Air pollution and climate change are now the greatest threats to human health in the pan-European region, finds the European assessment of the sixth UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6).

The report, launched at the Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference attended by over 800 participants, also finds that unhealthy lifestyles and the disconnection between people and the environment are increasingly affecting human health in the region.

Environmental challenges in the pan-European region are also becoming more complex and systematic, it stresses, while resilience to these will be affected by megatrends largely beyond the region’s control.

“Greater cooperation and a more integrated approach are needed to tackle these transboundary challenges, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals," he underlined.

Air pollution is now the greatest health risk in the region. The proportion of the population living in areas exceeding WHO air quality guideline values varies by pollutant, with between 87-93 per cent of the EU population exposed to high levels of fine particles (PM2.5), 61-83 per cent to PM10, and 97-98 per cent to high levels of ozone (O3). Over 500,000 premature deaths in the pan-European region were attributable to outdoor air quality and 100,000 to indoor air quality in 2012.

Climate change is one of the largest threats to human and ecosystem health and to achieving sustainable development in the pan-European region. It is also an accelerator for most other environmental risks. Impacts of climate change affect health through floods, heat waves, droughts, reduced agricultural productivity, exacerbated air pollution and allergies and vector, food and water-borne diseases.

Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation is continuing in the region and is mainly caused by increased land-use change, particularly agricultural intensification, urbanization and habitat fragmentation.

Greater investments are needed in environmental accounting systems to ensure external costs are addressed, the report notes. There is also a need to pay close attention to early signals from science and society and invest in foresight processes to identify possible future risks, opportunities and conflicts, it finds.

To read a full version of the paper in English click here and note the Errata here. For Russian please click here and note the Errata here.

For More information please contact matthew.billot@unep.org