Civil society major group and stakeholder regional statement to UNEA 3 UN Environment - European Region

CIVIL SOCIETY MAJOR GROUP AND STAKEHOLDER REGIONAL STATEMENT TO UNEA 3 UN ENVIRONMENT - EUROPEAN REGION

On the 9th & 10th of November 2017, the participants of the regional MGS meeting of UNEP-EUROPE met in Szentendre, Hungary and prepared their input for the 3rd United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 3).

The evidence from the UNEA publication “Towards a Pollution Free Planet” indicates that no level of pollution is safe, that much of the damage done by pollution is irreversible but, also, that pollution is manmade and thus completely preventable, and that urgent action is needed for a transformation to a pollution free planet, based on principles of environmental sustainability and human rights.

Civil Society Major Groups and Stakeholders call on UNEA to ensure that all decisions taken at UNEA-3 are in line with the following principles and approaches:

• Implement Rio principles (UNCED) in particular the most relevant to pollution, namely the Precautionary principle and the Polluter Pays principle and Extended Producer Responsibility, the Right to Information, Public Participation and Access to justice.
• Guarantee Human rights and all the related rights: Pollution contributes to and aggravates environmental challenges which have adverse effects on the full enjoyment of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health; the right to life; the right to an adequate standard of living; the right to food; and the right to water and sanitation and the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the right of future generations to a pollution-free planet (inter-generational equity).
• Ensure Procedural rights: importance of public access to, and wider availability of information relating to the environment; as well as effective participation of the public - in particular of groups most exposed and most vulnerable to pollution - into relevant decision making, to empower communities to contribute to addressing the sources and impacts of pollution; to ensure Free Prior and Informed Consent, and prompt an effective access to judicial remedies, and to ensure equal rights for women, indigenous peoples, marginalized groups and deprived communities.
• Ensure an Integrated and preventive approach to address air, soil, and water pollution from all sources. It is critical to ensure that addressing one pollution problem does not create another issue of pollution. All MEAs should follow a comprehensive and integrated approach.
• Health and environmental impact should be assessed at project design stage by independent institutions and addressed before the adoption of policies, investments, measures and activities from both the public and private sectors. The outcomes of the assessment should become publicly available and ensure that contributions from civil society groups, including impacted communities are well considered.
• Aim towards a Circular Economy: Governments should progressively ban the use and recycling of products containing toxic chemicals, including ones already banned by international treaties: reduce to its maximum the production and use of hazardous chemicals from an early stage, including the design stage and "close the loop" of resource use and product lifecycles through greater recycling, recovery and reuse and creating decent, green, and gender-equitable jobs, especially for the youth.
• Apply the subsidiarity principle for a pollution free planet to ensure that decisions are taken as closely as possible to citizens, a crucial role of committed regional and local governments to prevent pollution.
• Sustainable Consumption incentives: States should design national policies and programs engaging citizens in promoting sustainable consumption and mobility, reducing waste production as well as energy and water saving and sustainable resource use.
• Green and social banking: Ensure that international financial institutions and development banks necessarily implement the principles of green investment and the requirements of international environmental agreements including the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Minamata and Aarhus conventions, the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution and Espoo Conventions and their protocols, the Climate Framework Convention and the Convention for the protection of Biodiversity.
• Apply principles of Business sustainability and human rights: UN Environment should, when engaging with the private sector implement ethical principles and apply human rights and environmental safeguards to engage with industry, including the Ruggie principles and the SA 8000 standard.
• Elaborate the Treaty on Business and Human Rights: UNEA should encourage member states to participate in the negotiations of the UN Treaty for Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, strengthening the obligation of corporations to avoid and remedy human rights abuses they cause through pollution.
• Emphasize the need for States to protect environmental and human rights defenders, first and foremost to end the killing of environmental and human rights defenders such as Berta Caceres and others.
• Green and socially-just international trade rules: Ensure that the prevention of pollution and protection of human health and the environment have priority over investor and business interests, by ensuring that all bilateral, regional and multilateral economic, trade and investment agreements (such as "One Belt - One Road" between China, Russia, Kazakhstan and the WTO), as well as dispute resolution processes enforcing these agreements, are consistent with MEAs and human rights
• Green investment programs, such as in the framework of the Green Climate Fund, should be accessible for direct access by local communities and civil society organizations and should ensure that all investment projects apply prior strategic environmental, social and health impact assessments (SEIA) and safeguard human rights.
• Technological developments should concentrate on reducing hazards, increasing resource efficiency and substituting non-chemical alternatives in industrial and agricultural activities.
• Step up action to address military sector pollution: UN Environment should increase pressure on governments to implement its Resolution "Protection of the environment in areas affected by armed conflict" adopted by UNEA Second session in May 2016. As the situation in armed conflict areas is not improving UNEA should further develop its work addressing pollution by the military sector and from military conflict, including containment and clean-up of former and active military sites.

CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS ON UNEA TO

1. INCREASE CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORT AND SPACE
Deliver on the commitment to increase and support the civil society space at UNEA, in line with Paragraph 88h of the Rio+20 outcome document, by reversing the shrinking space and funds for NGOs to engage with governments at UNEA. Take measures to reduce lobbying from polluting industries by:
 Including ethical rules for partnerships between UN Environment and the private sector,
 Supporting the development of a global fund to address pollution based on a certain share from the turnover of polluting industries.
We call on UNEA-3:
 For enabling conditions, including funding, to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations, at international, regional and national levels;
 To monitor the activities of governments and aid in achieving their obligations under the Multilateral Environmental Agreements;
 And to stimulate public control over environmental policies, including at the national level, which is as an important factor in the fight against corruption;
 To ensure continued active engagement with civil society and governments during the intersessional period between UNEAs and involve key ministries, civil society organizations and other stakeholders. Governments and stakeholder groups after UNEA-3 should discuss how to contribute to the implementation of the results of UNEA-3, the involvement in the implementation of the decisions of UNEA-3 and the preparations for UNEA-4;
 To report back to UNEA-4 about the allocation and progress of funding dedicated to civil society engagement and in particular to ensuring their role to monitor implementation of MEAs.

2. RAPID ACTION TO PREVENT AND REDUCE POLLUTION TO AIR, WATER, SOIL

• UNEA-3 should address pollution of air, water and soil due to industrial and agricultural production, and implement rapid action to prevent and reduce emissions from these sectors.
• Chemicals, Land and Soil
• Hazardous chemicals are a great threat to ecosystems and human health, as they often create irreversible damage once dispersed in the environment and are almost impossible to extract, even at greatest costs. We therefore call on UNEA-3 to:
•  Promote agroecology and the effective phase out of manufacturing, import, sale and use of highly hazardous pesticides in 50 countries by 2025; 150 countries by 2030, including exports of banned pesticides in the EU to non-EU countries.
•  Effectively phase out and restrict hazardous substances, especially those mentioned in the UN Environment report “Towards a Pollution Free Planet”, on a national, regional and global level.
•  Create a global legally binding agreement on disclosing chemicals in products along the supply chain, including information about their health effects, safe disposal and recycling. This agreement must take into account the full life cycle approach, including full access to information about chemicals in products for the public, all the way to recyclers/re-users and waste dealers.
•  Create a global fund to contain and properly clean up POPs as well as obsolete pesticide stockpiles.
•  Decrease the number of incinerators in the region, especially those operating with old technologies.
•  Ensure that old technologies, including highly hazardous pesticides and incinerators are not dumped in developing and transition countries to avoid continued corporate profits at the expense of public health and the environment.
•  To end the illegal trade of chemicals.

