Emerging issues

"The world is again on the Road to Rio, almost 20 years after the Earth Summit of 1992 that laid out the treaties, policies and principles towards sustainable development.

The intervening years have witnessed an extraordinary explosion in scientific understanding of the impacts of human activity on the planet and atmosphere... The UNEP Year Book 2011 underlines some of the successes achieved when science is fully brought into service for sustainable development. Yet, it also spotlights that many of the international responses to the challenges remain at best a patchwork: at worst, often far behind the scale and pace of environmental change being witnessed today.

The Year Book underlines, persistent issues are in many cases becoming more acute, whilst new ones are emerging. Next year at Rio+20, governments need to urgently address the gap between science and how to form a decisive response as part of an overall package that finally aligns the economic pillar of sustainable development with the social and environmental ones.

The UNEP Year Book 2011 is a snapshot of the world 15 months before Rio+20 - perhaps future Year Books may reflect a different story as a result of the evolutionary decisions taken in Brazil in 2012."

Achim Steiner
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director,
United Nations Environment Programme

CONTENTS

1. Preface by Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP
2. Executive summary
3. Events and developments, 2010-2011
4. Plastic debris in the ocean
5. Phosphorus and food production
6. Emerging Perspectives on forest biodiversity
7. Key indicators