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Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and air and water pollution are among the global environmental problems that affect everyone’s health and wellbeing. Tackling such challenges in the context of social and economic development is at the very heart of efforts to attain the Sustainable…
The North West Saharan Aquifer System (NWSAS) is one of the most important reserves of water in the North African Region, largely non-renewable in nature and shared by Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. Economic and social developments of the past decades led to a significant pressure on this resource…
Access to justice is an essential safeguard for the environment, sustainable development and human health and well-being. Members of the public in a number of countries in the UNECE region are increasingly seeking to access justice, in particular in cases relating to air quality, due to concerns…
Water resources in Latin America and the Caribbean are threatened by rising pressures related to unprecedented population growth and related exponential demand and increasing pollution, as well as the impact of extreme weather events. In the region, around 60% of freshwater resources reside in…
Air pollution impacts our health, our environment and our economy. Clean air is unfortunately not a given in all parts of the world. Almost every day, we hear news about high air pollution episodes in different cities around the globe. They remind us time and again that air pollution is a…
Upon request by the Government of Uzbekistan, UNECE will review the country’s environmental performance for a third time, 10 years after the previous (second) review took place. To ensure comprehensive information and objective analysis for the review, a team of 19 experts from different…
Strengthening environmental governance and the development of environmental policies both play an important role in the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On 11–12 February 2019, a UNECE expert mission visited ministries and stakeholders in Podgorica to kick off a…
Water, climate and finance know no borders. This brings both challenges and opportunities. The majority of freshwater worldwide flows in transboundary basins and most climate change impacts are felt through the water cycle. Transboundary cooperation in climate change adaptation is crucial for…
With an area of ​​approximately 350,000 km2, the Senegalo-Mauritanian aquifer basin is the largest basin in the Atlantic margin of North-West Africa. The groundwater it contains is a strategic resource for the four aquifer States, respectively The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal,…
What is common between the green sovereign bond launched in 2017 by France’s State Treasury, the National Road Map for the Circular Economy of Finland for the period 2016–2025, and the Swiss regulation on compulsory recovery and reuse of phosphorus from wastewater streams and separated organic…
What steps have been taken and what still needs to be done to improve environmental conditions, deliver inclusive economic growth and ensure resilience to climate change? What progress has been made in achieving public participation in decision-making and the reform of education systems towards…
Clean air is an essential need for all of us. Our health, our environment, even our economy depends on it. Every year 7 million people die prematurely globally because of exposure to air pollution. The majority of air pollutant-related deaths occur in developing countries, with Western Pacific…
On 23 May, Chad became the first African country to accede to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), serviced by UNECE. As a landlocked country in Central Africa, Chad faces significant water management challenges and…
Reduce deaths from air pollution… Achieve water and sanitation for all… Double energy efficiency… Consume sustainably… These and many other targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to be achieved in just 12 years from now sound more than ambitious. Making them a reality requires…
How can Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) be used for policies related to, for example, health matters, energy consumption, consumer choices or urban planning? What should be done to make this a reality? What role can PRTRs play in helping governments to achieve the Sustainable…
Air pollution is the world’s largest single environmental health risk, responsible for the premature deaths of 7 million people every year globally and almost 600,000 in the European region. According to the World Health Organization, the associated economic cost in the region  is about USD…
As a result of integrated air pollution management strategies developed under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention), air quality has improved in the region over the past few decades. However, progress has also been uneven as the increase in…
Central Asian countries rely heavily on economic activities that produce, process or use hazardous substances in large quantities. Such activities encompass the extraction and processing of minerals and metals, such as gold, mercury and uranium. The waste that these activities create cannot be…
Air pollution is a silent killer, leading to an estimated 7 million premature deaths every year- some 600,000 alone in the European region. This makes it by far the biggest environmental health risk in the world. Air pollution is known to increase risks for diseases as diverse as strokes, heart…
A map of air pollutant emission sources of a given country can help experts and decision-makers understand which policies are most viable. Spatial allocations of emissions are also important to understand where emissions are coming from on a regional level.Spatially allocating – or gridding –…
Do you know where pollutants in the air we breathe come from? Understanding how pollutant emissions will evolve in the future is essential for designing effective clean air policies today while taking into account the available resources in a given country.While air quality in the UNECE region…
Upholding the principles of environmental democracy means ensuring a safe space for shaping the environment for all members of the public, including environmental activists, who are increasingly under threat in many countries. It also means making sure the public is equipped to participate in…
About 3 billion people, over 40% of the global population, live within transboundary basins and rely on the good management of transboundary waters to secure drinking water supplies, support economic activities such as agricultural and energy production, and promote peace and stability. The…
Experts from Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Czechia and Austria joined UNECE in Hungary to take part this week in a practical exercise in the operational area of the Danube Oil Refinery related to industrial accident and water pollution management. This one day exercise…
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have faced development challenges since they became independent in the early nineties.  Recent years have seen more activities aimed at fostering greater stability, prosperity, sustainability and transboundary cooperation…