The 2007 Year Book includes global and regional overviews of significant developments over the past year. It highlights linkages among ecosystem health, human well-being, and economic development; examines new thinking on the value of ecosystem services and the threat from ecosystem degradation; and describes recent research findings and policy decisions that affect our awareness and response to global change.

The emerging scientific and policy challenges of nanotechnology are examined from an environmental perspective. Nanotechnology will bring environmental benefits but it is vital that we adopt appropriate assessment and legislative process to address the unique challenges presented by nanomaterials and their life cycles

The GEO-indicatord chapter provides an up-to-date graphic representation of key trends and growing stresses on the environment that supports all life on the planet.

The report not only underscores existing challenges, that have become even more pressing through the effects of globalization, but also presents new and emerging challenges that result from rapid technological developments.

The GEO Year Book outlines a range of options able to steer globalization onto a more intelligent, environmentally, economically responsible and sustainable course if more widely deployed and enthusiastically adopted. The report acknowledges the importance of responsible business and the power of consumerism to direct globalization—factors that can play an increasingly significant role if governments heed calls by the private sector for 21st century regulation and consumers are fully and properly informed.