Tag Archives: Pollution

Air pollution is on the rise – but not everywhere, says UN weather agency

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“Air quality respects no boundaries,” said Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). “The smoke and the pollution that issues from the wildfires in this record-breaking season in the Iberian Peninsula has been detected over Western Europe already [and]…can travel basically throughout the rest of the European continent.”

Presenting the latest WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin which crunches data from different global datasets, Mr. Labrador announced a continuing pattern of pollution “degradation” worldwide.

He pointed to a map of the world in 2024 showing telltale fine particle markers known as “PM 2.5” from wildfires concentrated in deep red blotches in Chile, Brazil and Ecuador, along with Canada, central Africa and Siberia.

The data confirms a disturbing trend in air quality loss already noted in previous years.

“We know that the wildfire season has the tendency to be stronger and longer every year, as a result of climate change,” Mr. Labrador explained.

China, Europe provide hope

In more positive news, the WMO scientist underscored a reduction in emissions in some parts of the world, “particularly eastern China and Europe, year on year”.

“When we see that countries or regions or cities are taking measures to fight against bad air quality, it works,” said Paolo Laj, Head of WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme.

A good example is eastern China, in cities such as Shanghai, where progress has been made to boost air quality by opening more parks and planting more trees.

And although there is still heavy vehicle traffic, many are now electric, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis noted.

Despite these successes, very few cities worldwide have air quality levels below those recommended by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), stressed WMO’s Mr Laj. “This means that, despite recent improvements, air quality remains a significant public health concern.”

He explained that although main pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NOₓ) are decreasing as emission controls kick in, ground-level ozone levels – the main ingredient of smog – have not declined.

“This is partly a consequence of global warming, as ozone is a secondary pollutant formed through chemical reactions in the atmosphere that require sunlight,” Mr. Laj continued.

Covering wildfires, winter fog, shipping emissions and pollution in urban spaces, the WMO air quality bulletin highlights the close connection between air quality and climate change.

“Climate change and air quality cannot be addressed in isolation. They go hand-in-hand and must be tackled together in order to protect the health of our planet, our communities and our economies,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.

The UN is leading efforts to tackle household air pollution which is one of the world’s greatest public health threats and particularly harmful for children.

“The good news is that cleaner cooking technology is plentiful, relatively inexpensive, and already helping to save lives,” insisted Martina Otto, Head of Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“The challenge now is to get this technology into the hands of more people.”

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Plastic pollution talks adjourn, but countries want to stay engaged: UNEP chief

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“This has been a hard-fought 10 days against the backdrop of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges and multilateral strains,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to remain at the table.”   

Speaking to media at the end of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) talks at the UN in the Swiss city, Ms. Andersen emphasized how Member States had expressed a clear wish to continue engaging in the process, recognising their significant differences regarding plastic pollution.

“While we did not land the treaty text we hoped for, we at UNEP will continue the work against plastic pollution – pollution that is in our groundwater, in our soil, in our rivers, in our oceans and yes, in our bodies,” she said.

World view

“People are demanding a treaty,” the UN agency head continued, before underscoring the hard work that lies ahead to maintain the momentum needed to ink a binding international accord.

Delegates from 183 nations attested to the convening power and importance of the proposed agreement, with some Pacific island representatives – complete with dazzling fresh blooms in their hair – rubbing shoulders with other participants, drained by the final all-night negotiating session.

The resumed fifth session of talks – referred to as INC-5.2, after previous talks in Busan known as INC-5.1 – gathered more than 2,600 participants at the UN Palais des Nations. In addition to the approximately 1,400 country delegates, there were close to 1,000 observers representing at least 400 organizations.

NGO voices heard

The session also involved the active participation of civil society – including Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, artists, young people and scientists. They raised their voices through protests, art installations, press briefings and events in and around the Palace of Nations.

The goal of the negotiations was to agree on a text for the legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution “and highlight unresolved issues requiring further preparatory work ahead of a diplomatic conference”, UNEP said.

In addition to meetings together in UN Geneva’s vast assembly hall, four contact groups were created to tackle key issues including plastic design, chemicals of concern, production caps, finance and compliance instruments.

Despite “intensive engagement”, Members of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was unable to reach consensus on the proposed texts, UNEP explained.

Chair’s action call

“Failing to reach the goal we set for ourselves may bring sadness, even frustration. Yet it should not lead to discouragement. On the contrary, it should spur us to regain our energy, renew our commitments, and unite our aspirations,” said INC Chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

“It has not happened yet in Geneva, but I have no doubt that the day will come when the international community will unite its will and join hands to protect our environment and safeguard the health of our people.” 

The INC process began in March 2022 when the UN Environment Assembly passed resolution 5.2 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.   

“As this session concludes, we leave with an understanding of the challenges ahead and a renewed and shared commitment to address them,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the INC Secretariat. “Progress must now be our obligation.”  

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The world is demanding action over plastic pollution: UN environment chief

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“The world wants and indeed needs a plastic conventional treaty because the crisis is getting out of hand – and people are frankly outraged,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN agency leading the talks.

“We know that plastic is in our nature, in our oceans, and yes, even in our bodies…What is sure is that no one wants to live with the plastic pollution.”

