One of every four premature deaths and diseases in the world are related to pollution and other damage to the environment caused by man, warned the UN on Wednesday in a report on the state of the planet.
Air pollution, chemicals that harm drinking water, and the accelerated destruction of vital ecosystems are causing a kind of global epidemic, according to the text, which also warns of the negative effects on the economy.
This report, called in English Global Environment Outlook (GEO), prepared by 250 scientists from 70 countries for six years, also highlights a growing gap between rich and poor countries: over-consumption, pollution, and food waste in the North precipitate famine, poverty and diseases in the South.
As greenhouse gas emissions increase -and with them global warming-, climate disarrangements such as droughts and heavy storms will increase the vulnerability of billions of people.
The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to +2 ºC, and if possible to +1.5 ºC, compared to the pre-industrial era.
On the other hand, there is no equivalent international agreement on the environment. In addition, the health impacts of pollution, deforestation and an industrialized food chain are less known.
The GEO report, which uses hundreds of data sources to calculate the impact of the environment on a hundred diseases, collects a series of health emergencies related to pollution of all kinds. Mediocre environmental conditions are responsible for around 25% of deaths and global diseases, according to the text, which accounts for some 9 million deaths in 2015.
In the absence of access to drinking water, 1.4 million people die each year from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and parasites related to contaminated water.
Chemicals evacuated to the sea damage the health of potentially several generations and 3.2 billion people live on land degraded by intensive agriculture or deforestation.
The report also estimates that air pollution causes between six and seven million premature deaths per year.
In addition, the massive use of antibiotics in food production entails the risk of causing the rise of super-resistant bacteria that could become the first cause of premature death by mid-century.
Urgent actions of an unprecedented scale are needed to stop and reverse the situation,”
says the summary that accompanies the report.
Without a reorganization of the world economy towards more sustainable production, the concept of growth may not make any sense in the face of deaths and the costs of health treatments, according to the authors.
The central message is that with a healthy planet, it contributes not only to global growth, but also benefits the poorest who depend on clean air and clean water,”
said Joyeeta Gupta, co-president of GEO.