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.