Waste

• With fast growing amounts of waste, including hazardous waste (ege-waste), and persistent waste (eg-plastics), polluting the oceans, air and soil, urgent action is required. We therefore call on UNEA-3 to:
•  Ensure the transition from waste land filling and incineration to waste minimization and safe recycling (including composting). This transition should be promoted and supported politically and financially. Strong incentives to adopt more sustainable lifestyles channelled through increasing public participation, information and awareness raising campaigns and support to CSOs.
•  Promote the Zero Waste approach by designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal and plant health.
•  Illegal waste activities including open burning and trade, need to be addressed by implementing and enforcing control mechanisms, applying sanctions, as well as stimulating public participation through mapping and reporting. Decent and safe jobs, especially for the youth, can be provided through community based waste management aimed at waste minimization and safe recycling.

Air Pollution

• As is clear from the annual 7 million deaths from air pollution, particles and mercury emissions from coal fired power plants and industrial enterprises and clouds of radioactive ruthenium-106, there is an urgent need to limit emissions from energy production, intensive agriculture, transport and industrial air pollution. We therefore call on UNEA-3 to:
•  Restrict car use: urgently address road traffic as a major contributor to air quality deterioration and therefore endeavour to achieve car-free cities by 2030 by offering effective, clean and affordable public transportation and integrated shared mobility; priority should be given to the phasing out of diesel fuels in the next two decades in all transport and other usages and to reduce global vehicle emissions by at least 90 per cent through the introduction of advanced on the road vehicle emissions standards in 5 years.
•  Restrict shipping emissions: reduce global shipping emissions by adopting widespread emissions control areas to soon significantly curb SO2, NOX and black carbon emissions from this sector and work with expedience for the phasing out of Heavy Fuel Oil worldwide and the immediate ban of it in the Arctic.
•  Restrict industrial farming: ensure the immediate reduction of air pollutants deriving from farming and agriculture (ammonia, PM, ozone, methane) by requiring large livestock operations to file an annual pollution management and reduction plans and setting zero-emission targets.
•  Provide safe household energy: Provide alternative and accessible energy for household use (e.g. cooking and heating) while also enacting and enforcing appropriate emission limits ensuring that alternative sources of energy other than biomass and solid fuel burning are utilized for heating and cooking in households so as to prevent and curb the current impact of these activities on air pollution.
•  Eliminate government subsidies for waste to energy incinerators and cement kilns.
•  Implement zero waste strategies: Ensure segregation of waste at source for reuse, recycling and composting, zero waste procurement practices including non-toxic zero waste products; reusable shipping containers; reduced packaging; recycled and compostable products; remanufactured equipment; and leased, rented, or shared equipment.
•  End open burning: Adopt bans and effective penalties on open burning of agricultural residues, other wastes and use of private fireplaces in cities.
•  End coal and nuclear: Agree on a moratorium for new coal and nuclear plants. Ensure that no new industries are set up using fuels that are known to cause a health burden on the populations and impact climate including fossil and nuclear fuels. Existing coal industries should be phased out by 2030 in developed nations and by 2040 in developing countries.

Marine pollution
Marine pollution from plastics

• Every year, 8 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic waste than fish in the oceans. After decades of voluntary action, global plastic pollution has not improved. Therefore, UNEA-3 should call for:
•  Immediate action by all member states to ban single use plastics and microbeads, reduce production, use and releases of plastic, plastic products and packaging, ensure increased monitoring and reporting of plastic pollution in ecosystems and human bodies, as well as increase pricing of plastic packaging, in line with the polluter pays principle. Member states shall report back on progress achieved at the next UN Environment Assembly in 2019.
•  Promote safer alternatives to incineration and land filling of marine litter.
•  Establish an ad-hoc open-ended working group that presents its recommendations for a stronger global architecture to combat plastic pollution at the next UNEA in 2019, ensuring the control of plastic pollution at every stage of the plastic life cycle.

Marine pollution by ships and oil/gas transportation

• The shipping sector is main source of oil pollution and (toxic and hazardous) waste dumping in oceans. We call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing marine pollution to:
•  Create a public reporting obligation (PRTR protocol) for ships dumping/washing oil and other waste into sea and introduction of penalty system.
•  Agree on the need to ban the recycling of end-of-life vessels in the intertidal zone (i.e. beaching method), and to support the development of facilities that can ensure full containment of ship-borne pollutants. Ensure the building of toxic-free ships that can be dismantled in line with a cradle-to-cradle approach.
•  Create a GPS-based APP to monitor ships spilling waste, oil to be developed by UN and partners.
•  Agree to phase out of use of heavy oil for ship engines in all areas including the arctic by 2020.
•  Agree on a moratorium on building oil and gas pipelines under the sea.

