THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 25 APRIL 2019 (Explained: Global Environment Outlook (The Hindu)

Explained: Global Environment Outlook (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Global Environment Outlook
Mains level : Highlights of the Global Environment Outlook

Introduction

Recently United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released the sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (2019) titled ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’.
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a consultative and participatory process to prepare an independent assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of the policy response to address these environmental challenges and the possible pathways to be achieve various internationally agreed environmental goals.
The process also builds capacity for conducting integrated environmental assessments and reporting on the state, trends and outlooks of the environment.
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is also a series of products that informs environmental decision making for not only governments but also various stakeholders such as the youth, businesses and local governments and aims to facilitate the interaction between science and policy.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is an agency of the United Nations, coordinates the organization's environmental activities and assists
developing countries inimplementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972.
UNEP has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies; however, international talks on specialized issues, such as addressing climate change or combating desertification, are overseen by other UN organizations, like the Bonn-based Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United

Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

UNEP's activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy. Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific
The Asia and the Pacific region has seen rapid economic growth, urbanization and lifestylechanges that are unprecedented. Scientific analysis, however, shows the current approach to development in the region inflicts a significant cost on health and the environment. Soon, development will start to undermine itself.
The region is also highly vulnerable to climate change; unchecked, its adverse effects can reverse the recent gains in development.
The region has made significant commitments to mitigate climate change.
Almost all the countries submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) targets to the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change before the Paris Conference.

In fact, there is optimism that larger economies will go further than their INDCs, taking additionaltransformative measures to lower greenhouse gas emissions and develop resource-efficient.

Significance of GEO-6

The GEO -6 has reviewed the state of the health of the environment and the related health of the people and the prospects for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030.
The title of the report- Healthy Planet, Healthy People, makes clear that achieving the SDGs will require a transformation in human lifestyles and productive activities: our industry, agriculture, buildings, transport and the energy system which powers them.

Findings of the GEO-06 Report

World is unsustainably extracting resources and producing unmanageable quantities of waste. The linear model of economic growth depends on the extraction of ever-higher quantities of materials, leading to chemicals flowing into air, water and land.
This causes ill-health and premature mortality, and affects the quality of life, particularly for those unable to
insulate themselves from these effects.
It is significant that GEO-6 estimates that the top 10% of populations globally, in terms of wealth, are responsible for 45% of GHG emissions, and the bottom 50% for only 13%. Pollution impacts are, however, borne more by the poorer citizens.
Environmental policy is necessary but inadequate by itself.
The report reveals that the current national policies are not on track to address the key environmental challenges effectively and equitably, in line with the aspirations of the SDGs.
It states that environmental considerations need to be integrated into all policy areas, such that the potential and actual implications for natural resources and the environment are robustly included in policies for economic growth, technological development and urban design so that there is effective long-term decoupling between economic growth, resource use and environmental degradation.
It further states that climate mitigation needs to be accompanied by policy for the equitable adaptation to committed climate change.
Policies will only be effective if they are well designed, involving clear goals and flexible mixes of policy, including monitoring, instruments aimed at achieving them.

What does report say on India

The report has some sharp pointers for India. It notes that East and South Asia have the highest number of deaths due to air pollution; by one estimate, it killed about 1.24 million in India in 2017.
As India’s population grows, it must worry that agricultural yields are coming under stress due to increa se in average temperature and erratic monsoons.
The implications of these forecasts for food security and health are all too evident, more so for the 148 million people living in severe weather ‘hot-spots’.
Evidently, the task before India is to recognise the human cost of poorly enforced environment laws and demonstrate the political will necessary to end business-as-usual policies. That would mean curbing the use of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals across the spectrum of economic activity.
Combating air pollution would, therefore, require all older coal-based power plants in India to conform to emission norms at the earliest, or to be shut down in favour of renewable energy sources.
Transport emissions are a growing source of urban pollution, and a quick transition to green mobility is needed.
In the case of water, the imperative is to stop the contamination of surface supplies by chemicals, sewage and municipal waste.
As the leading extractor of groundwater, India needs to make water part of a circular economy in which it is treated as a resource that is recovered, treated and reused. But water protection gets low priority, and State governments show no urgency in augmenting rainwater harvesting.
New storage areas act as a supply source when monsoons fail and help manage floods when there is excess rainfall.

Conclusion

Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a series of reports on the environment issued periodically by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Global community should consider the findings of the GEO report with sincere and take the appropriate
actions on ground to improve the natural environment. India should implement the environmental laws effectively.