Everyone around has been worrying about deaths caused by COVID-19. However, focusing on this one issue, we are completely neglecting something else. Pollution has been around for years and is contributing to the majority of deaths. Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a U.N. environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals.
Debris from numerous sources including pesticides, plastics, and electronic waste are causing widespread human rights violations. At least 9 million premature deaths each year, and the matter is not capturing attention.
“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the report’s author, U.N. Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded.
Environmental hazards: Biggest challenge
The paper will be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council next month. It has considered a clean environment a human right. The document was available on the Council’s website from Tuesday. It calls for a prohibition on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, man-made compounds linked to cancer. These “forever chemicals” don’t break down readily. They’re found in non-stick cookware and other home products.
It also yearns for polluted habitats tidied up. Moreover, in the worst-case scenario, affected communities the poor ones, marginalized, and indigenous should move from so-called “sacrifice zones.”
“What I hope to do by telling these stories of sacrifice zones is to really put a human face on these otherwise inexplicable, incomprehensible statistics (of pollution death tolls),” Boyd said.
A suggestion to construct a dedicated panel, identical to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is outstanding to be in discussions during the UN environment conference. It will be in Nairobi, Kenya, beginning on February 28.
