UNDP

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Environmental Rights

Operations cause soil pollution in high concentrations that pose a risk to human health and/or the ecosystem

 

Thousands of chemicals in household and processed food products, in addition to urban, industrial and agricultural waste end up in soil, leaving it degraded and in some cases toxic to human health. Soil pollution also reduces the quantity and quality of crops and produce and compromises the health of children and marginalized communities who tend to be disproportionally affected by environmental degradation.

 

Relevant international human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, guarantee the right to safe and healthy working conditions, including on uncontaminated soil, and the right of children and young persons to be free from work harmful to their health.

Relevant Human Rights Instruments

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989


SDG 12

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION & PRODUCTION

SDG 12.4

Businesses that address the risk of soil pollution contribute to reaching SDG 12.4: Achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.

SDG 12.5
Further, businesses can contribute to achieve SDG 12.5: Waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

SDG 15

LIFE ON LAND

SDG 15.3

Preventing or mitigating the risk of soil pollution contributes to achieving 15.3: By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.