iv. To what extent do existing monitoring and observation activities and institutional arrangements meet the need to keep the state and trends of the environment under review? v. What are the main gaps and barriers to meeting the agreed goals? Key questions for Part 2 vi. Which internationally agreed goals are high priorities for each region? vii. What policy options can be most successfully applied in each region to help speed up meeting internationally agreed goals? viii. What policy options facilitate environmental monitoring and its use in decision making? Key questions for Part 3 ix. What policy approaches could be suitable for scaling up in order to accelerate meeting internationally agreed goals? x. What types of sustainable change and innovation are needed over the long term?
Process
The March 2010 consultation also provided direction for strengthening the process of the GEO-5 assessment through: • engaging the best available scientific and policy expertise; • ensuring scientific credibility, policy relevance, and legitimacy of the assessment by engaging a wide range of stakeholders; • constituting multidisciplinary groups of experts nominated by governments and other stakeholders using a transparent process;
• establishing three overarching advisory groups: a HighLevel Intergovernmental Advisory Panel to provide guidance to experts; a Science and Policy Advisory Board to ensure the scientific credibility of the process; and a Data and Indicators Working Group to provide core data support to the process; • subjecting the assessment to extensive scientific expert peerreview and government review; • continuing to target institutional capacity building by engaging developing country experts; and • communicating key messages and findings to target audiences in an accessible manner.
PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATION
The development of GEO-5 involved extensive collaboration both within UNEP and between UNEP and a network of multidisciplinary experts, research institutions and GEO collaborating centres, all of whom made their valuable time and knowledge available to the process. The consultation requested that experts for content development, including reviewers and advisory groups, be nominated by governments and other main stakeholders including GEO collaborating centres and other partners, based on their expertise and using a transparent process drawing from the nomination process of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The nominated experts were then engaged by the UNEP Secretariat on the basis of their expertise, with due consideration of gender and regional balances.
Figure 1 The development of GEO-5: milestones in the production process
2010
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1st Intergovernmental and Multi-stakeholder Consultation High-Level Intergovernmental Advisory Panel established Nomination of experts
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1st meeting of High-Level Intergovernmental Advisory Panel
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Regional consultations
Selection of experts (Author groups)
Data and Indicators Working Group established
Science and Policy Advisory Board established
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Annotated Outlines 1st Science and Policy Advisory Board meeting
1st Production meeting
Internal reviews
Author working group meetings
DRAFT ZERO
Preparatory Phase
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The GEO-5 Process
Content Development