighted approach could account for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions under the most ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement by 2040.

Benefit to fishing communities 
Alongside tea growing and silk farming, fishing is a pillar of Zhejiang’s rural economy. But it is not the industry it used to be due to the ageing demographic of coastal areas.

To help low-income communities, Blue Circle offers a range of financial incentives and benefits. It pays its “ocean cleaners” 0.2 Chinese yuan (US¢3) for every plastic bottle collected, about seven times more than the market rate.

Blue Circle members are able to access basic social security insurance and low-interest loans from banks and rural credit unions via a digital platform. So far, loans worth up to 130 million yuan (US$18 million) have been issued under the scheme.

The initiative has also established a “prosperity fund” financed by profits from the sale of plastic particles to manufacturing companies. Through the fund, plastic waste collectors earn an average of 1,200 yuan (US$165) per month. By working with the government and businesses, Blue Circle has supported over 6,000 low-income residents and fishers in coastal areas.

“Zhejiang comprehensively practices environmental protection in all sectors in collaboration with governments, enterprises and the public. This promotes economic growth and protects marine ecosystems, and people in Zhejiang look forward to a beautiful natural environment and high-quality ecological space,” said Chen Yuan.

Globally, UNEP works with governments and businesses to promote a just transition for plastics , including in developing countries. This entails ensuring sustainable production and consumption of plastics in a manner that is fair and inclusive of everyone concerned, including waste pickers and other workers in the plastics value chain. The adoption of digital solutions and the promotion of transparency can play a pivotal role in realizing these objectives. Furthermore, this approach not only promotes decent job opportunities but is also essential for ensuring inclusivity, a critical factor in achieving this endeavour, experts say.

Harmony with nature 
China still produces some 30 per cent of the world’s plastic, but the country has been taking steps to address plastic pollution and its impact on the environment.

China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018 and no longer receives much of the developed world’s plastic scrap. More recently, the government has unveiled plans to phase out all single-use and non-biodegradable plastic products by 2025.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has recognized Blue Circle’s work as worthy of being promoted across the country. With further backing from government departments at all levels, Blue Circle hopes to significantly expand its activities to cover 289 ports in nine coastal provinces and two municipalities by 2025.

According to Chen Yuan from the Department of Ecology and Environment, much of Blue Circle’s success comes from the mutual benefits the project is designed to bring to fishing communities: income for cleaner coastal waters.

He also points to the province’s track record in environmental action. In 2018, Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programme was named a Champion of the Earth. Zhejiang’s green drive gained significant momentum when President Xi Jinping, then party chief of the province, visited the forested, hillside town of Anji in 2003. There, Xi extolled the virtues of protecting nature and famously said, “clear waters and lush mountains are as invaluable as silver and gold.”

Chen Yuan said: “People have indeed seen with their own eyes that clear waters and green mountains are worth the price of gold.”

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)Champions of the Earth honours individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

It was only when José Manuel Moller began living on the outskirts of Santiago in a low-income neighbourhood that he experienced what is known as "poverty tax" – the extra costs people incur due to their economic circumstances.

A university student at the time, Moller was in charge of buying groceries for the house he shared with friends. Unlike in more affluent areas of the Chilean capital, there were few big supermarket chains in the area. So, most residents relied on local convenience stores that sold smaller quantities of essentials like cooking oil, beans and detergent – but at a premium.

Moller estimates he was paying up to 60 per cent more than if he had bought the same goods in bulk, and that plastic packaging was both inflating prices and creating an environmental problem.

"You realize that something unfair is happening," Moller told the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "We are pushing lower-income consumers to pay more for packaging that ends up being a problem for sustainability and waste in the same neighbourhoods. The equation is wrong but to change this, you need to change the system."

To address what is a global issue, the 35-year-old founded Algramo (meaning "by the gram" in Spanish) in 2012. The social enterprise works with a range of retailers, from local shopkeepers to global brands, to encourage customers to use prefilled and refillable plastic containers for basics, such as dish soap and washing-up liquid. These household staples can be bought by the gram, with consumers paying the same per unit no matter how much or how little they buy.