Out of control

Unless an international accord is inked, plastic production and waste is projected to triple by 2060, causing significant damage – including to our health – according to UNEP.

Switzerland’s top environment official Katrin Schneeberger echoed the call for a legally binding treaty, insisting that plastic waste “is choking our lakes, harming wildlife and threatening human health. This is more than just an environmental issue, it is a global challenge that demands urgent and collective action.”

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the treaty negotiations, Ms. Schneeberger underscored that there was “no call for a production cap” by producing countries.

Spirit of compromise?

“Reaching a shared understanding that measures are needed on both the production and consumption sides can help unlock the negotiations,” she said in her capacity as Director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.

Supporters of a deal have compared it to the Paris Climate Accord in terms of its significance. They have also pointed to the pressure allegedly being brought to bear against a deal by petrostates, whose crude oil and natural gas provide the building blocks of plastics.

“We will not recycle our way out of the plastic pollution crisis: we need a systemic transformation to achieve the transition to a circular economy,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen has insisted in previous comments on the need for global regulations on plastics.

Virtuous circle

With 10 days of talks scheduled on the treaty at the UN in Geneva, supporters of an accord hope that the deal will cover the full life cycle of plastics, from design to production and disposal.

The treaty should “promote plastic circularity and prevent leakage of plastics in the environment”, according to the text now guiding negotiations led by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC).

At 22 pages, the INC document contains 32 draft articles which will be discussed line by line. The text is designed to shape the future instrument and serves as a starting point for negotiations by countries meeting in Geneva.

“Some [countries] will have to deal with reduction, others will have to deal with mechanical recycling and others will deal with alternatives,” Ms. Andersen said. “Let’s see how we can get to this through the negotiations. I think there’s a lot of good faith in the working group right now.”

The UNEP-led talks follow a decision in 2022 by Member States to meet and develop an international legally binding instrument to end the plastic pollution crisis, including in the marine environment, within two years.

The scale of the problem is massive, with straws, cups and stirrers, carrier bags and cosmetics containing microbeads just a few of the single-use products ending up in our oceans and landfill sites.

In comments to journalists, Ms. Andersen recalled touring Pakistan after deadly flooding killed more than 1,000 people in 2022 and seeing that debris and plastic were “a big part of the problem and so this is why we’re here, to find a solution while not leaving anyone behind and while ensuring that the economic wheels would keep turning”.

Disabling effect

Campaigners gathering on the sidelines of the negotiations expressed their hopes for as ambitious a treaty as possible.

They included Shellan Saling, from California, who’s the interim chair of the Youth Plastic Action Network (YPAN). “Plastic affects everything from climate change to health to fertility to even birth defects; it affects physical disabilities, as well as invisible disabilities,” she told UN News on Monday.

Any treaty inked in Geneva will have to be sufficiently robust to accommodate the needs of all countries of the world whose approach differs regarding plastic design, production, waste and recycling. It will also have to stand the test of time, Ms. Andersen said.

UN News interview with YPAN interim chair Shellan Saling

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The final straw? Plastic pollution talks get underway in Geneva

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Unless an international accord is inked, plastic waste is projected to triple by 2060, causing significant damage – including to our health – according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UNEP-led talks follow a decision in 2022 by Member States to meet and develop an international legally binding instrument to end the plastic pollution crisis, including in the marine environment, within two years.

The scale of the problem is massive, with straws, cups and stirrers, carrier bags and cosmetics containing microbeads just a few of the single-use products ending up in our oceans and landfill sites.

Supporters of a deal have compared it to the Paris Climate Accord in terms of its significance. They have also pointed to the pressure allegedly being brought to bear against a deal by petrostates, whose crude oil and natural gas provide the building blocks of plastics.

“We will not recycle our way out of the plastic pollution crisis: we need a systemic transformation to achieve the transition to a circular economy,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen has insisted.

Circular argument

The aim of the deal is for it to encompass the full life cycle of plastics, from design to production and disposal “to promote plastic circularity and prevent leakage of plastics in the environment”, according to the text being used to guide the talks of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) gathering in the Swiss city.

At 22 pages, the INC document contains 32 draft articles which will be discussed line by line. The text is designed to shape the future instrument and will serve as a starting point for negotiations.

10-day stint

For 10 days from 5-14 August, delegations from 179 countries are due to pore over the INC text as they meet at UN Geneva, alongside more than 1,900 other participants from 618 observer organizations including scientists, environmentalists and industry representatives.

A key aim of the meeting is to share tried and tested ways of reducing plastic use such as non-plastic substitutes and other safer alternatives.

Ahead of the talks in Geneva, the respected medical journal The Lancet published a warning that the materials used in plastics cause extensive disease “at every stage of the plastics life cycle and at every stage of human life”.

According to more than two dozen health experts cited in the journal, infants and young children are particularly vulnerable. “Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognized danger to human and planetary health” and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1·5 trillion annually”, it noted.

To follow the plastic pollution talks live on UN Web TV, click here: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k16/k16cqrvu2w 

Leading the talks in Geneva is Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (or the INC) on Plastic Pollution, and Head of the INC Secretariat.

