NAIROBI, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Channeling greater resources into restoring degraded habitats, stabilizing the climate, and eliminating pollution could unlock trillions of U.S. dollars for the global economy, while lifting millions out of poverty and hunger, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday.
The report, the Global Environment Outlook, Seventh Edition: A Future We Choose (GEO-7), finds that nature-positive actions could deliver macroeconomic benefits of up to 20 trillion dollars annually by 2070 and beyond.
The report was launched on the sidelines of the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, underway in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
As the most comprehensive scientific assessment of the global environment to date, GEO-7 was compiled by 282 multidisciplinary scientists from 82 countries. It calls for the repurposing of production and consumption patterns to reduce harm to nature while generating massive socioeconomic benefits for communities.
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, said the GEO-7 report underscores the heavy toll of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste on countries and their economies.
"The Global Environment Outlook lays out a simple choice for humanity: continue down the road to a future devastated by climate change, dwindling nature, degraded land, and polluted air, or change direction to secure a healthy planet, healthy people, and healthy economies," Andersen said.
She hailed the adoption of international treaties to curb greenhouse gas emissions, expand protected areas, and phase out toxic chemicals, noting their potential to power green and resilient economic growth.
The report reveals that greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 1.5 percent annually since 1990, intensifying the climate crisis, with the cost of extreme weather events linked to climate change over the last 20 years expected to reach 143 billion dollars annually.
It also finds that between 20 and 40 percent of global land is degraded, affecting more than three billion people, while one out of every eight million species is threatened with extinction.
The economic cost of health damages by air pollution amounted to about 8.1 trillion dollars in 2019, equivalent to 6.1 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), the report adds.
It warns that climate change could slash 4 percent of annual global GDP by 2050 and 20 percent by the end of the century unless humanity abandons carbon-intensive growth models.
To sustain ecosystem health amid mounting threats, the report calls for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach aimed at transforming food, energy, and waste systems, anchored in radical behavioral, social, and cultural shifts.
Wang Ying, GEO-7 Assessment co-chair, said the report goes beyond diagnosing environmental challenges and puts forward solutions based on sound science and data.
"The GEO-7 will equip us with the knowledge and tools to act. Let us seize this opportunity to build a healthier, more sustainable, safer, and more equitable future for all," Wang said.
