PHM-Exch> 21 Issues for the 21st Century - UNEP

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) <ruglucia at paho.org>
crossposted from : EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org


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*21 Issues for the 21st Century

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*United Nations Environment Programme UNEP – February 2012
*Results of the UNEP Foresight Process on Emerging Environmental Issues**

Available online PDF file [60p.] at: http://bit.ly/zNKhAV<http://t.co/SIsBT9ZT>


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“….The UNEP Foresight Panel, involving over 20 distinguished scientists
from around the world, spent close to a year discussing and consulting with
some 400 other scientists and experts globally via an electronic survey.****

The goal was to deliver an international consensus and a priority list of
the top emerging environmental issues alongside options for action.****

Emerging environmental issues were defined as “*issues with either a
positive or negative global environmental impact that are recognized by the
scientific community as very important to human well-being, but not yet
receiving adequate attention from the policy community*”.****

The issues chosen were termed as “emerging” based on newness, which can be
the result of: new scientific knowledge; new scales or accelerated rates of
impact; heightened level of awareness; and/or new ways of responding to the
issue.****

This report is the outcome of that process and presents the identified
issues titled: 21 Issues for the 21st Century. These issues cut across all
major global environmental themes including food production and food
security; cities and land use; biodiversity, fresh water and marine;
climate change and energy, technology and waste issues.****

Meanwhile, another cluster of issues were chosen that essentially cut
across sectors and individual themes. These address questions surrounding
such issues as the governance required to more effectively tackle 21st
century sustainability challenges, including the urgency to bridge the gap
between the scientific and policy communities and the relevance of social
tipping points to sustainable consumption….”

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*Content:*

Executive Summary****

1. Introduction****

2. Emerging Themes – 21 Issues for the 21st Century****

Cross-cutting Issues ****

Issue 001 Aligning Governance to the Challenges of Global Sustainability****

Issue 002 Transforming Human Capabilities for the 21st Century: Meeting
Global Environmental Challenges and Moving Towards a Green Economy****

Issue 003 Broken Bridges: Reconnecting Science and Policy ****

Issue 004 Social Tipping Points? Catalyzing Rapid and Transformative
Changes in Human Behaviour towards the Environment****

Issue 005 New Concepts for Coping with Creeping Changes and Imminent
Thresholds ****

Issue 006 Coping with Migration Caused by New Aspects of Environmental
Change Food, Biodiversity and Land ****

Issue 007 New Challenges for Ensuring Food Safety and Food Security for 9
Billion People****

Issue 008 Beyond Conservation: Integrating Biodiversity across the
Environmental and Economic Agendas ****

Issue 009 Boosting Urban Sustainability and Resilience****

Issue 010 The New Rush for Land: Responding to New National and
International Pressures Freshwaters and Marine Issues ****

Issue 011 New Insights on Water-Land Interactions: Shift in the Management
Paradigm? ****

Issue 012 Shortcutting the Degradation of Inland Waters in Developing
Countries****

Issue 013 Potential Collapse of Oceanic Systems Requires Integrated Ocean
Governance****

Issue 014 Coastal Ecosystems: Addressing Increasing Pressures with Adaptive
Governance Climate Change Issues ****

Issue 015 New Challenges for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation:
Managing the Unintended Consequences****

Issue 016 Acting on the Signal of Climate Change in the Changing Frequency
of Extreme Events ****

Issue 017 Managing the Impacts of Glacier Retreat Energy, Technology, and
Waste Issues ****

Issue 018 Accelerating the Implementation of Environmentally-Friendly
Renewable Energy Systems ****

Issue 019 Greater Risk than Necessary? The Need for a New Approach for
Minimizing Risks of Novel Technologies and Chemicals ****

Issue 020 Changing the Face of Waste: Solving the Impending Scarcity of
Strategic Minerals and Avoiding Electronic Waste ****

Issue 021 The Environmental Consequences of Decommissioning Nuclear
Reactors

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Appendix 1 Respondents to Electronic Questionnaire ****

Appendix 2 Description of the Foresight Process

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