<Li> resource efficiency . </Li> <P> UNEP has registered several successes, such as the 1987 Montreal Protocol for limiting emissions of gases blamed for thinning the planet's protective ozone layer, or the 2012 Minamata Convention, a treaty to limit toxic mercury . </P> <P> UNEP has sponsored the development of solar loan programs, with attractive return rates, to buffer the initial deployment costs and entice consumers to consider and purchase solar PV systems . The most famous example is the solar loan program sponsored by UN Environment helped 100,000 people finance solar power systems in India . Success in India's solar programme has led to similar projects in other parts of the developing world like Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia and Mexico . </P> <P> UNEP sponsors the Marshlands project in the Middle East . In 2001, UN Environment alerted the international community to the destruction of the Marshlands when it released satellite images showing that 90 percent of the Marshlands had already been lost . The UN Environment "support for Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshland" commenced in August 2004, in order to manage the Marshland area in an environmentally sound manner . </P>

3 ways the un has taken steps to protect the environment