Marine pollution from land-based sources

• A variety of worldwide industries (including mining, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries) cause toxic pollution of water sources, often in ecologically sensitive areas and indigenous lands. We call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing water pollution to:
•  Commit to reducing from all major rivers and waterways existing and emerging hazardous substances. Ensure containment and clean-up of liquid waste / tailing ponds from ongoing as well as legacy (old) industrial and mining activities; to be financed by the mining and chemical industry.
•  Ensure municipal waste management, in particular packaging and hazardous (liquid) waste, including separate collection and treatment in all river basins and coastal areas.
•  Support a global programme for decentralized wastewater treatment systems in all river basins and coastal areas.
• Fresh water pollution
• The industrial agriculture sector is another one of the biggest polluters of fresh and underground water sources, we call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing water pollution to:
•  Give financial incentives to farmers for the reduction of and phase out of all uses of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, which will significantly reduce costs of water cleaning to provide drinking water quality.
•  Give tax incentives (such as reduced VAT) for organic agriculture that does not pollute groundwater with chemicals and nitrates to increase consumer demand.

Waste

• Minimization of waste at the source, reuse and recycling should play key roles in national and local waste management strategies. Waste should be recognized as a resource.
• Lack of recycling and waste separation infrastructure leads to land filling of valuable resources, including textiles, plastics, paper, aluminum and glass. Incentives should be developed to encourage proper waste management and disposal both on the household and company level.
• In many countries of the UNECE region, most of the waste is land filled and a big part of it ends up in illegal dumps. In Ukraine, there are 6.7 thousand dumps, many of them illegal. This leads to the contamination of air, water, and soil affecting human health and biodiversity.
• Obsolete pesticides are still an important problem in former USSR and western Balkans. They must be treated properly in order to minimize risks.
• Hazardous waste (e.g. medical waste, radioactive waste (including pollution from military activity), electronic waste, industrial waste (historic and new), mining waste, chemical industry waste (hazardous substances), and construction waste) should not be mixed in municipal waste streams and should be collected and treated separately. Hazardous waste must be disposed of in purpose-built incinerators or landfills which can safely destroy or contain hazardous material. Require the same rules and hazardous substance thresholds in recycled material as for virgin material to avoid re-injecting toxic substances into the economy through recycling.
• Uncontrolled burning of household waste (detrimental to human health and environment) is still happening in many parts of the region. Permits and registration issued by regional environmental authorities should register regenerated types of waste and require producers to use best available technologies.
• Specific policies dedicated to the safe management of nuclear and other radioactive waste are needed in the region.
• Waste to energy are sources of toxic chemical emissions and releases and they are an obstacle to waste minimization and recycling. If waste incineration is occurring, adequate treatment of waste ashes is required. However, no public investment should be made in the incineration of household waste. This is especially problematic for countries with inefficient or inexistent waste segregation systems.
• Lack of adequate treatment facilities of wastewater is a source of water pollution, including hormone-disrupting substances. Illegal dumping into rivers and streams occurs in the region.
• Low environmental awareness and through away lifestyles stimulate resource consumption and waste creation and foments pollution. Awareness raising on waste minimization, reuse and recycling to ensure a cultural change in attitude and behaviour is needed. Furthermore, waste minimization, upcycling and recycling should be explored for new job creation in the region.
• The development of grassroots networks of individuals with shared values, NGOs, private sector alliances, professional bodies, etc are need in order to advocate for personal, household and national waste management.

