World at a crossroads, UN says in report on ecosystems

The sixth edition of the United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook report starkly warns that the world is unsustainably extracting natural resources and producing unmanageable quantities of waste.

These human activities have degraded Earth's ecosystems and endangered the ecological foundations of society, according to the GEO-6 report.

The report was released during the Fourth UN Environment Assembly, which was held last week in Nairobi, Kenya. Environmental ministers from around the world participated in negotiations at the assembly on such issues as halting food waste, promoting the spread of electric mobility and tackling the crisis of plastic pollution in the oceans.

In the foreword to the report, Joyeeta Gupta and Paul Ekins, co-chairs of the GEO-6 process, say the report "shows clearly that our species now stands at a crossroads. It can choose a challenging but navigable path toward a new golden age of sustainable development ... or it can continue with current trends and practices, which will lead to a losing struggle against environmental disruptions, which threaten to overwhelm large parts of the world."

Gupta, who spoke about the report on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN Environment Assembly, said air and water pollution have caused major damage to human health and harm biodiversity on land and in the oceans.

"Although all these systems are interconnected and very closely linked, each system has a problem of its own. That's why this report is important in trying to take a systematic approach in addressing global problems and dealing with all the drivers, pressures, ... impact and responses," said Gupta, who also is a professor of environment and development in the global south at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam.

The GEO-6 report, which was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries, specifically warns that cities and regions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by midcentury if environmental protection is not drastically scaled up.

Indoor air pollution is responsible for 600,000 premature deaths every year in Africa, the report says. The continent's reliance on the use of biomass - fuel developed from organic materials - for cooking, light and heat means that 90 percent of the region's population is exposed to this health threat, it says.

West Asia, on the other hand, is suffering from increased water demand, overexploitation of groundwater resources and deteriorating water quality, as well as unsustainable patterns of consumption that threaten the region's ability to secure its sources of food, water and energy, according to the report.

Ekins, the GEO-6 co-chair and a professor of resources and environmental policy at University College London, said the alarming statistics should not cause despair, because the analysis conducted for the report shows that people know what to do to address the problems.

He said policy coherence is needed, as well as integration of policy into such sectors as agriculture, transportation, housing and energy.

Ekins said pathways for achieving the targets exist but will require technological improvement, lifestyle changes and localized solutions.

Joyce Msuya, the acting executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said the environmental impact of food production needs to be reduced by two-thirds by 2050, and it is crucial that steps are taken toward green economy and the use of low carbon energy sources.

"We should demand stronger actions from governments," she added. "People need to be empowered to change their habits and diet, while policymakers need to lead the way."

Siim Kiisler, the president of the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly and the Estonian minister of environment, said he was happy that the report focused on environmental data.

"The availability of transparent, reliable, comparable and accessible environmental data is important for decision-making," he said, adding that the GEO-6 report contains reliable scientific facts that cannot be ignored.