“In 2024 alone, humanity was projected to consume over 500 million tonnes of plastic. Of this, 399 million tonnes will become waste,” she said.

Latest forecasts indicate that plastic leakage into the environment will grow 50 per cent by 2040. “The cost of damages from plastic pollution could rise as high as a cumulative $281 trillion between 2016 and 2040,” she maintained. 

The road to an international accord:

Five negotiation sessions towards a plastics treaty have taken place so far:

  • The first was in Uruguay in November 2022.
  • Two more followed in 2023 – in France and Kenya.
  • In April 2024, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) convened in Canada.
  • Most recently, discussions took place in Busan, Republic of Korea, at the end of last year. These talks were adjourned after delegations agreed to resume discussions in Geneva, under the leadership of the Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso of Ecuador.

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Trade measures critical to ending plastic pollution

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That assessment by UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, comes in an update published on Thursday ahead of the final round of talks to develop a legally binding international instrument against plastic pollution.

“Although plastics are directly linked to the triple planetary crisis – pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change – there is still no comprehensive international treaty governing their composition, design, production, trade, and disposal,” UNCTAD said.

Polluting our oceans

In 2023, plastic production reached 436 million metric tonnes worldwide, with the traded value surpassing $1.1 trillion.  It also accounted for 5 per cent of total merchandise trade.

However, 75 per cent of all plastics ever produced have become waste, most of which has ended up in the world’s oceans and ecosystems.

This pollution also threatens food systems and human well-being, especially in small island and coastal developing countries with limited capacity to cope.

Support for substitutes

UNCTAD is advocating for tariff and non-tariff measures to support ecologically sustainable plastic substitutes which often are derived from natural sources such as minerals, plants or animals, and can be recycled or turned into compost.

Global trade in these substitutes reached $485 billion in 2023, with an annual growth of 5.6 per cent in developing economies.

Scaling up will require action to address challenges related to tariff and non-tariff measures, limited market access and weak regulatory incentives.

Tariff disparities

UNCTAD explained that a reduction in tariffs on plastic and rubber products over the past 30 years – from 34 per cent to 7.2 per cent – has made them “artificially inexpensive”.  Meanwhile, alternatives such as paper, bamboo, natural fibres and seaweed face average tariffs of 14.4 per cent

“These disparities in how materials are treated discourage investment in alternative products and hinder innovation in developing countries that aim to export safer and more sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics,” it said.

Currently, 98 per cent of plastics are derived from fossil fuels, meaning that emissions and environmental damage are expected to rise if left unchecked. In response, many countries are using non-tariff measures such as bans, labelling requirements and product standards.

However, these regulations differ, leading to fragmentation and increased compliance costs. Furthermore, small businesses and low-income exporters struggle in the face of overlapping or inconsistent requirements, thus affecting how they can both participate in and benefit from sustainable trade.

Hope for treaty talks

For UNCTAD, the talks towards the plastic pollution treaty are promising. They began in 2022, with the final round taking place next week at the UN in Geneva.

The treaty would cover the entire life cycle of plastics – production, consumption, and waste – within a fair and comprehensive framework.

The UN agency said a successful treaty should include tariff and non-tariff measures to support sustainable substitutes for plastic, investment in waste management and circular infrastructure, digital tools for traceability and customs compliance, as well as policy coherence across frameworks reached through the World Trade Organization (WTO); the UN climate secretariat, UNFCCC; the Basel Convention on hazardous waste, and related regional measures.

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Pollution, melting microbes, undamming rivers, risks for elders: 4 key climate issues

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From ancient microbes awakening in melting glaciers to toxic pollutants unleashed by floods, the dangers are no longer distant or theoretical. They are here, and they are growing.

The Frontiers Report 2025, released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights four critical areas where environmental degradation intersects with human vulnerability: legacy pollution, melting glacier microbes, undamming rivers and climate risks for an ageing population that is growing.

The report paints a vivid picture of how climate change is not only altering ecosystems but also exposing communities – especially the most vulnerable – to new and intensifying dangers. Some issues may be local or relatively small-scale issues today, but have the potential to become issues of regional or global concern if not addressed early, the report warned.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said action must be taken “to protect people, nature and economies from threats that will only grow with each passing year”.

Here’s what’s at stake and why it matters to all of us:

UN Nepal/Narendra Shrestha

UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits the Annapurna base camp in Nepal in 2023. (file)

Melting glacier microbes

Climate scientists are saying many glaciers will not survive this century unless action is taking to slow the melting rate caused by climate change. That means those living downstream will face a tide of floods alongside threats posed by reactivated microbes in a warming cryosphere or frozen parts of the Earth.

Frozen in ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost are bacteria, fungi and viruses. While most are dead, some are dormant and some are active. As global temperatures hit record highs, these microorganisms will become more active in many ecosystems. Even if the melting can be slowed down by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, efforts must assess and prepare for possible threats from potential pathogens.

Also crucial is documenting and preserving cryospheric microorganisms, which can shed light on the history of climate and evolution, help in finding therapies for diseases and develop innovative biotechnologies.