Air Pollution

• Air pollution is a silent and invisible killer causing the premature death of around 9 million people annually, while also worsening the health conditions and well-being of many more. Such dramatic outcome is mostly suffered by populations in developing countries. The 68th World Health Assembly on May 26, 2015, has recommended that States redouble their efforts to identify, address and prevent health impacts of air pollution. Air pollution also has negative impacts on nature and biodiversity, crops, natural vegetation, historical buildings and monuments. We are supportive of the recommendations of the recent scientific report of UN Environment “Towards a Pollution Free Planet” and urge Members states to act by implementing preventive policies and measures.
• Action needs to be taken immediately on different types and sources of outdoor and indoor air pollution, the combination of which can also lead to unpredictable health burdens.
• Therefore the GA urges member states to:
•  Adopt, by 2020, national air quality programmes providing ambitious reductions standards and policies to comply with a planet free of pollution.
•  Adopt and implement the World Health Organization air quality guidelines
•  Invest in strong and reliable air quality monitoring systems and make the data publicly available;
•  Adopt and apply effective enforcement measures against polluters and utilize tax barriers to reduce polluting activities.
•  Address the air pollution originating from transport (e.g. road transport, shipping, airplanes), by offering effective, clean and affordable public transportation and develop adequate infrastructure in order for cities to mainly rely on non-motorised transport by 2030;
•  Phase out diesel fuels in the next two decades in all transport and other usages being a main source for deadly particulate emissions and NOx in cities.
•  Reduce global vehicle emissions by at least 90 per cent through the introduction of advanced road vehicle emissions standards in 5 years.
•  ·Adopt emissions control areas to soon cut emissions from global shipping causing high SO2 and NOX emissions and work with expedience for the phasing out of HFO worldwide.
•  Immediately ban Heavy Fuel Oil use in shipping in the Arctic and other ecologically sensitive areas.
•  Expand green spaces in urban areas to improve ambient air quality in cities and make green areas easily accessible to all in cities.
•  Reduce the non-mobile machinery emissions by favouring the adoption of qualitative standards and low emission zones especially in urban areas.
•  Ensure that no new industries are set up using polluting fuels that are known to be responsible for heavy health burden on the populations and impact climate. Existing coal industries should be phased out by 2030 in developed nations and by 2040 in developing countries.
•  Increase the share of non-polluting renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and tidal to 36 per cent by 2030.
•  Design national programs engaging citizens in adopting healthy diets, reducing waste production as well as energy consumption and methods of sustainable transport.
•  Avoid resorting to incineration facilities when the substance can be disposed of by reuse or recycle.
•  Reduce emissions from industrial sources, including mercury and uranium, and ensure that industries adopt and implement BAT/BEP and comply with emission limit values, including prevention benchmarks under BAT concepts.
•  Provide alternative and accessible energy for households (e.g. cooking and heating).
•  Enact and enforce appropriate limits ensuring that alternative sources of energy other than biomass and solid fuel burning are utilized to prevent and curb the current impact on air pollution.
•  Support sustainable and organic agricultural and farming initiatives to facilitate transition to extensive and sustainable farming.
•  Abolish harmful subsidies and adopt restrictions to the use of pesticides and fertilizers which are affecting the air quality and well-being of the populations.
•  Engage in programs ensuring the immediate reduction of air pollutants deriving from manure and agriculture. (ammonia, PM, ozone, methane) requiring large livestock operations to file an annual pollution management and reduction plan.
•  Provide incentives to local governments to prevent disasters and emergencies originating from wildfire and their impact on air quality and people’s health.

