Providing an overview of UNEPs activities in 2009, this report looks at a broad range of activities carried out by the organization as it follows its mandate to provide environmental leadership and promote sustainable development.

The UNEP Yearbook 2010 is essential, informative and authoritative reading and within six chapters the Year Book addresses the following: In 2009, efforts to advance international environmental governance focused on defining key objectives and functions for an improved UN architecture to address global environmental change. Ecosystems are being pushed beyond thresholds. Drivers of change that lead to biodiversity loss and changes in ecosystem services are growing in intensity. Dead zones in coastal areas have doubled in extent every decade since the 1960s. Much work remains to be done to reduce and mitigate the effects of harmful substances and hazardous waste on human health and the environment. Many unanswered questions remain about nanomaterials. The effects of increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are better understood, as more indicators of climate change are being assessed. Direct observations and modelling indicate that the planets tropical belt is expanding. Sustainable natural resource management can reduce vulnerability to disasters and conflicts and support peacebuilding. Promising tools to reduce disaster conflict risks are being integrated into policy and institutional structures. Better managing material and energy flows will help meet challenges associated with environmental impacts and advance decoupling of economic growth and resource use.