For years, nobody in power paid attention to them. However, that started to change in March 2022, when the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) formally recognized "the significant contribution made by workers in informal and cooperative settings to the collecting, sorting and recycling of plastics." This was the first time the essential work of waste pickers was acknowledged in any UN environmental resolution.
In 2019, before the war, Israel was responsible for 0.2% of the global carbon emissions. However, as Nina Lakhani reports for The Guardian (2025), since the start of the conflict in 2023, Israel has been responsible for 99% of the 1.89m tCO2e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) produced during the confrontation, primarily because of its aerial bombardment and the ground invasion of Gaza.
