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Module 4.3 What are the DRIVERS and PRESSURES causing environmental change?
5 Once we have come to understand the specifics of the environmental state, we can then start developing

an integrated story of what is happening to the environment and why. We accomplish that by answering:
“What are the Pressures and Drivers that have caused the change to occur?” Examples of types of
drivers and pressures identified in many global environmental assessment reports, such as UNEP’s
9-12 December, 2013 2005, are provided in Table 6.
GEO-4 report on the state of the global environment and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of

Proposed table with changes

Types

DRIVERS:
UNEP GEO-4
? Consumption and production patterns
? Demographics
? Science and technological innovation
? Economic demand, markets and trade
? Institutional and socio-political frameworks
? Distribution patterns.

PRESSURES: UNEP GEO-4
? Sectors
1. agriculture, fisheries and forestry
2. transport and housing
3. finance and trade
4. energy and industry
5. security and defence
6. science and education
7. culture
? Human influence
1. Pollution
2. land use
3. resource extraction
4. modification and movement of organisms

The purpose of identifying drivers and pressures is to establish an integrated story of likely causes of the
observed changes in the state of the environment. The story starts with identifying a pressure, which is
readily identifiable as a cause of the environmental change. For example, sewage discharge represents a
pressure causing changes in water quality in Tubli bay. A driver behind this particular pressure could be
rapid population growth and industrial development.

38 Integrated Analysis of Environmental Trends and Policies