© UNICEF/Felipe Chic Jiménez

Indigenous communities in the Amazonía region in southern Colombia. (file)

Dismantling dams

In the Colombian Amazon, river water levels have dropped by up to 80 per cent, restricting access to drinking water and food supplies, leading to shuttering 130 schools, increasing children’s risk of recruitment, use and exploitation by non-State armed groups and resulting in increased respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and acute malnutrition among youngsters under age five.

Part of what is making the problem worse in Colombia and other hot spots around the world are the plethora of dams operating at a time when climate change is triggering droughts around the world. Drought is keeping more than 420,000 children out of school in Brazil, Colombia and Peru alone, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

As such, there is a growing need to remove dams and other barriers to rehabilitate river ecosystems, a process increasingly initiated by local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. Rivers and streams can recover remarkably once barriers are gone, but other stressors, from pollution to climate change, need to be addressed in parallel. Understanding the restoration outcomes of barrier removal is necessary not only to guide future removals, but also to inform decisions about existing and future barriers.

Elderly people suffer disproportionately from climate change consequences.

Climate risks for the elderly

Older people face increased risks during extreme weather and suffer more from ongoing environmental degradation. As the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts ever more hot weather, the elderly are suffering disproportionately, as seen in rising numbers of deaths and illnesses amid recent heat waves around the world.

At the same time, the world’s ageing population is growing: the global share of people over 65 years old will rise from 10 per cent in 2024 to 16 per cent by 2050. Most of them will live in cities, where they will be exposed to extreme heat and air pollution and experience more frequent disasters.

Older people are already more at risk, so effective adaptation strategies will need to evolve to protect these older populations.

A family outside their flood damaged home in N’Djamena, Chad. (file)

Legacy pollutants

Flooding has crippled communities in all regions of the world as the number of extreme weather events climb. Among the hidden dangers are legacy pollutants that have been secreted into the ground over time and released as extreme rainfall and floods wash away sediments and debris.

The Pakistan floods of 2010, flooding in the Niger Delta in 2012 and Hurricane Harvey off the coast of Texas in 2017 are all examples when floodwaters stirred up sediments, releasing heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants.

Evaluating sediments to understand hazards, rethinking flood protection to lean on nature-based solutions and investments in natural remediation of contaminated sediments are all options to deal with this problem.

Read the full Frontiers Report here.

Global push to end plastic pollution gains ground in Nice

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Away from the cameras and fanfare of the Third UN Ocean Conference under way in the coastal French city, they voiced a shared determination to finalize this year a global treaty that could, for the first time, regulate plastics across their entire life cycle.

“There is renewed commitment to conclude the treaty in August,” Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, who attended the meeting and is leading the treaty negotiations, told UN News. “This is too urgent an issue to be left for the future.”

Hosted by Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the informal gathering marked a quiet but significant diplomatic moment – a sign that after two years of deliberations, political momentum may finally be catching up with scientific alarm.

With one round of talks remaining – scheduled from August 5 to 14 in Geneva – negotiators are now under pressure to deliver the first legally binding treaty aimed at tackling plastic pollution across production, consumption, and waste.

A crisis accelerating in plain sight

Plastic waste has infiltrated nearly every ecosystem on Earth, and increasingly in the form of microplastics – the human body. Without urgent action, the amount of plastic entering the ocean each year could reach 37 million metric tons by 2040, according to UN estimates.

“We are choking with plastic,” Ms. Mathur-Filipp said. “If we do not do something to tackle plastic pollution, we will not have a single ecosystem left, whether it’s terrestrial or marine.”

The economic toll is no less staggering. Between 2016 and 2040, the projected cost of plastic-related damage could reach $281 trillion. “It is costing the economy a lot,” said the Indian native. “In tourism, in beach clean-up, in lack of fish for fishing folk, coastal damage, wetlands damage.”

Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution.

The final stretch in Geneva

The treaty process was launched in 2022, at the request of the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s highest decision-making body on environmental issues. Since then, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has convened five times in less than two years – an unusually rapid timeline by UN standards.

“We have had five sessions very rapidly from December of 2022 to December of 2024,” said Ms. Mathur-Filipp, who serves as the INC’s Executive Secretary. She hopes the upcoming session this August in Geneva will mark the treaty’s conclusion.

A key breakthrough came six months ago at the last round of talks in Busan, South Korea, where delegates produced a 22-page “Chair’s text,” outlining the draft treaty’s basic structure.

“It has 32 or 33 articles in it, with names of articles, so countries can now start seeing what this treaty will look like,” she explained. “They have started speaking with article numbers for negotiation… and this is why my hope is that there would be a conclusion.”

A treaty with teeth – and flexibility

While the draft treaty is still under negotiation, it includes measures that would target the entire life cycle of plastic – from upstream production to downstream waste. It reflects both mandatory and voluntary provisions, in line with the original UN mandate.

The current draft also includes the institutional architecture of a typical multilateral treaty: the ratification process, governance rules, and proposed implementation bodies.

“It has an objective. It has a preamble,” said Ms. Mathur-Filipp. “It looks like a treaty.”

If all goes according to plan, the final text will be submitted to a diplomatic conference – later this year or in early 2026 – where governments can formally adopt it and begin the ratification process.

