A Long Term Vision for 2050

An analysis of pathways towards sustainable development
needs a long-term vision. Ideally, such a vision is summarized
in a quantitative set of globally agreed key objectives or
targets. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
adopted in September 2015, conceptualizes sustainable
development through 17 SDGs and is further operationalized
through 169 targets and 232 indicators (United Nations 2015a;
see Annex 4-1). The Agenda formulates an ambitious and
transformational vision for 2030. The SDGs address a broad
range of issues, including eradicating poverty, transforming
towards sustainable and resilient societies, and protecting
and managing the natural resource base. Furthermore,
the SDGs and its targets are related to several Multilateral
Environmental Agreements (MEA). Together, the SDGs and
related MEAs provide a globally agreed set of targets to guide
the transformation towards long‐term sustainability.
In this chapter, we define the vision used for the scenario
analysis of GEO-6, taking a long-term perspective, beyond 2030.
This vision uses the SDGs as an overarching, integrated set
of goals and targets to start from, selecting key environmentrelated
targets, and, where relevant, further quantifying these
with targets from related MEAs or the scientific literature. This
long-term vision addresses the theme of GEO-6 – Healthy
Planet, Healthy People – by focusing on global environmental
targets linked to the five themes discussed in Part A (State
of the Global Environment), and related multidimensional
poverty and health targets. In Chapters 21 and 22 the existing
scenario literature is assessed, to allow discussion of future
developments with respect to these targets and the pathways
towards achieving them.