Conclusion
The world will lose 1 million square kilometers of forests, peatlands and other natural spaces. This is largely due to the expansion of cropland needed to feed a rising global population with a growing taste for meat.
Because of the loss of ecosystems, the planet’s mean species abundance–a single number that captures the diversity and distribution of life–is expected to drop 3 percent.
Climate change, left unchecked, will expose about 1.1 billion more people to heavy rains and an additional 900 million people to intense drought by 2050. This climactic one-two punch will help push up to 132 million people into poverty and put another 24 million people at risk of hunger by 2040.
By 2050, 3.3 billion people–one third of the planet–will face water stress.
GEO-7 says the world is approaching a series of climate-related thresholds from which there may be no return. The Greenland and Western Antarctic ice sheets could collapse, causing sea levels to rise 10 meters.
Thawing permafrost could release massive amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, supercharging warming. The Amazon rainforest may wither into a savannah, depriving the planet of one of its most important carbon sinks.
Nearly every warm-water coral would disappear, devastating undersea ecosystems and threatening fisheries around the world. Even ocean currents and the Jet Stream could be affected, throwing the climate into disarray.
There is still time to save the planet–and us
As serious as the situation is, the Earth’s future is not written in stone, GEO-7 argues. There is time for humanity to address climate change, nature loss and pollution.
But it will take urgent and unprecedented changes in how countries govern their economies, handle materials and waste, generate energy, produce food, use raw materials and treat the environment.
For more on that, read the next in our series of stories on GEO-7, set for publication on Dec 22.
Launched in 1997, the GEO series offers an unparalleled look at the state of the natural world and provides policymakers with a blueprint for creating a healthier planet.
UNEP News
Its seventh edition, titled A Future We Choose, was released in December 2025. For a summary of the report, check out this interactive feature. UNEP News
