Water and waste naturally flow into waterbodies. Roughly 80 per cent of marine pollution originates on land, negatively affecting marine ecosystems as well as the wellbeing of local communities.
Freshwater bodies, and coastal and marine environments are negatively impacted by various stressors including physical alteration and destruction of habitats from forestry, aquaculture, overfishing, destructive fishing, mining, dredging and dumping as well as pollution including sediments, excess nutrient flows from agriculture and other sources, plastics, as well as untreated wastewater. The impacts are varied and include the destruction of habitats, changes in water and nutrient flows,
eutrophication or loss of ecological diversity and species richness.
UNEP uses a “source-to-sea” approach to address these multiple threats, encompassing all systems – land, freshwater, riverine and estuarine, coastal, and open ocean. By adopting standard holistic and integrated inland waters-sea approaches that link to upstream processes, coordination can be enhanced between sectors and actors with competing use of resources.
Our work on Ecosystem Degradation & Pollution is carried out through public-private partnerships, often involving partners, collaborating centres and networks.
To learn more about the United Nations Environment Programme's work on ecosystem degradation and pollution:
