UN says pollution is ‘controllable and avoidable’

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 (APP): A new report from the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), entitled Towards a pollution-free plane, says pollution
is controllable and avoidable.
Although pollution is dangerous and negatively impacts human health, the
report noted that the effects can be mediated through the combined efforts of political
leadership, high-level commitments, and local action.
“Pollution is a universal challenge [but] the good news is that we
already know what we need to do to prevent and reduce it,” U.N. Environmental
Program Director Erik Solheim said.
Some recent forms of technology and management have reduced pollution,
but the report found that about 19 million people worldwide die prematurely each year
from pollution’s impact on the environment.
The report suggests five ways to combat pollution, including
strengthening environmental governance, sustainable consumption and production,
investment in environmentally friendly products, and collaborations for investment and
innovation.
It further proposes 50 ways to address pollution, including recycling
wastewater and moving towards electric mobility.
The report stresses that although some forms of pollution have been
reduced as technologies and management strategies have advanced, approximately 19
million premature deaths are estimated to occur annually as a result of the way societies
use natural resources and impact the environment to support production and
consumption.
“If consumption and production patterns continue as they are, the
linear economic model of “take-make-dispose” will seriously burden an already-polluted
planet, affecting current and future generations,” the report’s foreword concludes.