Preventing, controlling and managing pollution is central to improving health, human well-being and prosperity for all.
UNEP drives capacity and leadership in sound management of chemicals and waste while working to improve ways to reduce waste through circularity and pollutants released to the air, water, soil and the ocean.
Are you a young person under the age of 35 and interested in joining the Beat Pollution movement? Children and youth representatives to UNEP launched the #YouthToBeatPollution campaign at the Youth Environment Assembly 2025, ahead of the Seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7). Join the Children and Youth Major Group (CYMG) #YouthToBeatPollution campaign.
UNEP’s youth-led action movement against plastic pollution, the Tide Turner Plastic Challenge, received the top recognition of the Prince Talal International Prize for Human Development, acknowledging its transformative impact in catalysing youth action to combat plastic pollution across Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Madagascar.
Reaching 1 million young people across 61 countries, the program has grown into one of the world’s largest youth platforms on marine protection and reduction of plastic pollution.
The Digital Knowledge Hub on Environmental Aspects of Minerals and Metals is a global gateway facilitating access to curated knowledge products, tools, datasets and capacity-building materials, organized around seven themes: Policies and Standards, Value Chain Aspects, Sand, Platforms for International Cooperation, Tailings, Mine Closure.
The hub, mandated by UNEA resolution 6/5 on the environmental aspects of minerals and metals, provides the infrastructure to host online communities of practice to enable peer-to-peer exchanges and multistakeholder engagement.
This webinar will bring together experts, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how harmonized wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) systems can strengthen public health and ecosystem protection across Africa. Learn more and join
The Cartagena Convention for the protection of the Wider Caribbean Region exemplifies the potential of regional governance to address a complex, multifaceted challenge such as ocean pollution. Anchored in law yet flexible in practice, it has evolved from oil-spill response to a comprehensive framework that integrates pollution, biodiversity and livelihoods. Read more in this case study.
Last week in Geneva, the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-6) adopted 22 decisions to advance implementation, cooperation, and protect human health and the environment from mercury pollution.
Bringing together over 1,000 participants in person and nearly 4,000 online viewers, Parties agreed to phase-out dental amalgam by 2034, strengthen action on mercury-added skin-lightening products, enhance efforts on artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), and reinforce cooperation on mercury supply, trade and waste, among other key decisions.
Relive the highlights of the meeting, read the final press release, watch the press conference, explore our live blog featuring special events and knowledge labs, view our Flickr photo albums, and read the IISD-ENB coverage.
🚫Mercury in skin-lightening products poses serious threats to health, the environment, and human rights, yet harmful beauty norms continue to drive their use.
UNEP held an event to inspire solutions to reduce demand for this toxic metals and skin lightening products at #MinamataCOP6.
Speakers along with the audience shared inspiring insights and solutions:
💡 Public education and awareness
⚖️ Policy and regulatory action
🌱 Ethical and inclusive beauty practices
#MercuryFreeCosmetics #MakeMercuryHistory
Seules 12% des villes disposent de mesures de la qualité de l'air conformes aux normes de l'OMS
