On Dec. 9th, the release of the Chinese Version of the Sixth Global Environmental Outlook - Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific was held in Beijing, hosted by UN Environment and Yili Public Welfare Foundation and sponsored by Ministry of Environmental Protection, PRC. Associate professor Wang Ying, global leading author of UN Environment was invited to this release as she was responsible for most of effort in drafting “Environment-Related Health Risk” part in Asia and the Pacific Regional Report.

Mr. Erik Solheim, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme, Song Xiaozhi, Deputy Director of Department of International Cooperation, MEP, Dr. Zhou Guomei, joint professor of Regional Assessment, Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Chief Scientist of UN Environment, Chinese major authors and experts, members from government, research institutes, universities, NGOs, media and representatives of teenagers participated in the launch, a total amount of whom is about 100.

Global Environmental Outlook’s drafting is led and organized by UN Environment, with global coordination of experts in related fields more than 40 institutes. The release of first report was in 1997, which soon gained worldwide recognization and attention. Since then for every five years there will be a new issue of the report, and the publishing of the Sixth Global Environmental Outlook is expected to be in 2017.

Aside from Wang Ying, there are only six authors from China Academy of Sciences, Peking University, etc. The Sixth Global Environmental Outlook will provide a review of global environmental situation and trend, an analysis on progresses and lessons gained during the process of global response toward environmental problems and issues, and also advice on policies for environmental-policy makers.

The economy of China and Asia-Pacific region has witnessed an unprecedented increase, which contributed a lot in lifting millions of population from poverty. However, rapid development and urbanization process mounted greater pressure to the ecological system in this region, and the risk brought by skyrocketing demand for resources might consume all the benefits brought by development. China and other countries are trying to avoid such a trend by transition toward “greener” development paths, especially by investing renewable energies. The Sixth Global Environmental Outlook will focus on critical problems in this region, and assess the region’s environmental status, recognize major causes for environment deterioration and thus come up with solutions.