Text 11062, 74 rader
Skriven 2005-04-04 16:57:56 av MARNIE TROSCLAIR (1:10/345)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: Living Beyond Our Means?
================================
 
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. 
 
 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report highlights four main 
 findings: 
 
 (begin text) 
 
 * Humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively  
 in the last 50 years than in any other period. This was done largely 
 to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber  
 and fuel.  More land was converted to agriculture since 1945 than in 
 the 18th and 19th centuries combined.  More than half of all the  
 synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, first made in 1913, ever used on the  
 planet has been used since 1985.  Experts say that this resulted in 
 a substantial and largely irreversible loss in diversity of life on 
 Earth with some 10 to 30 percent of the mammal, bird and amphibian 
 species currently threatened with extinction. 
 
 * Ecosystem changes that have contributed substantial net gains in 
 human well-being and economic development have been achieved at 
 growing costs in the form of degradation of other services.  Only four 
 ecosystem services have been enhanced in the last 50 years: increases 
 in crop, livestock and aquaculture production, and increased carbon 
 sequestration for global climate regulation.  Two services - capture 
 fisheries and fresh water - are now well beyond levels that can 
 sustain current, much less future, demands.  Experts say that these 
 problems will substantially diminish the benefits for future 
 generations. 
 
 * The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly  
 worse during the first half of this century and is a barrier to  
 achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.  In all the four  
 plausible futures explored by the scientists, they project progress  
 in eliminating hunger, but at far slower rates than needed to halve  
 the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015.  Experts warn  
 that changes in ecosystems such as deforestation influence the  
 abundance of human pathogens such as malaria and cholera, as well  
 as the risk of emergence of new diseases.  Malaria, for example,  
 accounts for 11 percent of the disease burden in Africa and had it  
 been eliminated 35 years ago, the continent's gross domestic product  
 would have increased by $100 billion. 
 
 * The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while 
 meeting increasing demands can be met under some scenarios  
 involving significant policy and institutional changes.  However, these  
 changes will be large and are not currently under way.  The report  
 mentions options that exist to conserve or enhance ecosystem services  
 that reduce negative trade-offs or that will positively impact other  
 services.   Protection of natural forests, for example, not only 
 conserves wildlife but also supplies fresh water and reduces carbon  
 emissions. 
 
 "The over-riding conclusion of this assessment is that it lies within  
 the power of human societies to ease the strains we are putting on  
 the nature services of the planet, while continuing to use them to  
 bring better living standards to all," said the MA board of directors  
 in a statement, "Living beyond Our Means: Natural Assets and  
 Human Well-being." "Achieving this, however, will require radical  
 changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making  
 and new ways of cooperation between government, business and civil  
 society.  The warning signs are there for all of us to see. The future  
 now lies in our hands." 
 
 
 http://www.millenniumassessment.org 
 
 
 
  
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