Purpose: The responsiveness of the state apparatus is being increased, in response to the global demands that citizens require to address their needs in areas such as health, education, transportation, and the environment.
Method: The latter has been exacerbated by the arrival of the health crisis, which has drawn attention to the exploitation of natural resources and its impact on ecosystems. In the face of this, the literature review article aimed to analyze the challenges of effective public management in the fight against environmental pollution from a global perspective. It followed a qualitative approach and a systematic review type, supported by the PRISMA methodology.
Results and Conclusion: The results yielded a total of 60 selected articles based on previously defined criteria, with 40.00% from Dialnet, 31.67% from Scopus, 16.67% from Scielo, 10.00% from Redalyc, and 1.67% from Taylor & Francis Online. Finally, it was concluded that these challenges respond to policies and regulations, human resources, integrated systems, research and technology support, environmental management measures, and monitoring and tracking.
Research Implications: The implementation of actions favoring the environment through public management requires, in the first instance, officials whose profiles exhibit leadership skills and abilities that facilitate compliance with the regulations aimed at protecting the environment.
Originality/value: The goal is to contribute to scientific knowledge in a subject that involves two significant aspects within public management or, more precisely, NPM: the environmental approach and the measures being taken to address the consequences of environmental pollution.