The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said Thursday all the world body's development goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are unlikely to be met globally if the implementers fail to incorporate environmental pollution.
In a report released in Nairobi, the agency calls for concerted global action on pollution due to its link with health and ecosystems.
"The solutions to managing pollution are within our reach hence calling for new policies, enhanced public and private sector leadership, redirected investments and massive funding," UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim said in a statement.
Solheim called for a multi-stakeholder and multi-level involvement that includes both formal agreements and voluntary initiatives and commitments for success to be met in achieving all the 17 targets agreed by all 193 member states in 2015.
Solheim hailed the report's analysis that provides a clearer picture of the pollution menace and the scale of action that will be needed.
The report draws on the latest data from every continent in examining what is known about pollution and sets a comprehensive framework of actions to be undertaken.
It covers all forms of pollution including air, land, freshwater, marine, chemical and waste pollution.
"The energy revolution, increased mobilization around climate change, and the push from governments, businesses and cities toward greener and more sustainable development are all game changers," he said.
He however warned that those who fail to act immediately will be left behind in a polluted environment as their populations suffer the consequences.
"The only answer to the question of how we can all survive on this one planet with our health and dignity intact is to radically change the way we produce, consume and live our lives," he added.
Director of Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of the UN Environment Programme Ligia Noronha who coordinated the report observed that sustainable consumption and production is crucial to prevent and reduce pollution.
Noronha said that world is capable of producing more food while preserving the health of the soils and waters for the well-being of all current and future generations.
The report calls for political leadership and partnerships at all levels and mobilization of the industry and finance sectors, stern action on the worst pollutants and better enforcement of environmental laws and advocacy approach to inform and inspire people around the world on keeping their environment clean.
It further calls for a fresh approach to managing lives and economies through resource efficiency, lifestyle changes, and better waste prevention and management and a massive new and redirected investments in low-carbon and clean technology, ecosystems based solutions as well as research, monitoring and infrastructure to control pollution.
Air pollution alone kills 6.5 million people, the world's 50 biggest dump sites threaten the lives of another 64 million, and 600,000 children annually suffer brain damage due to the toxic effects of lead in paint, according to the report.
It notes that children's mental and physical development can be stunted by exposure to pollution during their first 1,000 days, and the poor, who rely on functioning ecosystems or work in the world's dirtiest jobs to make a living, are the most vulnerable group.
Overall, environmental degradation accounts for nearly one in four of all deaths worldwide, or 12.6 million people a year, as well as a barrage of human health problems and widespread destruction of key ecosystems.
