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GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK

GEO-6

TECHNICAL SUMMARY




The Sixth Global Environment Outlook – Technical Summary iv

Acknowledgements

This Technical Summary is an integrated summary of UN Environment Programme’s flagship

publication, the sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6). The UN Environment Programme

acknowledges the contributions made by several individuals and institutions in the preparation and

production of this report. Below is the full list of names and institutions involved in this process:

Coordinating Editors

Joyeeta Gupta (GEO-6 Co-Chair), Paul Ekins (GEO-6 Co-Chair), and Pierre Boileau

(Senior Environmental Affairs Oficer, UNEP)

Contributing authors

Ghassem Asrar, Elaine Baker, Tariq Banuri, Jane Bemigisha, Graeme Clark, John Crump, Florence

Mayocyoc-Daguitan, Jonathan Davies, Phillip Dickerson, Nicolai Dronin, Mark Elder, Erica Gaddis,

Gensuo Jia, Anna Maria Grobicki, Cristina Guerreiro, Andrés Guhl, Peter Harris, Rowena Hay, Steve

Hedden, Klaus Jacob, Mikiko Kainuma, Terry Keating, Peter King, Pali Lehohla, Christian Loewe,

Paul Lucas, Diana Mangalagiu, Diego Martino, Shanna McClain, Catherine McMullen, Adelina

Mensah, Indu K. Murthy, Charles Mwangi, John Muthama Nzioka, Jacob Park, Laura Pereira,

Fernando Filgueira Prates, Walter Rast, Jake Rice, Joni Seager, William Sonntag, Peter Stoett,

Michelle Tan, Detlef van Vuuren, Dimitri Alexis Zenghelis.

Assistant

Moritz Steigler

GEO-6 Core TeamPierre Boileau (Head of Global Assessment Unit), Yunting Duan, Eddah Kaguthi,

Caroline Kaimuru, Jian Liu, Caroline Mureithi, Wambui Ndung’u, Brigitte Ohanga,

Franklin Odhiambo, Grace Odhiambo, Adele Roccato, Sharif Shawky, Edoardo Zandri

Production Support

Copy Editor John Smith

Design and Layout Jennifer Odallo (UNON Publishing Services Section – ISO 14001-certiied)




v

Table of contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iv

LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

LIST OF BOXES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

CO-CHAIRS’ MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .viii

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix

1 A HEALTHY PLANET SUPPORTS HEALTHY PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 The Methodology of GEO-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 FIVE DRIVERS AFFECT THE HEALTH OF THE PLANET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.1 Population Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.2 Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.3 Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.4 Climate change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.5 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.6 Interactions across the ive drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3 AN INCREASINGLY UNHEALTHY PLANET AFFECTS EVERYONE’S HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.1 Cross-cutting issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213.1.1 Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213.1.2 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223.1.3 Resources, chemicals, waste and the circular economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.2 State of the Global Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.2.1 Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.2.2 Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.2.3 Oceans and coasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.2.4 Land and soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393.2.5 Freshwater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3.3 Human health, equity and economic dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483.3.1 Health of the planet and human health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483.3.2 Cross-cutting equity, gender and economic issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

4 DESPITE SOME SUCCESS STORIES, POLICY MEASURES LAG BEHIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.1 Introduction: some policy success stories exist, but they are not enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574.2 Addressing speciic drivers through policy innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604.3 Thematic responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4.3.1 Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624.3.2 Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644.3.3 Oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664.3.4 Land and soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674.3.5 Freshwater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

4.4 Bottom-up action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734.5 Lessons learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

5 A HEALTHY PLANET AND HEALTHY PEOPLE ARE SYNERGETIC: ACHIEVING TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE . . 79

5.1 Future developments without further policy interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795.2 Pathways to Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835.3 Transformative Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.4 A Healthy Planet and Healthy People are Synergetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6 DATA AND KNOWLEDGE FOR A HEALTHY PLANET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

6.1 Data and Knowledge: State and Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936.2 The Primary Domains of Data and Needs in those Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956.3 The Need for Open Data and International Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

