Coordinating environmental assessment activities at the international level

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Agenda 21 indicates that environmental assessment activities need to be strengthened and coordinated at the international level, with efforts to assess development trends.

In response to the need for comprehensive, integrated, policy-relevant assessments of the global environment, UNEP launched the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Project in 1995. The GEO Project has two main components: a) A global environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels; and b) GEO outputs, in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series. This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world's environment, identifying major environmental concerns, trends and emerging issues together with their causes, and their social and economic impacts. It also provides guidance for decision-making processes such as the formulation of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation. Other outputs include technical reports, a Web site and a publication for young people.