State of the Environment Report (SOE) 2013 : Samoa

Abstract

Environmental monitoring and reporting at the national level was highlighted by the Rio Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 21) and has since been supported at the global level through the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) report series that started in 1997. The GEO project itself was also initiated in response to the environmental reporting requirements of the UN Agenda 21 and to a UNEP Governing Council decision of May 1995 which requested the production of a new comprehensive global state of the environment report. As a global report, GEO combines top-down integrated assessment with bottom-up environmental reporting. This approach, which depends on regional assessments from designated regional centres including SPREP, provides the framework for national level inputs into the rolling up of regional impacts and trends. GEO regional reporting preparation also contributed to strengthening national level capacity for the preparation of national SOE.