The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) series are the flagship publications of the world's leading environmental organization. They present comprehensive and authoritative reviews and analyses of worldwide environmental conditions and trends and the policies and policy instruments available to address them.
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Global Environment Outlook - 3
United Nations Environment Programme
Foreword by Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director, UNEP
GEO-3 is published 10 years after the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and in time for its successor, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It sets an action-oriented environmental agenda for the future.
Continuing the global and regional focus of the series, it complements the detailed assessment of the state of the global environment set out in GEO-2000. GEO-3 examines environmental trends over the past 30 years to provide an integrated explanation of the developments that have occurred. It not only examines the state of the environment over that period, but also the full range of social, economic, political and cultural drivers that have brought about change. Highlighting human vulnerability to environmental deterioration, it assesses effects of the spectrum of policy measures adopted.
From this retrospective analysis, GEO-3 then projects future outcomes. It develops a range of scenarios for the next 30 years, from 2002-2032, with detailed exploration of the policies and instruments available at all levels for improving environmental conditions.
Clearly organized and in accessible non-technical language, in full colour with extensive graphics, statistics, boxes and quick highlights, GEO-3 will be an essential tool for teaching and research as well as a vital guide for policy-makers and stimulus to future action.
Chapter 1: Integrating Environment and Development: 1972-2002 provides an overview of environment and development issues over the past 30 years.
Chapter 2: State of the Environment and Policy Retrospective: 1972-2002 presents an integrated state of the environment and policy analysis of key environmental issues at global and regional levels.
Chapter 3: Human Vulnerability to Environmental Change discusses increasing vulnerability of people due to environmental degradation and disasters.
Chapter 4: Outlook 2002-2032 uses a scenario approach to present four different visions of the future.
Chapter 5: Options for Action summarizes major cross-cutting issues and presents a range of policy actions aimed at strengthening the environmental pillar of sustainable development.
The CD-ROM contains the full text of the report accompanied by a compendium of the data used in preparing it.
GEO-3 will help to set, in a hopeful and positive tone, an action-oriented environmental agenda before and after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, as it delivers relevant and timely information to the world's leaders and other policy makers
