Caribbean Environment Outlook

Special edition for the Mauritius International Meeting for the 10-year Review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States

Special Edition for the 10-Year Review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In 1995, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Global Environment Outlook process for integrated environmental assessment & reporting at global & regional levels. SIDSs have been recognized as a special category of countries, with particularly vulnerable & delicate ecosystems due to their small size & other character. In 2003, UNEP initiated the preparation of environment outlook reports for the Caribbean, Pacific & the Atlantic & Oceanic SIDS. Chapters of this report: State of the Environ.; Policy Responses; Current Needs & Considerations for the Future. Charts & tables.

Special Ed. for the Sustainable Dev't. of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In 1995, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) process for integrated environmental assessment & reporting at global & regional levels. SIDSs have been recognized as a special category of countries, with particularly vulnerable & delicate ecosystems due to their small size & other characteristics. In 2003, UNEP initiated the preparation of environment outlook reports for the Caribbean, Pacific & the Atlantic & Oceanic SIDS. Chapters on the Pacific: Socio-Economic Dev't.; State & Trends of the Environment.; Policy Analysis; Cross-Cutting Issues & Challenges; Recommendations & Conclusions. Charts & tables.

This regional Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report, the fourth for Latin America and the Caribbean (with the previous GEO regional assessment for LAC published in 2010), places emphasis on identifying some of the most worrying and persistent threats to the region through an environmental lens, but also on the achievements, success stories and opportunities in the region

This report considers the general state of the environment across the Latin America and the Caribbean region, within the UNEP's Global Environment Outlook (GEO) process. It discusses the options for the integration of environmental concerns into the mainstream of policy-making, in order to promote a sustainable regional environmental vision which facilitates the conservation of the region's natural resources.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the regional focus was designed both to adapt the generalisations of the global assessment to the considerably different environmental, political, economic and cultural realities of the LAC region, and to support regional, national, local and thematically focused groups to use the same methods to assess their immediate concerns. As with its global cousin, GEO-LAC aims to provide scientifically credible, policy-relevant, up-to-date assessment of, and outlook for, the state of the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean, using the GEO conceptual framework and process refined by UNEP over the past 12 years. As result, GEO analysts provide an impartial, scientifically sound analysis of the state of the environment, major impacts, drivers and options for action for decision makers and other regional actors concerned with the state of the environment. In addition, it analyses a number of possible scenarios.

How do we take stock of the state and direction of the world’s environment, and what can we learn from the experience? Among the myriad detailed narratives about the condition of the planet, the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports—issued by the United Nations Environment Programme—stand out as the most ambitious. For nearly three decades the GEO project has not only delivered iconic global assessment reports, but through its multitude of contributors has inspired hundreds of similar processes worldwide from the regional to the local level. This book provides an inside account of the evolution of the GEO project from its earliest days. Building on meticulous research, including interviews with former heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, diplomats, leading contributing scientists, and senior leaders of collaborating organizations, the story is told from the perspective of five GEO veterans who all played a pivotal role in shaping the periodic assessments. The GEO’s history provides striking insights and will save valuable time to those who commission, design and conduct, as well as critique and improve, assessments of environmental development in the next decade.