Unequal burdens, global stakes

Although plastic pollution is a global issue, some countries – especially small island developing states – bear a disproportionate burden.

“It is a fact that small island developing states are not the ones that are using plastic as much as what’s flowing onto their shores and therefore, they become responsible for beach clean-up, which is not their doing,” Mathur-Filipp said. “They are unfairly impacted.”

An estimated 18 to 20 per cent of global plastic waste ends up in the ocean.

One diplomat’s mission

Before leading the INC, Ms. Mathur-Filipp worked at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, where she helped shape the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the 2022 agreement to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. The challenge of managing a fast-moving, high-stakes negotiation is familiar terrain.

“I wasn’t tired enough there, so now I’m doing this,” she said.

As the Mediterranean UNOC3 host city plays its part in building momentum, all eyes will, in the weeks ahead, turn to Geneva. The outcome in August could determine whether the world takes a decisive step toward curbing the plastic crisis – or allows it to deepen, unchecked.

World Environment Day: UN sounds alarm on plastic pollution crisis

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Between 19 and 23 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems annually, and without urgent action, this figure is expected to rise by 50 per cent by 2040.

Plastic pollution is contaminating every corner of the planet, threatening ecosystems, wildlife, and human health. Microplastics are found in food, water and air, with the average person estimated to ingest over 50,000 plastic particles each year, and far more when inhalation is included.

If the climate crisis goes unaddressed, with plastic pollution as a major driver, air pollution levels exceeding safe thresholds could rise by 50 per cent within a decade. Meanwhile, plastic pollution in marine and freshwater environments may triple by 2040.

Global action day

To rally momentum, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is leading the 52nd annual World Environment Day on 5 June, the world’s largest platform for environmental outreach.

This year’s commemoration is hosted by Jeju, Republic of Korea, under the theme #BeatPlasticPollution. Since launching in 2018, the UNEP-led campaign has advocated for a just and inclusive transition away from plastic dependency.

The day brings together governments, businesses, communities, and individuals in a shared mission to protect and restore the planet, while advancing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those linked to climate action and sustainable consumption.

Towards a treaty

A major focus of the day is the ongoing push for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Countries are currently negotiating an international, legally binding agreement, with the next round of talks scheduled for August.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an “ambitious, credible and just agreement” that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, reflects community needs, aligns with the SDGs and is implemented quickly and fully.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen echoed the call, urging nations to unite around innovative solutions and alternatives to plastic use.

World Environment Day serves as a catalyst for action, driving attention toward the UN Environment Assembly later this year – where hopes are high that nations will finalise concrete steps to curb plastic pollution and address the broader climate emergency. 

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Pandemics to pollution: WHO Assembly delivers landmark health decisions

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In addition, the Assembly endorsed a wide range of measures to promote health equity, reduce air pollution, and strengthen protections for vulnerable populations.

“The words ‘historic’ and ‘landmark’ are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe this year’s World Health Assembly,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the Assembly’s closing, ending nine days of intense debate and decisions.

The centrepiece of the Assembly’s outcomes was the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted on 20 May after more than three years of negotiations.

The agreement, seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve global preparedness and response to future pandemics, aims to strengthen international coordination, enhance equity in access to medical tools and ensure that no country is left behind in future health crises.

A key next step will be consultations on access to pathogen and benefit-sharing, which seeks to guarantee equitable sharing of medical countermeasures derived from pathogens.

Boost for WHO budget

Another major outcome was the approval of a 20 per cent increase in assessed contributions – the core, mandatory funding from Member States that underpins WHO’s work.

By 2030-2031, these contributions will cover 50 per cent of the agency’s core budget, a crucial step toward financial sustainability.

Health leaders also pledged at least $210 million to WHO’s ongoing Investment Round, adding to the $1.7 billion already raised and expanding the agency’s donor base.

A healthier world

The Assembly also delivered a sweeping slate of resolutions addressing a wide range of health challenges.

For the first time, nations adopted global resolutions on lung and kidney health, aligning with the growing recognition of noncommunicable diseases as a global priority.

Countries also set an ambitious new target to halve the health impacts of air pollution by 2040 and in an innovative move, adopted a resolution on social connection, acknowledging mounting evidence linking social isolation to poor health outcomes.

They also endorsed measures to combat the digital marketing of formula milk and baby foods, and addressed rare diseases, a lead-free future and the eradication of Guinea worm disease.

Delegates meeting in a committee at the 78th World Health Assembly.

History is made

In conclusion, Director-General Tedros urged countries to continue the momentum beyond the Assembly, highlighting the spirit of cooperation and commitment to health for all.

“You, the nations of the world, made history,” he said.

“Yes, there is conflict in our world, but you have shown that there is also cooperation. Yes, there is inequity, but you have shown a commitment to equity. Yes, there is disease, but you have shown a commitment to health – health for all.”

London Underground polluted with metallic particles small enough to enter human bloodstream

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The London Underground is polluted with ultrafine metallic particles small enough to end up in the human bloodstream, according to University of Cambridge researchers. These particles are so small that they are likely being underestimated in surveys of pollution in the world’s oldest metro system.

