Climate change, land and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, are whittling away at nature and in the process, threatening the future of billions of people.

Ending nature’s decline will be crucial to building a more sustainable future, GEO-7 found. To do that, its authors urged countries to expand protected areas, like nature reserves, restore ecosystems that have been damaged by development, and find more sustainable ways to manage resources on land and at sea.

As well, the report called for the scaling up of natural solutions to environmental problems, like the planting of trees to reduce temperatures in cities facing extreme heat because of climate change. It also recommended countries develop what are known as bioresources, a growing field wherein materials from plants, animals and other organisms are used to do things like generate energy or make products. 

The report said it was important to make the management of shared resources – from forests to fisheries – more transparent and more equitable. Finally, Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge is crucial to addressing both environmental sustainability and human well-being, the GEO-7 authors said. 

Information taken from the UN Environment Programme Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7), launched in December 2025, which explores everything from the health of coral reefs to the status of the ozone layer