The climate crisis, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine are threatening to stall progress on several key environmental targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), humanity’s blueprint for a better future, warns a new report from the United Nations.
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022, released in July 2022, details how a series of global crises have hampered the global effort to limit plastic pollution, protect endangered species, and provide clean drinking water to all humanity. It says urgent action is needed to preserve nature and rescue the global goals.
One of the major takeaways of this report is that the ocean, which is the planet’s largest eco system, is being chocked by plastic pollution. The report highlights that in 2021, an estimated 17 million metric tonnes of plastic entered the world’s ocean and this is expected to double or triple by 2040. Countries are increasingly recognizing the need to take action and at the fifth UN Environment Assembly earlier this year (2022), agreed to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by 2024.
Published By: UN Environment Programme