The researchers carried out a new type of pollution analysis, using magnetism to study dust samples from Underground ticket halls, platforms and operator cabins.

The team found that the samples contained high levels of a type of iron oxide called maghemite. Since it takes time for iron to oxidise into maghemite, the results suggest that pollution particles are suspended for long periods, due to poor ventilation throughout the Underground, particularly on station platforms.

Some of the particles are as small as five nanometres in diameter: small enough to be inhaled and end up in the bloodstream, but too small to be captured by typical methods of pollution monitoring. However, it is not clear whether these particles pose a health risk.

Other studies have looked at overall pollution levels on the Underground and the associated health risks, but this is the first time that the size and type of particles has been analysed in detail. The researchers suggest that periodic removal of dust from Underground tunnels, as well as magnetic monitoring of pollution levels, could improve air quality throughout the network. Their results are reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

The London Underground carries five million passengers per day. Multiple studies have shown that air pollution levels on the Underground are higher than those in London more broadly, and beyond the World Health Organization’s (WHO) defined limits. Earlier studies have also suggested that most of the particulate matter on the Underground is generated as the wheels, tracks and brakes grind against one another, throwing up tiny, iron-rich particles.

“Since most of these air pollution particles are metallic, the Underground is an ideal place to test whether magnetism can be an effective way to monitor pollution,” said Professor Richard Harrison from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, the paper’s senior author. “Normally, we study magnetism as it relates to planets, but we decided to explore how those techniques could be applied to different areas, including air pollution.”

Pollution levels are normally monitored using standard air filters, but these cannot capture ultrafine particles, and they do not detect what kinds of particles are contained within the particulate matter.

“I started studying environmental magnetism as part of my PhD, looking at whether low-cost monitoring techniques could be used to characterise pollution levels and sources,” said lead author Hassan Sheikh from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. “The Underground is a well-defined micro-environment, so it’s an ideal place to do this type of study.”

Working with colleagues from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Sheikh and Harrison analysed 39 dust samples from the London Underground, provided by Transport for London (TfL). The samples were collected in 2019 and 2021 from platforms, ticket halls, and train operator cabins on the Piccadilly, Northern, Central, Bakerloo, Victoria, Northern, District and Jubilee lines. The sampling included major stations such as King’s Cross St Pancras, Paddington, and Oxford Circus.

The researchers used magnetic fingerprinting, 3D imaging and nanoscale microscopy to characterise the structure, size, shape, composition and magnetic properties of particles contained in the samples. Earlier studies have shown that 50% of the pollution particles in the Underground are iron-rich, but the Cambridge team were able to look in much closer detail. They found a high abundance of maghemite particles, ranging in diameter from five to 500 nanometres, and with an average diameter of 10 nanometres. Some particles formed larger clusters with diameters between 100 and 2,000 nanometres.

“The abundance of these very fine particles was surprising,” said Sheikh. “The magnetic properties of iron oxides fundamentally change as the particle size changes. In addition, the size range where those changes happen is the same as where air pollution becomes a health risk.”

While the researchers did not look at whether these maghemite particles pose a direct health risk, they say that their characterisation methods could be useful in future studies.

“If you’re going to answer the question of whether these particles are bad for your health, you first need to know what the particles are made of and what their properties are,” said Sheikh.

“Our techniques give a much more refined picture of pollution in the Underground,” said Harrison. “We can measure particles that are small enough to be inhaled and enter the bloodstream. Typical pollution monitoring doesn’t give you a good picture of the very small stuff.”

The researchers say that due to poor ventilation in the Underground, iron-rich dust can be resuspended in the air when trains arrive at platforms, making the air quality on platforms worse than in ticket halls or in operator cabins.

Given the magnetic nature of the resuspended dust, the researchers suggest that an efficient removal system might be magnetic filters in ventilation, cleaning of the tracks and tunnel walls, or placing screen doors between platforms and trains.

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Ancient Maya cities were dangerously contaminated with mercury; what are Maya cities

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The cities of the ancient Maya in Mesoamerica never fail to impress. But beneath the soil surface, an unexpected danger lurks there: mercury pollution. In a review article in Frontiers in Environmental Science, researchers conclude that this pollution isn’t modern: it’s due to the frequent use of mercury and mercury-containing products by the Maya of the Classic Period, between 250 and 1100 CE. This pollution is in places so heavy that even today, it pose a potential health hazard for unwary archeologists.

Lead author Dr Duncan Cook, an associate professor of Geography at the Australian Catholic University, said: “Mercury pollution in the environment is usually found in contemporary urban areas and industrial landscapes. Discovering mercury buried deep in soils and sediments in ancient Maya cities is difficult to explain, until we begin to consider the archeology of the region which tells us that the Maya were using mercury for centuries.”

Ancient anthropogenic pollution

For the first time, Cook and colleagues here reviewed all data on mercury concentrations in soil and sediments at archeological sites across the ancient Maya world. They show that at sites from the Classical Period for which measurements are available –  Chunchumil in today’s Mexico, Marco Gonzales, Chan b’i, and Actuncan in Belize, La Corona, Tikal, Petén Itzá, Piedras Negras, and Cancuén in Guatemala, Palmarejo in Honduras, and Cerén, a Mesoamerican ‘Pompeii’, in El Salvador –mercury pollution is detectable everywhere except at Chan b’i.

