What is the main difference between the GEO-4 and GEO-3 reports?
GEO-4 differs from previous GEO reports in terms of scope, analytical framework, and findings. Each report had a different baseline and time period under review; GEO-3 took at 30 year retrospective, from 1972-2002, whereas GEO-4 looks at environmental trends as well as changes in policies and institutions since 1987, the year of publication the Our Common Future report. It also goes far beyond GEO-3 in outlook for the future providing scenarios up to 2050 while the GEO-3 report scenarios stop in 2030. The GEO-4 report presents compelling evidence of unprecedented environmental change, within a new conceptual framework based on human well-being, vulnerability (both of ecosystems and people in developed and developing countries), and economic valuation of environmental services, or “natural capital.” GEO-4 works toward the mainstreaming of environmental and economic valuation, and the integration of social, economic, and environmental analysis. The GEO-4 authors look at the environment t
