Text 11059, 100 rader
Skriven 2005-04-04 16:20:22 av MARNIE TROSCLAIR (1:10/345)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: THE ECOSYSTEM
=====================
 
JH> He might have a leg to stand on if humans had come to this planet 
JH> from somewhere else.  THEN anything we did would be an external 
JH> influence on things already here.  But we aren't.  We are as much a 
JH> part of this environment as an iceberg, or a raincloud, or a herd of 
JH> bison, and so is what we do.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

 Mar 31, 2005

 United Nations goals to halve poverty and hunger by 2015 will not be
 met, and hunger and malnutrition will remain problem even in 2050
 unless governments pay greater attention to what nature does for
 humanity, says a UN report published 30 March 2005.

 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, prepared by 1300 scientists
 from 95 countries, says humans have changed the world more rapidly
 over the last 50 years than in any other time in history but billions
 of people remain in poverty and the destruction of the natural world
 is an increasingly significant barrier to the achievement of the UN
 Millennium Development Goals.

 [...]

 Key findings from the report include:

   * The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by
     almost a third since 1750. 60% of that increase has happened since
     1959.

   * More land has been converted to cropland since 1945 than during
     the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries combined

   * One quarter of the world's coral reefs and about 35 per cent of
     the mangroves, in countries surveyed, were destroyed or badly
     degraded in the last decades of the 20th century

   * More than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer ever used
     has been used since 1985, causing water pollution problems around
     the world.

   * 15 out of 24 'ecosystem services' assessed in the study are being 
     degraded or used unsustainably - e.g. at least a quarter of
     commercially important fish stocks are over harvested and 15-35%
     of irrigation withdrawals could exceed replenishment rates

   * Pressures on ecosystems may be increasing the chance of sudden
     changes which could harm human well-being - examples include 
     new diseases, coastal dead zones, collapsing fisheries, invasive
     species and regional climate change

   * Levels of poverty remain high and inequalities are growing - over
     one billion people survive on less than $1 a day, 856 million are
     under-nourished and 1-2 billion are affected by water scarcity

   * The degradation of ecosystems is harming many of the world's
     poorest people and is sometimes the principal factor causing
     poverty - 1.8 million people die annually due to inadequate
     hygiene, sanitation or water supply

   * The Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty and hunger
     between 1990 and 2015 is not achieved and hunger and child
     malnutrition remain problems even in 2050

   * Wealthy countries cannot insulate themselves from ecosystem
     degradation, which is expected to get significantly worse over the
     next fifty years


John, you might not like to eat fish, but others certainly do.  They 
might be concerned that 25% of the commercially important fish stocks
are being over-harvested.  Farmers in affected areas are certainly
concerned when irrigation withdrawals exceed replenishment rates.
Coastal dead zones, collapsing fisheries... you're going to shirk 
all of this off with a few snide remarks?

Roger Higman, Friends of the Earth's Environmental Coordinator said:

 "The Millennium Assessment cuts to the heart of one of the greatest
 challenges facing humanity - that we cannot maintain high standards of
 living, let alone relieve poverty, if we don't look after the Earth's
 life support systems.

 Yet it hasn't gone far enough in specifying the radical solutions
 needed. At the end of the day, if we are to respect the limits imposed
 by nature, and ensure the well-being of all humanity, we must manage
 the global economy to produce a fairer distribution of the Earth's
 resources."

You get excited about one case involving food and water being denied 
to one person, yet you can't see how so many more are being and will be
similarly affected by the problems identified by the scientists who 
produced this report.

 
 

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