2.2.6 Cross-cutting issues


Several issues cut across all environmental themes. Some, such as human health, gender, urbanization and education, relate to people and livelihoods; others, such as climate change, polar regions, mountains and environmental disasters, are concerned with changing environments; and yet others, such as the use of resources, solid waste disposal, energy, chemicals and the food system, reflect the use of resources and materials. Those topics all have interdependent dynamics across environmental themes.


People and livelihoods Environmental and social conditions interact to both support and damage human health (well established). Poor environmental conditions which can be changed (“modifiable conditions”) cause approximately 25 per cent of global disease and mortality (established but incomplete). In 2015, environmental pollution caused some 9 million deaths (established but incomplete), in particular from outdoor and household air pollution, but also from contaminated water (well established). Environmental health effects take a particular toll on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups related to age (children and old people), ill-health, poverty (within and between countries) and race (established but incomplete). The risks are systemic and solutions need to be wide- ranging, tackling not only sources of pollution, but also aiming for co-benefits (established but incomplete). Major changes may be needed, with “Healthy Planet, Healthy People” potentially being central to our understanding of genuine progress. {4.2.1}


The scale and magnitude of global consumption, especially in urban areas, is affecting global resource flows and planetary cycles. Cities and their surrounding areas will continue to grow in both population and size and to act as generators of economic growth (established but incomplete). The process and prospect of that urbanization represent an enormous challenge for existing subnational governance structures, but also provide an opportunity to improve human well-being, with potentially decreasing environmental impact per capita and per unit of production (inconclusive). Given the current pace of urbanization, seizing this opportunity for future benefits depends on planning decisions made today (well established). {4.2.5}


Gender equality has a multiplier effect in advancing sustainable development, environmental protection and social justice (well established). All aspects of the environment, including drivers, pressures, impacts, perceptions, policies and responses, are shaped by gender relations and mutually constituted considerations of gender norms and responsibilities, and they shape one another. Bringing gender perspectives to bear on environmental policies and governance, especially by supporting participation, leadership and decision-making by women, ensures that new and different questions and viewpoints, as well as gender-disaggregated data, are integrated into environmental assessments (well established), and public resources are more likely to be directed towards human development priorities and investments. Decreasing the gender gap in access to information and technology can strengthen women’s control over land and other resources. {4.2.3}


Education for sustainable development is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting a more sustainable society and accommodating unavoidable environmental changes (well established). Significant progress has been made around the world in implementing education


14 Summary for Policymakers: Sixth Global Environment Outlook


for sustainable development in all educational sectors (well established). However, scaling it up is essential so that it can be included as a core element of education system structures globally (well established). Policies that eliminate economic and gender barriers will improve access to education. Education for sustainable development can be scaled up by informal and non-formal education, including by the media. Community engagement and local (place-based) learning also have an important role to play. {4.2.4}


Changing environments


Climate change alters weather patterns, which in turn has a broad and deep impact on the environment, economics and society, threatening the livelihoods, health, water, food and energy security of populations (well established). In turn, that increases poverty (well established), migration, forced displacement and conflict (established but incomplete), with particular impact on populations in a vulnerable situation (well established). Negative effects are expected, even if the current warming is halted; for example, if the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is achieved, sea levels will still continue to rise. Those risks will be amplified under conditions of warming above the 1.5 degrees Celsius target established by the Paris Agreement (established). {4.3.1}


Increases in polar surface temperature are more than two times greater than the mean global temperature rise (well established). This amplified warming has cascading effects on other components of the polar climate system, with sea ice in the Arctic retreating, permafrost thawing, snow cover extent decreasing, and ice sheets, ice shelves and mountain glaciers continuing to lose mass (well established). {4.3.2} In turn, those effects have global repercussions, such as accelerated global sea level rises and the disturbance of climate and weather patterns.


The number of people affected by both slow and sudden-onset environmental disasters is increasing due to compounding effects of multiple and interacting drivers. Those drivers include climate change and environmental degradation, poverty and social inequality, demographic change and settlement patterns, increasing population density in urban areas, unplanned urbanization, unsustainable use of natural resources, weak institutional arrangements, and policies which do not take risks fully into account. Disasters undermine human security and well-being, resulting in loss and damage to ecosystems, property, infrastructure, livelihoods, economies and places of cultural significance, forcing millions of people to flee their homes each year. Disasters disproportionately affect some of the more vulnerable populations, including women. {4.2.2}


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