While progress has been made in protecting many individual species, much biodiversity is at risk throughout North America. Increasing pressures from land use change, invasive species, climate change, and pollution are affecting land and coastal marine environments.
We are on the brink of a global mass extinction of species, with 1 million of earth’s 8 million species currently in danger of disappearing. Five years after the 3 billion birds lost research report, America is still losing birds.
We depend on nature to sustain livelihoods, but as a region of avid consumers, we also depend on nature to support our lifestyles. We are consuming resources in a quantity that exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate. In North America, about 30% or food is wasted each year with over 3 million tonnes in Canadian households and over 24 million tonnes in American households. This leads to millions of hectares of wasted cropland, resulting in biodiversity loss.
North American’s disposal of single-use plastics continues to rise which has serious impacts on biodiversity, as plastic waste threatens rivers, lakes, and oceans. Our tap water is already contaminated by microplastics and it is predicted that by 2050, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by volume.
Air quality in the region has been improving, but air pollution remains the largest environmental health challenge in North America. Over 40% of the U.S. population – about 134 million people – face health risks resulting from air pollution, according to the American Lung Association, and the improvements in air quality are not evenly distributed.
The region has also been facing devastating impacts from a changing climate, with wildfires scorching the U.S. West Coast, storms and floods plundering vulnerable communities in the South, and ice shelves collapsing in Northern Canada. These challenges are expected to grow in intensity and frequency as global temperatures continue to rise.
The UNEP North America office addresses these and other challenges through our work that contributes to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. We want to ensure that the environment plays a central role across all decision-making and focuses on green economic development while taking advantage of advances in science and technology.
We work with governments, the private sector, civil society and with other UN entities and organizations throughout North America to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling all to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