Chemicals, Land and Soil

• Our region, which has a very heterogeneous level of policy regulation, institutional strength, public awareness and means, faces new and old challenges resulting from chemical pollution.
• The main pollution threats for the region are:
•  Highly hazardous pesticides poisoning farmers, children, citizens and harm the environment
•  Many obsolete POPs and pesticides stockpiles are still not secured and cleaned up
•  Irresponsible mining is destroying landscapes, the environment and pose serious threats to human health. At the same time, often companies are not held accountable because they are registered in offshore countries and declare bankruptcy after exploiting.
•  Hazardous chemicals in products such as POPs, heavy metals, mercury, EDCs, nanomaterials, CMRs are dangerous for consumers, especially for children and pregnant women. There is no disclosure or sufficient labelling of ingredients that enables consumers to make an informed decision.
•  There is an increase of new incinerators in the region, many of them using old technology, which leads to even more emissions of dioxin and other very harmful chemicals.
•  The exposure to hazardous chemicals is ubiquitous in our region, with a high percentage of the population living near hot spots. Although a lot is known about some hazardous chemicals, we do not have sufficient information about mixture effects.
•  Radioactive pollution is also a major concern for the region and needs to be acted upon.
•  Chemical pollution during military conflict and at former and active military sites destroys the environment of sometimes large areas, and cause harm to health.

Root causes for pollution and how they could be addressed:

•  Enforcement of existing regulation and surveillance is not in place or scarce.
•  National and regional, including EU, regulation does not protect the environment and health sufficiently. It is necessary to strengthen and implement the core Rio principles.
•  Industry that is polluting, either in production, extraction or retailing, is not held accountable for their negative environmental and social impacts. It is key to end the externalization of cost.
•  Enormous amounts of pesticides and fertilizers are being used and traded, including export of banned pesticides in the EU to developing countries. We need to support and increase agroecology.
•  Disclosure of information about used chemicals along the supply chain is not in place, neither from business to business or for consumers. Information systems and full disclosure of ingredients are key to address pollution and to enable sustainable consumption.

Main expectations from the UN Environment Assembly:

•  An overall, legally binding and holistic approach for the regulation of chemicals and policy principles. Following the success of the UN’s Global Harmonised System for classification of hazardous chemicals, REACH underlying principles should be applied globally.
•  A global framework promoting, supporting and implementing safe substitution, clean production and innovation towards green chemistry and non-chemical solutions.
•  Effective phase out and restriction of substances of most concern.
•  Strengthen Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam, Minamata, Montreal, Aarhus Conventions by ensuring proper, ethical and effective enforcement and implementation, further development, including rapid inclusion of new substances, sufficient financing mechanisms, access for NGOs to the Special Programme, increase public participation.
•  Create financial mechanisms (eg through taxation) to internalize the costs of pollution from legacy toxic chemicals.
•  Create legally binding comprehensive information systems on chemicals in products along the supply chain, including information about health effects, taking into account the full life cycle approach, including full access to information for the public.
•  By 2020, establish a living, publicly available global inventory of nanomaterials on the market, including detailed information concerning our region.
•  Apply the precautionary principle to new technological developments.
•  By 2030, publicly available monitoring shows that no varnishes, lacquers, stains, enamels, glazes, primers or coatings that are being produced, sold, exported, imported or used for any purpose contain lead in the region.
•  By 2020, UN Environment assembles a list(s) of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and potential EDCs and sources of exposure relevant for our region from the UNEP/WHO State of the Science report and other sources and makes it publicly available on its website.
•  Support information exchange on best regional and national regulatory practices (like REACH) to adopt and enforce chemicals and pesticides regulation.
•  Immediately establish and enforce occupational health and safety regulations, especially for the most vulnerable populations, and provide equal protection in the workplace and the community in 150 countries.
•  Provide guidance and assistance on agroecology and ecosystem approaches to sustainable food and fibber production to 50 countries by 2025; 150 countries by 2030.
•     Phase out the manufacture, import, sale and use of highly hazardous pesticides in 50 countries by 2025; 150 countries by 2030, including export of banned pesticides in the EU to non-EU countries.
•  Apply strict regulations and enforcement for pharmaceuticals in the environment and rapidly implement the recommendations on pharmaceuticals in the environment made by SAICM.
•  Regulation and enforcement of industrial livestock and fish farming to prevent contamination of the environment by excessive wastes from these operations and phasing out the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics.
•  Fully implement the Aarhus Convention in the region, especially Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs), and urge other regions to develop regional agreements similar to the Aarhus Convention.

