Environment Ministers from all over the globe adopted a call for more stringent measures against environmental pollution worldwide at the closing of the third session of the Environment Assembly today.
Environment Ministers from all over the globe adopted a call for more stringent measures against environmental pollution worldwide at the closing of the third session of the Environment Assembly today. They also adopted a resolution on convening an international expert group to combat marine plastic debris. The UN Environment Programme intends to expand its work on environmental pollution and human health in future.
State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, Jochen Flasbarth, commented: "Environmental pollution hits the poorer segments of the population the hardest. Taking action for a pollution-free planet is therefore also action for a just and more liveable world. We therefore have to modernise our infrastructure in an environmentally sound way, make production and lifestyles more sustainable and implement ambitious environmental standards effectively."
Under the motto Beat Pollution, UN parties, NGOs, businesses and individuals, who wish to take action against environmental pollution presented a total of 2.4 million voluntary commitments to UNEA.
The Federal Environment Ministry (BMU), for example, supports the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) with 13 million euros for measures in developing countries. The BMU also supports the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre in Bonn and is planning to host a conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative in 2020.
UNEA also adopted a number of resolutions on concrete steps of the parties to combat pollution of soil, water, oceans and air, contamination through products containing lead and the harmful effects of such environmental pressures on human health.