India could save at least $3 trillion (Rs. 210 trillion approx.) in healthcare costs if it implemented policy initiatives consistent with ensuring that the globe didn’t heat up beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius by the turn of the century, says the sixth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Significant of the report:

• The poor environmental conditions cause approximately 25% of global disease and mortality, around 9 million deaths in 2015 alone.
• 1.4 million People die each year from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea and parasites (due to the intake of polluted waters).
• Air pollution causes 6-7 million early deaths annually.
• Food wasteaccounts for 9% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

• It is an UN agency, coordinates UN’s environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
• It was founded as a result of the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in 1972.
• Its activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy.
• UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
• UNEP has aided in the formulation of guidelines and treaties on issues such as the international trade in potentially harmful chemicals, transboundary air pollution, and contamination of international waterways.
• UNEP is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
• The International Cyanide Management Code, a program of best practice for the chemical’s use at gold mining operations, was developed under UNEP’s aegis.