In 1995, in support of UNEPs unique mandate within the UN system to keep under review the world environmental situation, (GA resolution 2997 of December 1972), the UNEP Governing Council requested a new, comprehensive report on the state of the world environment (Decision 18/27 C). The tool that UNEP employs to do this is the Global Environment Outlook or GEO. GEO is a process of conducting a global integrated environmental assessment that delivers the best available scientific findings to policy makers so that they can make informed decisions. In this way, the assessment bridges the science and policy realms. GEO is also a product. Using integrated environmental assessment (IEA) methodology, UNEP has produced a series of GEO reports which have analyzed environmental state and trends at the global and regional scales, described plausible outlooks for various time frames and formulated policy options. Each GEO report builds on the assessment findings of its predecessor and also draws from lessons learned on process. The 25th session of the UNEP Governing Council, through Decision 25/2: III, requested the Executive Director to undertake a comprehensive integrated global assessment, the fifth report in the Global Environment Outlook series, GEO-5.