The publication of this latest review of the work of UN Environment falls in the 70th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Environmental sustainability is essential for global equity and many of the rights and freedoms listed in the Declaration, not least the rights to life, liberty and security. When the environment is compromised, lives are often endangered and people’s opportunities for better standards of living are profoundly curtailed. Throughout the past year, UN Environment campaigned on many fronts against the spiralling pollution of air, water and land around the world.