Concentrations range from 0.016 ppm at Actuncan to an extraordinary 17.16 ppm at Tikal. For comparison, the Toxic Effect Threshold (TET) for mercury in sediments is defined as 1 ppm.

Heavy users of mercury

What caused this prehistoric mercury pollution? The authors highlight that sealed vessels filled with ‘elemental’ (ie, liquid) mercury have been found at several Maya sites, for example Quiriqua in Guatemala, El Paraíso in Honduras, and the former multi-ethnic megacity Teotihucan in Central Mexico. Elsewhere in the Maya region, archeologists have found objects painted with mercury-containing paints, mainly made from the mineral cinnabar.

The authors conclude that the ancient Maya frequently used cinnabar and mercury-containing paints and powders for decoration. This mercury could then have leached from patios, floor areas, walls, and ceramics, and subsequently spread into the soil and water.

“For the Maya, objects could contain ch’ulel, or soul-force, which resided in blood. Hence, the brilliant red pigment of cinnabar was an invaluable and sacred substance, but unbeknownst to them it was also deadly and its legacy persists in soils and sediments around ancient Maya sites,” said co-author Dr Nicholas Dunning, a professor at the University of Cincinnati.

cinnabar/wikipedia

As mercury is rare in the limestone that underlies much of the Maya region, they speculate that elemental mercury and cinnabar found at Maya sites could have been originally mined from known deposits on the northern and southern confines of the ancient Maya world, and imported to the cities by traders.

Health hazards and the ‘Mayacene’

All this mercury would have posed a health hazard for the ancient Maya: for example, the effects of chronic mercury poisoning include damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver, and cause tremors, impaired vision and hearing, paralysis, and mental health problems. It’s perhaps significant that one of the last Maya rulers of Tikal, Dark Sun, who ruled around 810 CE, is depicted in frescoes as pathologically obese. Obesity is a known effect of metabolic syndrome, which can be caused by chronic mercury poisoning.

More research is needed to determine whether mercury exposure played a role in larger sociocultural change and trends in the Maya world, such as those towards the end of the Classic Period.

Co-author Dr Tim Beach, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said: “We conclude that even the ancient Maya, who barely used metals, caused mercury concentrations to be greatly elevated in their environment. This result is yet more evidence that just like we live today in the ‘Anthropocene’, there also was a ‘Maya anthropocene’ or ‘Mayacene’. Metal contamination seems to have been effect of human activity through history.”

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organises National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management

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Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the first National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management in India in Bhubaneswar today.

This conference is being organized by the Green Climate Fund supported project – Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities.

The objective of the conference is to bring officials from all 13 coastal states of India under one roof to focus on the three interrelated themes :

  1. Coastal and marine biodiversity,
  2. Climate mitigation and adaptation and
  3. Coastal pollution.

This endeavour is aimed at creating a vibrant network of stakeholders who will continue to engage with each other on the topics but also on cross-cutting themes such as coastal governance, technologies and innovation as well as domestic and international finance.

“The Indian coastline is of immense strategic, economic and social importance to the country.

  • Indian coastline spans 7,500 kilometres, seventh longest in the world,
  • home to 20 percent of the country’s population,
  • Three of our four metropolitan cities lie on the coast,
  • supports more than 17,000 species of plants and animals.

There is a great diversity of ecosystems within our coastal regions that support more than 17,000 species of plants and animals.  With the changing climate, we need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas.” said Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Sustainable Coastal Management in India

“This conference comes at an important time as India has submitted its revised NDCs and seeks to create multi-sectoral partnerships to meet these targets” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, said: “Such conferences are important to bring the conversations of resilience and sustainability to our country’s coastal areas.  This was also envisioned in the Honourable Prime Minister’s LiFE movement.”

Sustainable Coastal Management in India

Sustainable coastal management is recognised as need of the hour. Data-driven policies and management frameworks, participatory conservation models, and convergence between stakeholders are the key pillars for effective coastal management.

A programme on Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Communities is being implemented in partnership with UNDP in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the initiative is integrating ecosystem and community-based approaches to adaptation into coastal management and planning.

Air pollution is more dangerous for women than men: Study

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The impact of breathing diesel exhaust fumes may be more severe for females than males, according to new research that will be presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain [1].

Researchers looked for changes in people’s blood brought about by exposure to diesel exhaust. In both females and males, they found changes in components of the blood related to inflammation, infection and cardiovascular disease, but they found more changes in females than males.

The research was presented by Dr Hemshekhar Mahadevappa, from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada and was a collaboration between two research groups led by Professor Neeloffer Mookherjee at the University of Manitoba and Professor Chris Carlsten at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Dr Mahadevappa told the Congress: “We already know that there are sex differences in lung diseases such as asthma and respiratory infections.

Air pollution/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

Research showed that breathing diesel exhaust creates inflammation in the lungs and has an impact on how the body deals with respiratory infections. In this study, we wanted to look for any effects in the blood and how these differ in females and males.”