Since 2020, Algramo customers have reused more than 900,000 pieces of packaging, keeping more than 100 tonnes of plastic from becoming waste.

For his efforts, Moller has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision , one of the United Nations' highest environmental honours. Moller also works to galvanize the zero-waste movement through his role as vice chair of the United Nations Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste, an initiative set up in March 2023. The board helps raise awareness of the need to prevent, reduce and sustainably manage waste.

"How humanity produces, consumes and disposes of plastic has created a disaster," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. "José Manuel Moller's work shows us that reusing plastic can enable a range of economic, social and environment benefits, which is crucial to transforming our relationship with this material."

Driving the refill revolution 
Less than10 per cent of plastic ever produced has been recycled. The rest is buried, burned or leaks into the environment, usually after just a single use. That plastic infiltrates land and sea and often makes its way into the human food chain.

To end the plastic pollution crisis , experts say it is crucial to find solutions that tackle the negative impacts of plastic products at all stages of their life cycle.

For Moller, encouraging consumers to make more sustainable choices is a key part of that process.

"The challenge around sustainability is not only about technology, it is also about consumer behaviour. I started thinking about how I could make people fall in love with an empty bottle,” Moller said. 

In Chile, Algramo has partnered with convenience stores to allow shoppers to buy products in reusable bottles, with consumers returning their old containers when they do. At large retailers, Algramo has installed dispensing stations where customers can refill their own receptacles. The business is aiming to have more than 50 dispensing locations in the country by the end of the year.

Customers can also pay for orders via a phone app. Each container is fitted with a radio-frequency-based tag, a kind of smart barcode linked to an online account. The account tracks purchases and customers are rewarded every time the container is reused with a cash incentive. The money pops up in a virtual wallet, which can then be used as a discount on future purchases.

"Algramo believes that the solution to plastic pollution must not only be for high-income millennial vegetarians," said Moller. "This should be designed for everyone, who, at the end of the day, make decisions based on price. So, the approach of Algramo has always been affordability."

An ambition to change the world 
For refill systems to become truly mainstream, Moller knows the importance of operating on a larger scale.

In recent years, Algramo has focused on expanding into other countries, including by providing expertise and software to other start-ups. Its greatest achievement, Moller said, has been convincing some of the world's biggest consumer goods companies to offer refill services for some products.

"Algramo has an ambition to change the world, not to offer detergent," Moller said. "I'm not excited about selling powder detergent or laundry detergent, I'm excited about changing the industry to move the needle on packaging and solving the poverty tax."

In Indonesia, Algramo is trialling a project in collaboration with Nestlé for two of its products, including a chocolate beverage. It is preparing to enter the Mexican market, having embarked on partnerships with Walmart and Target in the United States. It also has a partnership with a Lidl retail store in Birmingham, England, that allows customers to refill laundry detergent.

Despite the best efforts of social enterprises like Algramo, Moller admits there is a limit to what they can achieve. Ultimately, government regulation is needed to counter the rising tide of plastic pollution, he says.

"How do we push companies to do more than what the regulations are asking them to do?" Moller asks. "That is one of the main problems that we have today."

Moller says he feels an urgent need to shift consumer habits and make reusing plastics part of daily life. That drive stems from the fear that time is running out to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis, he told UNEP.

In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at current rates, the planet would be on track to breach the most ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement between 2030 and 2035.

Addressing plastic pollution is critical to countering the climate crisis, experts say. The production, use and disposal of conventional fossil fuel-based plastics is responsible for more than 3 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

"Reducing plastic pollution is relevant, it is urgent, and we are running late," Moller said.

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

UNEP's Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN's highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

Dr Tewolde Berhan was born on 19 February 1940 in a small village near Adwa town in Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. His father was an Orthodox priest and his mother the daughter of one of the founders of the Lutheran Church of Mekane Yesus who had originally been trained for priesthood in the Orthodox church. Both parents put a strong emphasis on education and Tewolde's fathers taught him to be fluent in Ge'ez, the ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, and Amharic as well as his mother tongue, Tigrinya, before he started formal schooling.

He joined Elementary School when he was 11 years old and then won a scholarship to the General Wingate School in Addis Ababa in 1955. On joining Addis Ababa University in 1959, he decided to study science rather than languages and was granted the Chancellor's Gold Medal when he graduated with a B.Sc. in Biology in 1963. In 1966, he left to study for a doctorate in plant ecology at the School of Plant Biology, University of North Wales, and returned as Ethiopia's first qualified plant ecologist in 1969.

From the time he graduated in 1963 until 1995, Dr Tewolde's academic base was in the Department of Biology of Addis Ababa University. His main responsibilities inside academia have been as Dean of the Faculty of Science from 1974 to 1978, and then Keeper of the National Herbarium from 1978 to 1983. It was during this period that the Ethiopian Flora Project was launched. This Project had twin aims: to develop a national capacity in plant systematics and a competent national institution for research and services in this field, and also to publish a modern Flora for the country. The first part of this aim has been achieved with the National Herbarium now having a senior staff of four doctorates in systematic botany, three in plant ecology, and an editorial office. The second aim of producing an eight volume Flora is still being realized with four volumes in print and two more in press. It was Dr Tewolde's foresight and planning that enabled this long-term project to be both successfully negotiated and maintained.

Dr Tewolde's other major post in academia was as President of Asmara University in what is now the independent country of Eritrea. During that period, he successfully negotiated a substantial grant for the development of tertiary science education, particularly in the applied fields of arid-zone agriculture, marine science, geology and some aspects of engineering.

His career has also involved responsibilities outside academia. Between 1972 and 1982 he was leader of the IDRC-UNU sponsored research project "Research and Development in Rural Settings". Ethiopia was one of six countries which contributed to this international Project. In 1991, he left Asmara University to take up the post of Director for the Ethiopian National Conservation Strategy Secretariat. During the four years he was in post, a National Conservation Strategy was developed and debated in a participatory manner at all the main levels of government culminating in a National Conference where the final draft documents were debated and amended before being submitted to the Government for approval. As from March 1995, Dr Tewolde has been the General Manager for Ethiopia's environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Authority.

Internationally, Dr Tewolde participated in the negotiations for the Convention on Biological Diversity, finalized in 1992. He led the African and Like-Minded Group in negotiations for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety finally agreed in January 2000 and was a Bureau member for the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture agreed in FAO in November 2001. He has also worked with the African Union (previously the Organization of African Unity) in the development of two model laws: one for the Protection of the Rights of Communities, Farmers and Breeders, and for the Control of Access to Biological Resources, and the other called the African Model Law for Safety in Biotechnology.

In December 2000, Dr Tewolde was awarded a Right Livelihood Award for his leadership in the biosafety negotiations, and for his work in developing and promoting community and farmers’ rights.

His responsibilities in government have involved him in representing Ethiopia in several international fora as well as preparing official documents and reports. The following are the most significant:

• Ethiopian Country Report for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 1992.
• Ethiopian representative in the UNCED negotiating team in Geneva, New York and Rio de Janeiro; played important roles in developing the chapter on Mountains Development, Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, 1991-92.
• Co-Chairman, Panel 4, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to study the issue of biosafety and biotechnology as a follow-up of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992-93.
• Negotiator for Ethiopia, Convention on Biological Diversity and in the debate of the developing countries on biodiversity and biotechnology, 1992 to date, and Convention on Desertification, 1994 to date.
• Chief negotiator (spokesperson) of the African Group, and Bureau Member in the Revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 1997-to date.
• Ethiopia’s negotiator, chief negotiator (spokesperson) of the African and Like-Minded Group and Bureau Member in the Biosafety Working Group negotiations on a Biosafety Protocol for the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1996, to when it was concluded in January 2000.

Dr Tewolde has produced over 30 publications from both original research and analysis of interactions between society and environment in Ethiopia's history as well as internationally.

Source: http://www.ces.fe.uc.pt/emancipa/cv/gen/egziabher.html