Global Overview
The GEO-1 Report shows that significant
progress has been made in the last decade in confronting environmental
challenges in both developing and industrial regions. World-wide,
the greatest progress has been in the realm of institutional developments,
international co-operation, public participation, and the emergence
of private-sector action. Legal frameworks, economic instruments,
environmentally sound technologies, and cleaner production processes
have been developed and applied. Environmental impact assessments
have become standard tools for the initiation, implementation,
and evaluation of major development and investment projects in
many countries around the world.
As a result, several countries report marked progress in curbing
environmental pollution and slowing the rate of resource degradation
as well as reducing the intensity of resource use. The rate of
environmental degradation in several developing countries has
been slower than that experienced by industrial countries when
they were at a similar stage of economic development. (See Figure
2.)
Figure 2. Environmental transitions.
Internationally, Agenda 21 - the
plan of action adopted by Governments in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro-
provides the global consensus on the road map towards sustainable
development. The Commission on Sustainable Development offers
an intergovernmental forum to co-ordinate and monitor progress
on the plan's implementation. A financial mechanism, the Global
Environment Facility, addresses the incremental costs
that developing countries face in responding to selected global
environmental problems. UNEP continues to be the environmental
voice of the United Nations, responsible for environmental policy
development, scientific analysis, monitoring, and assessment.
Increasingly, United Nations organizations, the World Bank, and
Regional Banks are "greening" their programmes. Recently
signed international agreements are entering into force, older
treaties are being improved, and new approaches to international
policy are being developed, tested, and implemented.
Since Rio, a growing body of actors-Governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), the private sector, civil society, and
the scientific and research community-have responded to environmental
challenges in a variety of ways and have taken great strides towards
incorporating environmental considerations in their day-to-day
activities. Groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development, the Earth Council, and the International Council
for Local Environment Initiatives provide effective non-governmental
forums for world-wide co-operation and information sharing. Increasingly,
Government departments are called on to take environmental considerations
into account, and consequently environment assumes a more important
role in international relations and transactions. The participation
of a broad range of ministries (other than those on the environment)
in the negotiation and implementation of the Biodiversity, Climate,
and Desertification Conventions and the increasing array of voluntary
agreements, codes of conduct, and guidelines generated by the
industry, banking, and insurance sectors all exemplify the encouraging
trend.
Nevertheless, despite this progress on several
fronts, from a global perspective the environment has continued
to degrade during the past decade, and significant environmental
problems remain deeply embedded in the socio-economic fabric of
nations in all regions. Progress towards a global sustainable
future is just too slow. A sense of urgency is lacking. Internationally
and nationally, the funds and political will are insufficient
to halt further global environmental degradation and to address
the most pressing environmental issues-even though technology
and knowledge are available to do so. The recognition of environmental
issues as necessarily long-term and cumulative, with serious global
and security implications, remains limited. The reconciliation
of environment and trade regimes in a fair and equitable manner
still remains a major challenge. The continued preoccupation with
immediate local and national issues and a general lack of sustained
interest in global and long-term environmental issues remain major
impediments to environmental progress internationally. Global
governance structures and global environmental solidarity remain
too weak to make progress a world-wide reality. As a result, the
gap between what has been done thus far and what is realistically
needed is widening.
Comprehensive response mechanisms have not yet been fully internalized
at the national level. The development at local, national, and
regional levels of effective environmental legislation and of
fiscal and economic instruments has not kept pace with the increase
in environmental institutions. In the private sector, environmental
advances by several major transnational corporations are not reflected
widely in the practices of small- and medium-sized companies that
form the backbone of economies in many countries.
In the future, the continued degradation of natural resources,
shortcomings in environmental responses, and renewable resource
constraints may increasingly lead to food insecurity and conflict
situations. Changes in global biogeochemical cycles and the complex
interactions between environmental problems such as climate change,
ozone depletion, and acidification may have impacts that will
confront local, regional, and global communities with situations
they are unprepared for. Previously unknown risks to human health
are becoming evident from the cumulative and persistent effects
of a whole range of chemicals, particularly the persistent organic
pollutants. The effects of climate variability and change are
already increasing the incidence of familiar public health problems
and leading to new ones, including a more extensive reach of vectorborne
diseases and a higher incidence of heat-related illness and mortality.
If significant major policy reforms are not implemented quickly,
the future might hold more such surprises.
GEO-1 substantiates the need for the world to
embark on major structural changes and to pursue environmental
and associated socio-economic policies vigorously. Key areas for
action must embrace the use of alternative and renewable energy
resources, cleaner and leaner production systems world-wide, and
concerted global action for the protection and conservation of
the world's finite and irreplaceable fresh-water resources.
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