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 on the future of GEO to UNEA 5.2. The Committee met face to face once and on numerous occasions online to both oversee the process and develop material needed in the feasibility study. The Committee also held virtual workshops where final reports and material were discussed and agreed on by all members.
In its resolution 4/23, entitled “Keeping the world environment under review: enhancing the United Nations Environment Programme science-policy interface and endorsement of the Global Environment Outlook”, the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme requested a broad and inclusive consultation on the options for the future of the Global Environment Outlook. This was to ensure that the resulting options presented to UNEA-5 are deeply researched, well-reflected upon and legitimate. To achieve this, two broad consultations were conducted during this future of GEO work. The two consultations involved Member States, stakeholders and assessment experts as requested in the resolution.
The first broad consultation was conducted online as part of the preparation of the interim report of the Steering Committee on the future of the Global Environment Outlook submitted for consideration by the Environment Assembly during the online meeting of its fifth session. It was supported by the background document prepared by a group of independent consultants as a key analytical resource for the future of GEO work and a co-chairs summary indicating key potential building blocks of future GEO.
As part of its continued work during the UNEA intersession period, the Steering Committee conducted a second broad consultation on the findings of the feasibility study on the financial, administrative and collaborative consequences of the recommended options and approaches for the future of the Global Environment Outlook since those findings were to be an integral part of the Steering Committee’s final report. The Future of GEO feasibility study consultation was supported by a feasibility study report prepared by the Steering Committee on the Future of GEO and an interim report that the Committee had submitted to the opening session of UNEA-5 in February 2021. The entire consultation occurred online due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic.
First Face-to-Face Meeting of the Future of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Steering committee
The Steering committee on the future of GEO and the Secretariat met in the Ministry of the Environment offices, Prague, the Czech Republic from Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, 2019, to achieve the following objectives:
- Update Steering Committee members on the rationale and details of resolution UNEP/EA.4/RES.23 and lessons learned from the GEO process, in particular as it pertains to the preparation of GEO-4, GEO-5 and GEO-6.
- Consider and approve the main issues to be reviewed in the options document;
- Consider and approve the work plan and timeline for the preparation of the options document and for conducting the broad consultations on the future of GEO
- Consider and approve the Terms of Reference for the work on the options document and the broad consultations
