Chair’s report and presentation

Thomas Lovejoy, STAP Chair, reported to the Fourth GEF Assembly on 26 May 2010 in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, on how the global environment continues to be threatened by the unsustainable exploitation of renewable natural resources and by climate change. Scientists now predict that ‘tipping points’ may be reached, where terrestrial and marine ecosystems will fail. Severe hypoxia and ocean dead zones are manifestations of the global environment reaching critical thresholds, beyond which recovery may be impossible or very costly.