The 2025 edition of the UNEP Frontiers Report, “The Weight of Time,” offers a timely and particularly thought-provoking reflection on how temporal dimensions—long-term exposure, delayed environmental responses, and demographic transitions—are reshaping both environmental risks and governance needs. By identifying four emerging issues, the report invites policymakers, rese archers, and practitioners of environmental governance to look beyond immediate concerns and engage with the longer-term dynamics that increasingly define our environmental reality. Among these, the demographic challenge of ageing populations in a changing environment appears especially pertinent to the work and orientation of MEPIELAN.
As Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, notes in her Foreword, the Frontiers Report forms an integral part of UNEP’s mandate to keep the global environment under continuous review. It brings together scientists and experts from across the world to explore emerging issues of concern and to propose forward-looking policy response and courses of action. In this sense, the report is not only informative but also invites reflection—something I found particularly valuable in the context of ongoing discussions within MEPIELAN.
The first issue – The frozen Pandora’s box: Reactivation of microbes in a warming cryosphere –concerns the threat posed by reactivated microbes in a warming cryosphere. Ice sheets, glaciers, and permafrost contain vast reservoirs of microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, and viruses—some of which remain dormant or even active. As global temperatures rise and melting accelerates, these microorganisms may become increasingly active, potentially posing risks to ecosystems and human health. At the same time, cryospheric microorganisms offer important scientific value: they can provide insights into climate history and evolution, and contribute to medical and biotechnological innovation. The report calls for both preparedness against potential pathogenic risks and systematic efforts to document and preserve these unique biological resources.
The second issue – Clearing the path: Barrier removal for river restoration – addresses the growing need to remove barriers such as dams in order to restore river ecosystems. Barrier removal—often driven by local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth—has demonstrated that rivers can recover rapidly once natural flows are re-established. However, restoration outcomes depend on addressing additional pressures, including land-use changes, pollution, and climate impacts. The report emphasizes the importance of evaluating restoration processes and outcomes to guide future interventions and inform decisions regarding both existing and planned infrastructure.
The third issue – “Demographic Challenge: Growing Old in a Changing Environment”—remains central. As the proportion of people over 65 is expected to rise significantly by mid-century, particularly in urban areas, exposure to environmental risks such as extreme heat, air pollution, and disasters will intensify. Older persons are already among the most vulnerable groups, yet they also represent a critical resource for community resilience. The report underscores the need for integrated, age-friendly, climate-resilient, and inclusive adaptation strategies.
In this context, participatory environmental governance—strongly advocated by MEPIELAN—emerges as a key response. Community-based disaster risk management and locally driven initiatives empower older persons to remain active contributors to environmental protection, disaster preparedness, and social cohesion. At the same time, inclusive policies must address inequalities related to gender, income, and access to information, while ensuring that green transitions do not inadvertently marginalize vulnerable populations.
The fourth issue – Forgotten but not gone: Remobilization of legacy pollutants by flood events – focuses on the risks posed by legacy pollutants mobilized by extreme weather events, particularly floods. Events such as major floods can resuspend contaminated sediments, releasing heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants into ecosystems and human settlements. This creates complex and often underestimated environmental and health risks. The report highlights the need to assess contaminated sediments, rethink flood management strategies—especially through Nature-based Solutions—and invest in natural remediation processes to mitigate these hazards.
Overall, the report underscores a simple but powerful message: environmental governance must take into account long-term processes, cumulative risks, and evolving social realities. In this context, strengthening community-based, inclusive approaches—particularly those that empower all age groups—appears not only desirable, but necessary.
Intended to inform anticipatory policy and risk management across regions and sector, the report is a valuable contribution to ongoing discussions on environmental governance and sustainability, and merits careful reading.
The report follows at the link below
https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/48122
https://wedocs.unep.org/items/46c672ce-e960-4853-8ac1-375702965877
About the author
Evangelos Raftopoulos
Professor Emeritus of International Law, Panteion University, Athens, Greece, Fellow, C-EENRG, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
- Evangelos Raftopoulos
