Harvest time: Knowledge for sustainability


26. These new sustainability governance models should also ensure adequate investment in knowledge systems such as data, indicators, assessments, policy evaluation and sharing platforms, and act on internationally agreed early signals from science and society to avoid unnecessary environmental impact and costs.


27. Data from satellites, combined with monitoring on the ground, can enable quicker actions across the world, in response to extreme weather events, for example. Widening access to data, information and knowledge and improving the infrastructure and capacity to harness that knowledge will enable those data to be put to the most effective use.


28. More investment in indicators that integrate different data sources and clearly delineate gender and inequality aspects will facilitate better-designed policy interventions and their evaluation.


29. Further developments are needed in environmental and natural resource accounting to ensure that environmental costs are internalized into economic decision-making for sustainability.


30. Harnessing the ongoing data and knowledge revolution and ensuring the authenticity and validity of those data to support sustainable development, combined with international cooperation, could transform capacities to address challenges and accelerate progress towards sustainable development.


31. Most important of all is the need to take bold, urgent, sustained, inclusive and transformative action that integrates environmental, economic and social activity to set society on the pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, multilateral environmental agreements, internationally agreed environmental goals and other science-based targets.


As an outcome of the negotiation meeting of the summary for policymakers of the sixth Global Environment Outlook, held in Nairobi from 21 to 24 January 2019, the Bureau of the meeting was requested to finalize a “key messages” document that would explain concisely to ministers and other senior decision makers the key messages that emerged from the main assessment report. The Bureau therefore requested input on the draft version of the key messages document from all Member States present at the negotiation meeting and also requested comments thereon from the High-level Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Advisory Group and the Co-Chairs of the GEO-6 assessment.1


With the assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme secretariat, the Bureau members compiled and reconciled the comments received into a final document that was subsequently circulated to all those who had provided input and comments. No additional modifications were suggested and in February 2019 the GEO-6 key messages document was finalized by the Bureau. The resulting document is set out in the annex to the present document for the information of ministers and delegates to the United Nations Environment Assembly at its fourth session.


GEO-6 key messages


1


The Co-Chairs of the Summary for Policymakers meeting wish to thank Member States, the High- level Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Advisory Group, the Co-Chairs of the assessment and other stakeholders for their valuable input.


Cover Design: Joseph Shmidt-Klingenberg and Sebastian Obermeyer Graphics: Joseph and Sebastian Layout: UNON Printshop


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