This assessment, Global Environment Outlook 6: Regional assessment for Africa, is founded on the understanding that Africa has the potential to significantly contribute to the world economy and to ensure healthy living conditions for its citizens. It also recognises the abundant natural assets that the region possesses, and the various threats they face. The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate and analyse Africa’s state of the environment, and use the scientific evidence so generated to support environmental policy and decision making. The decision to undertake regional assessments was made at the Global Intergovernmental and Multi-Stakeholder Consultation held in Berlin in October 2014, where participants suggested that the sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) should be built on regional assessments conducted in a similar format as the global assessment. The Consultation derived its mandate from the first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-1) held in Nairobi in June 2014.
The assessment is structured in three main chapters as follows:
- Chapter 1 sets out the regional context.
- Chapter 2 establishes the state of the environment in the region clustered under four key themes (air, land, water and biodiversity), and analyses key state and trends for various environmental issues affecting Africa, while also describing the policy response. The chapter also discusses policy effectiveness, with a particular focus on the conditions that enable the success of some policy actions.
- Chapter 3 covers the outlook, with a focus on a set of four possible future scenarios for Africa, and suggests possible policy options necessary to achieve a more sustainable future.