Introduction

• Author: Maria Antonia Tigre
• Pages: 21-33

xxi

Introduction

I. The Deteriorating State of Our Environment

At the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNE A),

held in Nairobi in March 2019, the UN Environment warned policyma kers

that the world is not on track to achieve the environmental dimension of the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), and other internationally agreed

environmental goals by 2030, or to deliver long-term sustainability by 2050.1

e overall condition of the global environment has continued to deteriorate,

despite environmental policy eorts across countries and regions.2 Unsus-

tainable production and consumption patterns and climate cha nge have

degraded the Eart h’s ecosystems, endangering the ecologica l foundations

of society and hindering policy eorts.3 With the globa l population reach-

ing 7.5 billion in 2018, and median projections estimating nearly 10 billion

by 2050, this scenario is likely to worsen.4 Urgent action and strengthened

international cooperation are needed to reverse those negative trends and

restore the pl anetar y and human healt h.

Since 1880, the global average surface temperature has increa sed by

between approximately 0.8°C and 1.2°C.5 Current eort s remain inade-

quate to halt a rise of 4°C in ambient Earth temperature above the 19th cen-

tu r y.6 Recent studies indicate that humans may be causing an increase of as

much as 5°C.7 A major species extinction is unfolding, which scientist s have

characterized a s the sixth mass extinction.8 Without c omplete data that pro-

vides a full picture of the cha llenges we are facing, the current extinction

rate could be more than 100 times higher tha n normal,9 which could be

considered a “biological an nihilat ion.”10 Although gover nance eorts are

progressing, greater eorts are required to achieve international objectives,

1. United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, GEO-6

Key Messages, UNEP/EA.4/INF.18, para. 4 (Feb. 12, 2019).

2. UNEP, Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6): Summary for Policymakers 4 (2019).

5. Id. at 7.

6. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Global Warming 1.5° Celsius (Special Report 15,

October 2018), accessible at https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/.

7. Paul Voosen, New Climate Models Forecast a Warming Surge, 364 S 222 (2019).

8. GEO-6, supra note 2, at 8.

9. Gerardo Ceballos, et al., Accelerated Modern Human-Induced Species Losses: Entering the Sixth Mass

Extinction, 1 S A (2015).

10. Gerardo Ceballos, et al., Population Losses and the Sixth Mass Extinction, 114 P. N’ A.

S. U.S. A. E6089 (2017).