The study involved ten volunteers, five female and five male, who were all healthy non-smokers. Each volunteer spent four hours breathing filtered air and four hours breathing air containing diesel exhaust fumes at three different concentrations – 20, 50 and 150 micrograms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre – with a four-week break in between each exposure.

Volunteers donated blood samples 24 hours after each exposure and the researchers made detailed examinations of the volunteers’ blood plasma. Plasma is the liquid component of the blood that carries blood cells as well as hundreds of proteins and other molecules around the body. Using a well-established analysis technology called liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, the researchers looked for changes in the levels of different proteins following exposure to diesel exhaust and compared the changes in females and males.

Airpollution/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

Comparing the plasma samples, the researchers found levels of 90 proteins that were distinctly different between female and male volunteers following exposure to diesel exhaust. Among the proteins that differed between females and males, were some that are known to play a role in inflammation, damage repair, blood clotting, cardiovascular disease and the immune system. Some of these differences became clearer when volunteers were exposed to the higher levels of diesel exhaust.

Professor Mookherjee explained: “These are preliminary findings, however they show that exposure to diesel exhaust has different effects in female bodies compared to male and that could indicate that air pollution is more dangerous for females than males.

“This is important as respiratory diseases such as asthma are known to effect females and males differently, with females more likely to suffer severe asthma that does not respond to treatments. Therefore, we need to know a lot more about how females and males respond to air pollution and what this means for preventing, diagnosing and treating their respiratory disease.”

Air pollution/photo:en.wikipedia.org

Professor Zorana Andersen from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is Chair of the European Respiratory Society Environment and Health Committee and was not involved in the research. She said: “We know that exposure to air pollution, especially diesel exhaust, is a major risk factor in diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There is very little we can do as individuals to avoid beathing polluted air, so we need governments to set and enforce limits on air pollutants.

 

Study in polluted Taiwan shows regular exercise still prevents high blood pressure

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People who regularly exercise are at a lower risk of high blood pressure, even if they live in highly polluted areas, found a new research, since the risk-benefit relationship between air pollution and physical activity is a major concern as more than 91% of people worldwide live in areas where air quality fails to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The paper published in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation, is based on a study of more than 140,000 adults without high blood pressure in Taiwan, who are followed for five years. Researchers classified the weekly physical activity levels of each adult as inactive, moderately active or highly active.

Researchers also classified level of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as low, moderate and high. PM2.5 is the most commonly used indicator of air pollution. High blood pressure was defined as 140/90 mm Hg, though the American Heart Association 2017 Guideline defines high blood pressure as 130/80 mm Hg.

Exercise helps despite high pollution 

Study author Xiang Qian Lao, an associate professor at the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin, said: “While we found that high physical activity combined with lower air pollution exposure was linked to lower risk of high blood pressure, physical activity continued to have a protective effect even when people were exposed to high pollution levels. The message is that physical activity, even in polluted air, is an important high blood pressure prevention strategy.”

Highlights of the study show that people who are highly active and exposed to low levels of pollution had a lower risk of developing high blood pressure, whereas those who were inactive and exposed to highly polluted air had a higher high blood pressure risk.

High risk levels

Each increase in PM2.5 level was associated with a 38% increase in risk of incident hypertension, whereas each increase in physical activity level lead to a 6% lower risk of hypertension, suggesting that reducing air pollution is more effective in preventing high BP.

Regardless of pollution level, people who exercised moderately had a 4% lower risk of high blood pressure than those who didn’t exercise. People who exercised at a high level had a 13% lower risk of high blood pressure than those who don’t.

The findings of this study are limited to air pollution because it only included people living in Taiwan, where ambient air was moderately polluted (the annual PM2.5 concentration was 2.6 times of the limit recommended by the World Health Organization).

Drainage from Nallahs into Ganga River Still on

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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its order dated 19th October, 2016 in OA No.200 of 2014 in the matter of M.C. Mehta vs Union of India had directed a joint inspection team to visit the area falling in Segment ‘B’ of Phase-I (Haridwar to Kanpur) and identify the number of drains joining river Ganga or its tributaries and make observations in relation to quantum and quality of effluent that is going to river Ganga or its main tributaries through drains.

The joint inspection team submitted its report to the Hon’ble NGT. 86 major drains have been identified which are directly discharging into River Ganga (30 drains) and its major tributaries namely Ramganga (25 drains), Kali-East (26 drains) and Pandu river (5 drains). Of the 86 drains, 52 drains were found to be carrying domestic sewage, 2 were found to be carrying industrial effluent whereas remaining 32 were found to be carrying mixed effluent.

Namami Gange Programme has been launched as a holistic approach to clean Ganga through various activities such as treatment of municipal sewage, treatment of industrial affluents, river surface cleaning, rural sanitation, afforestation and biodiversity etc. For checking entry of sewage affluents into river Ganga, sewage infrastructure projects are being sanctioned in towns along the main stem of river Ganga, which includes creation of Sewage Treatment Plants, sewage network projects and interception & diversion network to divert the flow of polluting drain towards treatment plants. To check industrial pollution, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has inventorised 1109 Gross Polluting Industries (GPIs). These GPIs are being inspected and monitored regularly and closure directions are being issued to non-compliant industries.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.