Environmental threats growing from animal-to-human diseases, says UN

A new UN report identifies some of the most worrying environmental threats the world is facing today.

Those threats range from the rise in diseases transmitted from animals to humans to the increasing accumulation of toxic chemicals in food crops as a result of drought and high temperatures.

The UN Environment Agency report also highlighted the threat to human health posed by the alarming amount of plastic waste in the oceans and scientific evidence suggesting that losses and damage from climate change are inevitable.

According to Friday's report, biodiversity and ecosystems decreased dramatically in the 20th century while the number of people and domestic animals increased equally dramatically. This increased the opportunity for viruses, bacteria and other agents to pass from animals through the environment to cause diseases in people, it said.