The UN secretary-general says dealing with environmental issues is the great moral, social and economic imperative of our time.

The fourth report in the Global Environment Outlook assessment series calls for governments and businesses across the globe to lead the fight against climate change. The report concludes that evidence of sustainable development is scarce and the global environment has been seriously degraded in most areas.

The report highlights that with some issues the problems are so serious they threaten the future of the planet. According to the report, limiting the impacts of climate change to a manageable level will require emissions to fall by up to fifty percent by 2050, compared with their 1990 levels.

It says sixty percent of the ecosystem services that have been assessed, such as those supplying fresh water to hundreds of millions in towns and cities, are degraded or not used in a sustainable way.

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