ANNEX 1. EXAMPLES OF OTHER GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS AND THEIR LINKS TO GEO-6 . . . . 101

7 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

8 GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104




The Sixth Global Environment Outlook – Technical Summary vi

List of Figures

Figure 1.1 The DPSIR approach used in GEO-6 ........................................................................................................................ 3

Figure 1.2 Integrating equity and economic questions in the DPSIR framework .................................................................. 4

Figure 1.3 Methodological approach for assessing policy effectiveness: top-down and bottom-up approach .................. 4

Figure 1.4 The four-box model for the qualitative communication of conidence ................................................................. 6Figure 2.1 Female secondary education and total fertility rates ............................................................................................. 9

Figure 2.2 World population, emissions and fertility .............................................................................................................. 10

Figure 2.3 How economic growth rates in developing countries began to outstrip those in developed countries. .......... 11

Figure 2.4 Global urban population growth propelled by cities ............................................................................................. 12

Figure 2.5 City growth rates and urban vulnerability .............................................................................................................. 13

Figure 2.6 Built-up area vs. population (1975–2015) ............................................................................................................. 14

Figure 2.7 World urbanization trends ...................................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 2.8 Mean atmospheric CO2 concentrations ................................................................................................................. 15

Figure 2.9 Emission trends in different countries from 1990 to 2015: red lines show growth and blue lines show reductions ................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Figure 2.10 Consumption and associated environmental pressures are unequally distributed across nations................. 16

Figure 2.11 Trends in numbers of loss-relevant natural events .............................................................................................. 17

Figure 2.12 The economic and human impact of disasters from 2005–2014 ....................................................................... 17

Figure 3.1 Chemical intensiication, 1955-2015 ..................................................................................................................... 24Figure 3.2 Annual emission trends of GHG and air pollution from 1990 to 2014 in kilotonnes/year by pollutant,

region and sector..................................................................................................................................................... 26

Figure 3.3 Global annual average temperature anomalies (relative to the long-term average for 1981-2010) ................. 28

Figure 3.4 Arctic sea ice age and extent ................................................................................................................................. 29

Figure 3.5 Deaths per 100,000 people in 2016 attributable to ambient PM2.5

air pollution; age standardized data.......... 29

Figure 3.6 Percentage of PM2.5

related deaths in a region, indicated by the column due to (a) emissions produced or (b) goods and services consumed in the region indicated by the row. .......................................................... 30

Figure 3.7 The causal factors, drivers and direct pressures contributing to the degradation of global biodiversity and the ecosystems services provided by it. ........................................................................................................ 31

Figure 3.8 Examples of global distribution of pressures on (a) threat intensity (H:High; L:Low; M:Medium; VH:Very High; VL:Very Low) from terrestrial invasive species; and (b) cumulative isheries by-catch intensity for seabirds, sea mammals and sea turtles by all gear types (gillnet, longline and trawl) ..................................... 32

Figure 3.9 Map showing maximum heat stress during the 2014-2017 period of the global coral bleaching event (ongoing at the time of writing) .............................................................................................................................. 35

Figure 3.10 Global map of potential marine plastic input to the oceans, based on human activities and watershed characteristics ......................................................................................................................................................... 38

Figure 3.11 Plastic litter in the open ocean ............................................................................................................................... 39

Figure 3.12 Global area allocation for food production............................................................................................................ 40

Figure 3.13 Developing countries: net cereals trade (million tonnes). Net cereal imports have increased since 1970 and are expected to rise. ......................................................................................................................................... 42

Figure 3.14 Global forest ownership, 2002-2013 ...................................................................................................................... 43

Figure 3.15 Distribution of agricultural land holdings: females .............................................................................................. 43

Figure 3.16 Global map of land deals ........................................................................................................................................ 44

Figure 3.17 Make-up of total food waste in developed and developing countries ................................................................. 45

Figure 3.18 Global trends in increasing groundwater use ....................................................................................................... 47

