Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Synthesis Report
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work program that was designed to meet the needs of decision makers and the public for scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and options for responding to those changes.
The MA was launched by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 2001 and was completed in 2005. It focuses on ecosystem services (the benefits people obtain from ecosystems), how changes in ecosystem services have affected human well-being, how ecosystem changes may affect people in future decades, and response options that might be adopted at local, national, or global scales to improve ecosystem management and thereby contribute to human well-being and poverty alleviation.
On March 30, 2005, the MA starts releasing its findings. The MA reports include a total of seven synthesis and summary reports, and four technical volumes. An additional set of about 16 sub-global assessments is released separately.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report is available as pdf-file: