2021 UNEP report “Making Peace with Nature” (Summary)

 On 18 February 2021, ahead of the fifth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5), UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Inger Andersen launched the first UNEP synthesis report entitled: “Making Peace With Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies”. It is based on evidence from global environmental assessments.

The synthesis report communicates how climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. The report serves to translate the current state of scientific knowledge into crisp, clear and digestible facts-based messages that the world can relate to and follow up on. It first provides an Earth diagnosis of current and projected human-induced environmental change, by putting facts and interlinkages in perspective, including by using smart infographics. In building on this diagnosis, the report identifies the shifts needed to close gaps between current actions and those needed to achieve sustainable development. The analysis is anchored in current economic, social and ecological reality and framed by economics and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By synthesizing the latest scientific findings from the global environmental assessments, the report communicates the current status of the world’s urgent issues and opportunities to solve them. 

This new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) lays out the gravity of Earth’s triple environmental emergencies – climate, biodiversity loss and pollution – through a unique synthesis of findings from major global assessments, including those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. The report flags the interlinkages between our environmental and development challenges and describes the roles of all parts of society in the transformations needed for a sustainable future

Report Summary

• Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution add up to three self-inflicted planetary crises that are closely interconnected and put the well-being of current and future generations at unacceptable risk. 
• Ambitious and coordinated action by governments, businesses and people around the world can prevent and reverse the worst impacts of environmental decline by rapidly transforming key systems including energy, water and food so that our use of the land and oceans becomes sustainable. 
• Transforming social and economic systems means improving our relationship with nature, understanding its value and putting that value at the heart of our decision-making. 

The key messages of the report will be found in the next post.