In 2000, then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and his constituents decided “enough is enough” and
partnered with international financial institutions, the World Health Organization, leading environmental institutions, governments and other stakeholders to establish a scientific link between human activity and ecosystem degradation. Their objective was to organise, coordinate and synthesize environmental research from around the world to provide the “scientific basis for action needed” in order to get the political ball rolling.

The effort, carried out by 1,360 experts from 95 countries, cost an estimated USD 24 million; and if all the document pages were placed end to end, they would rise to twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. Fortunately for interested readers, an overview of key millennium ecosystem assessment (MA) mechanisms is conveniently available through the internet. However the “MA Toolkit” leaves much to be desired for those hoping for more holistic approaches to solving environmental problems. Instead, it offers a perspective reflecting the prevailing view that environmental challenges should be primarily understood in economic terms (e.g. nature as service provider), and improved through market mechanisms (e.g. assigning monetary valuation to nature’s services and designing policies that “allocate these costs in an equitable way”).

The toolkit is colourful, concise and easy to understand, but is more properly described as an introduction to some of the MA’s most interesting publications and research, including full reports, graphic resources, slide presentations, videos and press releases that can be found at <www.maweb.org/en/index/aspx>.