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UN: Humanity ‘at crossroads’ as damage to planet poses growing risk to health
14.03.2019 16:11 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
As of this year Mar 1115, the Fourth UN Environment Assembly (the world highest-level decision-making body on the environment) is taking place within in Nairobi, UN Radio reports.
As to the report, this year Assembly meeting is focused on the theme «Innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and output».
Ahead of the Assembly meeting, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) issued its Global Environment Outlook which had been compiled by 250 scientists and experts from over 70 countries. As of now, the Outlook is the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment completed by the United Nations within the last five years.
As to the Outlook, the human activity is now damaging the planet so badly, exacerbated by climate change, that it will increasingly put our health at risk. Unless environmental protections are drastically scaled up, the report says, there could be millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century, with pollutants within the global freshwater systems becoming a major cause of death by 2050.
In addition, more chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, will have an adverse effect on male and female fertility, as well as the neurological development of children.
«The science is clear. The health and prosperity of humanity are directly tied to the state of our environment,» said Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director of UNEP, while commenting on the Outlook.. «We are at a crossroads. Do we continue on our current path, which will lead to a bleak future for humankind, or pivot to sustainable development? That is the choice our political leaders must make, now».
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