Search the SPREP Catalogue

Humanity has altered the planet in many detrimental ways, from the warming of our climate to the ever-diminishing wildernesses on land and in the sea. But in such a complex system as the Earth, science must always keep searching – for both solutions to problems already identified and new threats coming our way. UNEP’s Frontiers Report does this by identifying and exploring areas of emerging or ongoing environmental concern. The 2022 edition delves into three issues: noise pollution in cities, the growing threat of wildfires and shifts in seasonal events – such as flowering, migration and hibernation, an area of study known as phenology.

Humanity is waging war on nature. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth. This report represents a scientific blueprint for howclimate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. The report is a synthesis based on evidence from global environmental assessments.

Conservation of biodiversity, improving rural livelihoods and supporting sustainable agriculture are key issues globally, but for many Pacific Island Countries (PICs) key biodiversity reserves are under considerable pressure from clearing and degradation. Rural communities are often put in a situation where clearing of forest margins is undertaken to meet demand for arable land to produce food and generate income. Forest reserves are also degraded by logging, where timber royalties are important in the absence of other sources of income for traditional landowners and communities. Therefore, agroforestry and ecologically based agriculture systems in the forest margins can help to offset reliance on forest degradation and can enhance the buffers around key reserves. Sustainable forest management and ecotourism also need to be maximised to help meet these challenges of generating income whilst maintaining or enhancing biodiversity, conserving soil and water resources.

The international community is increasingly aware of the link between biodiversity and sustainable development and its direct impact on wealth, health and well-being. Biodiversity is the origin of all crops and domesticated livestock. It is also the source of vital ecosystem services and functions, including soil conservation, water cycling, pollination, pest and disease regulation, carbon sequestration and nitrogen fixation. Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports are thus key to nutritional diversity and to agricultural productivity and resilience. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets provide a framework for countries to develop national targets and policies for sustaining biodiversity for a healthy planet. To meet rising global food demands, agricultural systems need to produce greater quantities of more diverse and nutritious food in a sustainable way. This progress can and must be achieved without driving biodiversity loss. It must come through gains in the efficiency of resource use, through sustainable intensification and a landscape perspective in agricultural production. By contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, agriculture will be a key driver for eliminating poverty, improving human health and providing energy, food and clean water for all while maintaining natural ecosystems.

Fisheries and aquaculture remain important sources of food, nutrition, income and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people around the world. World per capita fish supply reached a new record high of 20 kg in 2014, thanks to vigorous growth in aquaculture, which now provides half of all fish for human consumption, and to a slight improvement in the state of certain fish stocks due to improved fisheries management. Moreover, fish continues to be one of the most-traded food commodities worldwide with more than half of fish exports by value originating in developing countries. Recent reports by high-level experts, international organizations, industry and civil society representatives all highlight the tremendous potential of the oceans and inland waters now, and even more so in the future, to contribute significantly to food security and adequate nutrition for a global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.l

Rodent eradications undertaken on tropical islands are more likely to fail than eradications undertaken at higher latitudes. We report on 12 independent rodent eradication projects undertaken on tropical islands that utilized the results of an in situ bait availability study prior to eradication to inform, a priori, the bait application rate selected for the eradication. These projects also monitored bait availability during the eradication. The results from our analysis verified the utility of bait availability studies to future rodent eradication campaigns and confirmed the influence of two environmental factors that can affect bait availability over time: precipitation prior to the study and the abundance of land crabs at the study site. Our findings should encourage eradication teams to conduct in-depth assessments of the targeted island prior to project implementation. However, we acknowledge the limitations of such studies (two of the projects we reviewed failed and one removed only one of two rodent species present) and provide guidance on how to interpret the results from a bait availability study in planning an eradication. Study design was inconsistent among the twelve cases we reviewed which limited our analysis. We recommend a more standardized approach for measuring bait availability prior to eradication to provide more robust predictions of the rate at which bait availability will decrease during the eradication and to facilitate future comparisons among projects and islands.

Three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas which are an engine for global economic growth and a key source of food security. The global ocean economic activity is estimated to be USD 3-5 trillion. Ninety percent of global trade moves by marine transport. Over 30 percent of global oil and gas produced is extracted offshore. Expanding knowledge of marine biodiversity has provided breakthroughs in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food production and aquaculture. Over 3.1 billion of the world's population lives within 100 kilometers of the ocean or sea in about 150 coastal and island nations.