The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000 in a report to the General Assembly entitled We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century. Initiated in 2001, the objective of the MA was to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being.
The MA has involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings on the condition and trends of ecosystems, scenarios for the future, possible responses, and assessments at a sub-global level are set out in technical chapters grouped around these four main themes. In addition, a general Synthesis draws on these detailed studies to answer a series of core questions posed at the start of the MA. The practical needs of specific groups of users, including the business community, are addressed in other synthesis reports.
Each part of the assessment has been scrutinized by governments, independent scientists, and other experts to ensure the robustness of its findings.
This statement is from the Board governing the MA process, whose membership includes representatives from U.N. organizations, governments through a number of international conventions, nongovernmental organizations, academia, business, and indigenous peoples. (For a full list of Board members, see the inside front cover.)
It is not intended as a comprehensive summary of the findings of the MA, but rather as an interpretation of the key messages to emerge from it. Written for a non-specialist readership, it is nevertheless consistent with the more detailed documents of the assessment and can be read in conjunction with them.
We believe that the wide range of global interests combining to issue this statement, together with the rigorous study on which it is based, should add power and urgency to the conclusions it sets out.
—The Board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
