UNEP Launches Geo Year Book 2007 - Arab Environment Watch

UNEP has just launche dits annual summary report on the state of global environment entitled "GEO Yearbook 2007". The full contents of the publication can be viewed and downloaded from

http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/yb2007/

The chapter on West Asia focuses agaon on our symptom of "environment and conflicts" where palestine, Iraq and the Lebanon take center stage for all the wrong reasons especially the marine oil spill In Lebanon due to the Israeli bombing.

Other focus areas included management of chemical, and the good news on the high reduction of the consumption of ozone depleting substances, with a good focus on the future, or no-future of the forests in West Asia which comprise less than 1.0% of the World's forest area. A special box is published on the dying Junipers in the Arabian Peninsula.

The GEO Year Book 2007 is the fourth annual report on the changing environment produc- ed by the United Nations Envir- onment Programme in collabo- ration with many world environ- ment experts.

The 2007 Year Book includes global and regional overviews of significant developments over the past year. It high- lights linkages among ecosystem health, human well-being, and economic development; examines new thinking on the value of ecosystem services and the threat from ecosystem degradation; and describes recent research findings and policy decisions that affect our awareness and response to global change.

A special feature focus ana- lyzes the intersection between environment and globalization where ecosystem services and the human well-being that depends on those services are affected by natural resource exploitation in response to global demands. The chapter also explores some of the innovative policy mechanisms that link global supplies of goods and services with sustainable development objectives.

The emerging scientific and policy challenges of nanotechnology are examined from an environmental perspective. Na- notechnology will bring environmental benefi ts but it is vital that we adopt appropriate assessment and legis- lative processes to address the unique challenges presented by nanomaterials and their life cycles.