Figure 3.19 Proportion of total water withdrawn for agriculture ............................................................................................. 47

Figure 3.20 Impacts on the health of the planet and people ................................................................................................... 50

Figure 3.21 Contribution to drivers and pressures of privileged and marginalized people ................................................... 51

Figure 3.22 Vulnerability to risks and impacts .......................................................................................................................... 53

Figure 4.1 Protected Areas of the World ................................................................................................................................. 57

Figure 4.2 Contraceptive prevalence and total fertility ........................................................................................................... 61

Figure 4.3 Groupings of selected regional multilateral air pollution agreements ............................................................... 62

Figure 4.4 Climate inance for adaptation ............................................................................................................................... 63Figure 4.5 Beneits of tenure-secure lands outweigh the costs in three Latin American countries ................................... 68Figure 4.6 Ramsar sites designated, by year and region ....................................................................................................... 70

Figure 4.7 SDGs targeted by the total workshop seeds and the total Climate CoLab proposals ....................................... 72

Figure 4.8 Total number of workshop seeds and Climate CoLab proposals addressing each intervention in the agriculture, food, land and biodiversity cluster (seeds and proposals are double counted when they meet multiple measures). ............................................................................................................................... 73




vii

Figure 5.1 Projected global trends in target achievement for selected Sustainable Development Goals and internationally agreed environmental goals .......................................................................................................... 79

Figure 5.2 Percentage change in non-energy crop production vs. the percentage change in non-energy cropland area from 2010 to 2030 and 2050 .......................................................................................................................... 80

Figure 5.3 Future projections of emissions for air pollutants SO2, NO

x and BC ................................................................... 81

Figure 5.4 Projected under-ive mortality rate in 2030 ........................................................................................................... 82Figure 5.5 Different pathways leading to a global mean temperature increase well below 2°C ......................................... 84

Figure 5.6 2010–2050 energy intensity reduction rate and the 2050 share of low GHG technologies in the total mix of the scenarios included in the SSP database ............................................................................................. 84

Figure 5.7 Differences in the air pollution emissions between various climate mitigation scenarios, and the SSP2 baseline ............................................................................................................................................ 85

Figure 5.8 Different policy approaches ................................................................................................................................... 87

Figure 5.9 Choice to be made to achieve a healthy planet for healthy people ..................................................................... 89

Figure 6.1 Global hydrological fluxes and storages (expressed in 1,000 km3 per year), illustrating natural and anthropogenic cycles .............................................................................................................................................. 93

Figure 6.2 SDG indicator status ............................................................................................................................................... 94

Figure 6.3 Environment-related SDG indicators by goal and tier ........................................................................................... 94

Figure 6.4 Equity questions in data and knowledge ............................................................................................................... 97

Figure 6.5 Extent of adoption of the System of Environmental-Economic accounting ....................................................... 98

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Interrelationships across the drivers ..................................................................................................................... 19

Table 3.1 Estimates of economic value, employment and major environmental impacts of the major ocean-related industries ................................................................................................................................................................. 37

Table 3.2 Ranking the health of the system components of the planet (2018-2050) ........................................................ 48

Table 3.3 Ranking the impact of system components on human health (2018-2050) ...................................................... 49

Table 4.1 A healthy or unhealthy planet: employment and livelihoods (E&L) ..................................................................... 59

Table 5.1 Historic and business-as-usual trends in resource use eficiency in production and consumption ................ 80

List of Boxes

Box 1.1 Approach to assessing policy effectiveness .......................................................................................................... 4

Box 1.2 GEO-6 Theory of Change and Conidence Statements........................................................................................... 6




The Sixth Global Environment Outlook – Technical Summary viii

Co-Chairs’ Message

The sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6):

Healthy Planet, Healthy People, was launched

in March 2019 at the fourth UN Environment

Assembly. This voluminous report focuses on the

multiple pathways through which a healthy planet

supports healthy people and conversely on the risks

for human health posed by the fast deteriorating

health of the planet. Among the long list of ongoing

damage to life and heath from air pollution, water

pollution and land degradation, the report warned

that zoonosis is already 60 per cent of all infectious

disease and that a pandemic could occur.

