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Protecting the Marine Environment from Land-Based Pollution through Coordinated and Strengthened Global Action

The overall objective of this project is to strengthen responses to land-based pollution of the marine environment and address related issues of concern identified by governments. This also includes strengthening of co-operation around the prevention of land-based pollution by fostering action targeting the sources of marine litter, nutrients and wastewater pollution. Land-based pollution has been widely recognized to impact the health of aquatic ecosystems, including coastal and marine ones. Over time, population growth has led to the increasing demand for water, food and consumable goods, and the rising number of anthropogenic activities has resulted in augmented pollution from point and non-point sources. Also, extreme weather events and climate change pose additional stress on natural resources, with major consequences on human health, ecosystems, and infrastructures. UN Environment, as the Secretariat of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA), plays a crucial role in identifying and acting on the challenge of land-based pollution. The GPA is the only intergovernmental mechanism that provides governments with conceptual and practical guidance on preventing, reducing, controlling and eliminating marine degradation resulting from land-based activities. The GPA activities serve to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically SDG 6 and 14, and contribute to the implementation of UN Environment Assembly’s (UNEA) resolutions on “Addressing water pollution to protect and restore water-related ecosystems” (UNEP/EA.3/L.27) and “Marine litter and microplastics” (UNEP/EA.3/L.20). The goal of this project is in line with the GPA Programme of Work (PoW) for the period 2018-2022 as well as with the objective of UN Environment’s Chemicals, Waste and Air Quality sub-programme. UN Environment will implement the project in close co-operation with key partners and stakeholders, including the Regional Seas Programme, and through the three multi-stakeholder partnerships: the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML), the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM), and the Global Wastewater Initiative (GW²I).