The Steering Committee on the Future of GEO consisting of 36 Member States fulfilled the mandate provided to it by UNEA-4 in Resolution 4/23 by submitting an options document to UNEA 5.2. The ‘Future of GEO’ process, launched at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly through UNEP/EA.4/RES.23 was initiated to develop options for the future of the Global Environment Outlook. This process was designed to deliver these options and likely a recommendation, to the resumed session of the fifth UN Environment Assembly in February 2022.
Resolution EA.4/23 requests the UNEP Executive Director to prepare ‘an options document on the future of the Global Environment Outlook process, in broad consultation with Member States, stakeholders and the custodians of other global environmental assessment processes, focusing on the scope and objectives of the Global Environment Outlook process. The resolution also established a member-states-led Steering Committee under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Assembly to oversee and manage the consultations for and preparation of the options document. From its first face-to-face meeting in Prague, Czech Republic (Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2019) to its final virtual workshop (Nov. 8 – Nov. 16, 2021) the Steering Committee worked to fulfill this mandate.
The 36-Member States Steering Committee of the Future of GEO developed and presented an interim report on future options for the Global Environment Outlook process at the opening session of UNEA-5 in February 2021. The interim report set out four (4) options proposed for the Future of GEO. The report also established the criteria for evaluating these options, among which is, “the overall feasibility, including continuity of operations for the periodic production of GEO, in terms of implications for current administrative, financial and collaborative structures and other initiatives in UNEPs science-policy interface”. Since a decision on the future of GEO could not be negotiated and decided at the virtual session of UNEA-5, the Steering Committee was allowed to continue with its work in the UNEA intersession period and deliver a fully developed paper on the future of GEO in the resumed session of UNEA-5.
Consequently, following up on its interim report to the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme at the online meeting of its fifth session (UNEP/EA.5/24), the Steering Committee conducted a feasibility study on the financial, administrative and collaborative consequences of the options for the future of the Global Environment Outlook proposed in the interim report. The Committee, therefore, worked during the UNEA-5 intersession period to draft a feasibility study and consult Member States, stakeholders and assessment experts and explored the approaches, alternatives, options and suggestions for the future of GEO. This study was intended to provide the analytical foundation for the Steering Committee to make judgments on the administrative, financial and collaborative arrangements, including governance, procedures, scientific and technical elements, of the four options presented in the interim report so that recommendations can be made to the resumed session of UNEA-5 in February 2022. The Committee’s final report is meant to provide rationale and supporting evidence to UNEA on the different elements in the designing of the future GEO options for an informed decision.
The Steering Committee considered a number of issues in its final deliberation. Among these are:
- determining the overall orientation of GEO in terms of its objectives, functions, design criteria and process;
- establishing the governance and implementation structure for GEO;
- requesting the relevant governance and implementation structures to develop procedures, undertake assessments and address needs in capacity building, knowledge generation and policy support; and
- considering how best to resource and administer the GEO process to ensure its objectives can be delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner.
The final leadership of the Steering Committee was as follows;
Co-chairs: Ivar Andreas Baste (Norway) and Yi Huang (China)
Vice-chairs: Jerome Sebadduka Lugumira (Uganda) and Toral Patel-Weynand (USA)
Rapporteur: Rafael Monge Vargas (Costa Rica)
With the Steering Committee’s submission of its final report to the resumed session of UNEA-5 in February 2022, a decision on the Future of GEO will be made.