Since late 2019, the spread of COVID 19 worldwide

demonstrates the enormous challenges such a pandemic can cause for both the health care system and the economy,

and the dificult choices facing policy makers between these priorities. Even if such choices are for the short-term, which is by no means clear, these are hard, painful and very expensive choices. We hope that, in investing in the recovery

process, states and other stakeholders will consider how such painful challenges could be avoided in the future.

In this Technical Summary of GEO-6 we have distilled the science and data in that report and synthesized the

information to make it more accessible to policymakers, students and scientists, and, we hope, more useful both

for teaching and learning at the university level, and for policy makers considering how to address environmental

problems as they seek to engender economic recovery.

In producing the Technical Summary we have sought to weave the many and disparate themes of GEO-6 – the

knowledge about and interactions across the multitude of processes that take place in air, freshwater, land and

soil, oceans and coasts, and biodiversity – into a coherent narrative about the cumulative damage to the global

environment and the need to address the underlying drivers and pressures. The message that emerges, as in GEO-6,

is the need for urgent and sustained action leading to transformational change, if nature’s contributions to people are

to be sustained.

We have used conidence terms throughout the text, to provide some context for decision makers, along with references back to sections in the main report (in curly brackets) for readers who wish to ind more detailed information about an issue as set out in Section 1.1 in Chapter 1. In a few places we have referenced scientiic publications and indings that have emerged after publication of the main GEO-6 Report, some of which arose out of the report itself.

We hope that the Technical Summary is useful for academics and their students in universities – and others – who

would like to have more speciic knowledge about sustainable approaches to health and environmental problems related to air, freshwater, land and soil, oceans and coasts, and biodiversity, as described in GEO-6. References to the

main report are included, so that the greater detail on these indings within GEO-6 can be easily accessed, if desired.

We also hope that this publication will help generate greater awareness and understanding of the important indings of GEO-6.

Joyeeta Gupta Paul Ekins




ix

GEO-6 Technical Summary Foreword

In 2019, UNEP released the sixth edition of the Global

Environment Outlook at the Fourth UN Environment

Assembly. The Report underscored the fact that a healthy

planet is necessary for healthy people and called for the

urgent transformation of economies, energy and food

systems to better protect air, freshwater, land and soil, oceans

and coastlines, and nature itself. The global pandemic

COVID-19 has demonstrated the interconnected nature of the

planet’s life support systems and that we cannot return to

business as usual. And the good news is that in building back

better, we can ensure both a healthy environment and healthy

people.

This comprehensive environmental assessment, which was

awarded the 2020 Award for Environmental Science from the

Association of American Publishers demonstrates that the

solutions to meet internationally agreed environmental goals

require a systems approach, rather than a continuation of

our current approach which looks at each of these issues as

separate and distinct.

As we confront the climate and nature emergency and seek

to end unprecedented and rapid environmental degradation,

it is evident that current policies to achieve internationally

agreed environmental goals will be insuficient. More urgent and sustained action is required to address the environmental

dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Importantly, our analysis has identiied a variety of pathways to this transformation whether it is by transitioning to meat-light or no-meat diets or electrifying the vehicle fleet. Current projections show that about 50 per cent more

food will be needed to feed a population of up to 10 billion by 2050. At the same time, the environmental impact of

food production needs to decrease signiicantly to mitigate land degradation, chemical pollution, climate impacts and biodiversity loss associated with the food sector. Our agreed health and environmental goals must be achieved not

only through social and technological change, but also with a signiicant reduction of food wastage and losses.

I hope policymakers, academic institutions and researchers will ind that this Technical Summary, as a complement to the Summary for Policymakers, published in 2019, provides useful insights for governments looking to develop

rapid, far-reaching and just policies to address the environmental challenges that are so powerfully outlined in the

sixth Global Environment Outlook.

Inger Andersen

UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director

United Nations Environment Programme


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