Water & Marine
MARINE POLLUTION
 

Marine pollution from plastics
Every year, 8 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans. It there will be more plastic waste than fish in the oceans. After decades of voluntary action, global plastic pollution has not improved. There is now need for urgent, binding extended producer responsibility measures and actions to ensure a full take-back of all plastic produced and used (no incineration, no land filling, no reuse of toxic plastics in products, no oxo-degradable plastics). The successful introduction of bans on single-use plastics bags in many cities and countries around the world, show this measure has been able to reduce up to 80% of plastic bags in several cases, and is a measure that can be implemented without delay.
Therefore, UNEA-3 should call for:

•  Immediate action by all member states to ban single use plastics and microbeads, reduce production, use and releases of plastic, plastic products and packaging and increase pricing of plastic packaging, in line with the polluter pays principle. Member states shall report back on progress achieved at the next UN Environment Assembly in 2019.
•  Promote safer alternatives to incineration and land filling of marine litter, halting new investment and funding to incinerators; implement zero waste and the polluter pays principle;
•  Ensure increased monitoring and reporting of plastic pollution in marine and terrestrial environments and human bodies.
•  Establish an ad-hoc open-ended working group that presents its recommendations for a stronger global architecture to combat plastic pollution at the next UNEA in 2019, ensuring the control of plastic pollution at every stage of the plastic life cycle.

Marine pollution by ships and oil/gas transportation
The shipping sector is main source of oil pollution and (toxic and hazardous) waste dumping in oceans. We call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing marine pollution to:

•  Create a public reporting obligation (PRTR protocol) for ships dumping/washing oil and other waste into sea and introduction of penalty system.
•  Agree on the need to ban the recycling of end-of-life vessels in the intertidal zone (i.e. beaching method), and to support the development of facilities that can ensure full containment of ship-borne pollutants.
•  Ensure the building of toxic-free ships that can be dismantled in line with a cradle-to-cradle approach.
•  Creation of a GPS-based APP to monitor ships spilling waste, oil to be developed by UN and partners.
•  Agree to phase out of use of heavy oil for ship engines in all areas including the arctic by 2020.
•  Agree on a moratorium on building oil and gas pipelines under the sea.

3. Marine pollution from land-based sources
The mining industry worldwide is one of the most toxic polluters of water sources (such as cadmium, chrome, mercury, uranium etc.) often in ecological sensitive areas and indigenous lands. We call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing water pollution to:

•  Monitor and commit to reducing from all major rivers and waterways for existing and emerging substances of concern, including persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances (PB); very persistent and very bioaccumulative substances(VPVB); chemicals that are carcinogens or mutagens or that adversely affect, inter alia, the reproductive, endocrine, immune or nervous systems; persistent organic pollutants (POPs), mercury and other chemicals of global concern; chemicals produced or used in high volumes; chemicals subject to wide dispersive uses; and other chemicals of concern at the national level as determined in SAICM Overarching Policy Strategy para 9.
•  Ensure containment and clean-up of liquid waste / tailing ponds from ongoing as well as legacy (old) industrial and mining activities to be financed by the mining and chemical industry
•  Ensure municipal waste management, in particular packaging and hazardous (liquid) waste, including separate collection and treatment in all river basins and coastal areas (because of lack of wastewater treatment this pollutes rivers and oceans, and is one of the main sources of marine litter)
•  Support global programme for decentralized wastewater treatment systems (constructed wetlands, ecological sanitation etc.) in all river basins and coastal areas which are often not able to obtain financing from infrastructure funds, despite the fact that they are the least cost-intensive option

FRESH WATER POLLUTION
The industrial agriculture sector is another one of the biggest polluters of fresh and underground water sources, we call on UNEA-3 to include in the resolution on reducing water pollution to:

•  Give financial incentives to farmers for the reduction of and phase out of all uses of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, which will significantly reduce costs of water cleaning to provide drinking water quality (example: city of Munich).
•  Give tax incentives (such as reduced VAT) for organic agriculture that does not pollute groundwater with chemicals and nitrates to increase consumer demand.