UNEP Chemicals is the main catalytic force in the UN system for concerted global action on the environmentally sound management of hazardous chemicals. It works closely with agencies within the UN, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. UNEP Chemicals is an important and growing force in helping countries develop the capability for ensuring the public health and environmental safeguards essential to sustainable development.
Chemicals are essential for continued economic development.
Globally, production and trade in chemicals is measured in trillions of dollars. Chemical production or use is a crucial component of virtually every sector of our economies, and all of us in some way come into daily contact with chemicals. Yet, while most of this chemicals are benign in the levels we are usually exposed to them, others present risks to human health or the environment. In the case of chemicals, sustainable development means the continuation of global production and use of chemicals, while at the same time reducing or eliminating unsustainable risks from those chemicals or activities. Sustainable development requires the global capacity for the sound management of chemicals.