An analysis of Global Environmental Assessment Landscape Ashbindu Singh United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Washington D.C.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) UNEP, established in 1972, is the voice for the environment within the United Nations system

UNEP’s Early Warning & Assessment Mandate To keep the state of environmental situation under review

Needs to fulfill this mandate Assessment & Monitoring; Analysis, modeling Data and information Access mechanisms Capacity building

Earlier assessments UNEP/FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment, 1980; FAO FRA 1990, 2000, 2010; GLASOD (1992): Atlas of Desertification; Ozone Assessments

Year Global Environment Related Assessments IPCC GBA GEO GEO Yearbook GBO MA/IMoSEB GIWA WWDR IAASTD LADA GRAME (Ozone) (FRA) …….. Global Environment Assessment Landscape

UNEP Global Assessment reports

Sub global assessments: A family of products

Reports by NGOs

UNEP GEO family of reports Integrated environmental assessment (DPSIR framework); Participatory process : Collaborating Centers; Capacity building State of environment, scenarios, policy actions..

Indicators to asses impact Difficult to assess; most of users are academics; People’s willingness to pay : sales of reports; Media coverage and raising public awareness; Catalyze SOE reporting in countries; Mentioned in international /Ministerial forums; Demonstrable impact on policies.

Another family of products Atlases: One Planet many People: Atlas of our changing environment; (Packaging and communication of scientific information) What is happening where? Visual evidence of changes over time using historical and current satellite data; (Story of environmental change, ground photos…) A new experiment “Africa: Atlas of our changing environment” Scientific information, Earth Observations ; MDG7 indicators, country profiles (all 54 countries)

Ashbindu Singh Providing visual evidences of environmental changes

Title Body text Apollo Image of the Planet This view of the Earth from space drove home how finite, interconnected and fragile our planet is. Inspired Earth Day Celebration in the United States.

Title Body text Growth of the Antarctic ozone hole Darkest blue areas represent regions of maximum ozone depletion

Title Body text Raising awareness about Tropical Deforestation  Healthy natural vegetation  “Fishbone” pattern on the landscape indicate agriculture fields  Agriculture continues to replace forest cover Rondonia, Brazil

Title Body text Regular Monitoring of Amazon Rainforest Almost one fifth of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared. 26,000 sq km August 2003 to August 2004 alone; 6% higher than the previous 12 months. Source: Steve Kingstone, BBC News, Brazil Deforestation was worst in the state of Mato Grosso

Title Body text Movement of Transboundary Pollutants A large dust storm developed in East Asia on 6-7 April 2001, moving over Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and ultimately over the United States on 17 April 2001.

24 Jan 1973 Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: Glacial Retreat An estimated 82% of Kilimanjaro’s icecap has disappeared since Feb 2000

Las Vegas – fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States A small settlement – The landscape is now dramatically modified Images courtesy USGS 1991 – Rapid urbanization

Title Body text Drought in the Western United States PhotoView 18 meters Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

Title Body text Lake Mead, United States New Golf Courses since 2001

Impact analysis: Lessons learned GEO 4 and other integrated assessments done with full stakeholder consultation and participation are excellent in raising awareness, huge media coverage but policy impact is difficult to assess; Single issue based assessments are more likely to influence intergovernmental negotiations like Ozone, Mercury Assessments as problems are well defined compared to say biodiversity assessment; In terms of demand and people’s willingness to pay “Atlases” are much more popular (One planet many people: UN’s best seller ever on environment) Time series data on most critical environmental variables to promote “evidence based policies” are not available; Earth Observations technologies, Internet tools like Google Earth, web2.0 etc are crucial in mobilizing public actions.

Information for Decision-Making Act Personalize Information Analysis Data

Title Body text An advertisement in the Fortune magazine by BP