Needed: Two More Earths
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 20, 2000
BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 20, 2000 (ENS) - If every human alive today consumed natural resources and emitted carbon dioxide at the same rate as the average American European or Australian we would need at least another two earths, WWF, the conservation organization, revealed at the launch today of its Living Planet Report 2000.
The same applies to the amount consumed by the average person in many of the world's richest coutnries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, Kuwait, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.
The Living Planet Report 2000 shows that the natural wealth of the earth's forests, freshwater and marine ecosystems has declined by one-third since 1970.
The area required to produce the natural resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by mankind has doubled since 1961, and by 1996 was 30 percent larger than the area actually available.
For the first time, a measure of human pressure on global ecosystems known as the "ecological footprint" was calculated for the WWF report.
It shows the biologically productive area needed to produce the food and wood each country consumes; for towns, roads and other infrastructure; and to absorb carbon dioxide emisisons from burning fossil fuels.
"The only way to reverse these dangerous trends is to start considering the planet's natural resources seriously," said Professor Ruud Lubbers, president of WWF International.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, Lubbers is urging fellow world leaders to use the new report as they make sustainable development plans for the future.
He is especially asking European Union leaders drawing up their Sustainability Strategy for the Gotenberg Summit in 2001, and world leaders meeting in the Rio+10 Conference in 2002, to use the ecological footprint measurement to agree on specific actions to limit the burden we place on nature.
"We have to think long term," Lubbers stressed. "We have borrowed this planet from our children and grandchildren."
"The ecological footprint shows us the limits of nature's productivity," Lubbers said. "It provides a useful tool for measuring and monitoring sustainability."
"It is the consumers of the rich nations of the temperate northern regions of the world who are primarily responsible for the ongoing loss of natural wealth in the tropics," said Jonathan Loh, editor of the Living Planet Report.
The area needed to produce the natural resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by the average North American is almost twice the area required by the average Western European, and some five times greater than required by the average Asian, African and Latin American.
The Living Planet Index, WWF's measure of the state of natural ecosystems, produced in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Center.
This year's Index found that the combined natural wealth of forests, freshwater ecosystems and ocean environments has declined by about 33 percent since 1970, an average drop of about one percent per year.
Between 1970 and 1999, forests declined by 12 percent, freshwater ecosystems declined by 50 percent and ocean environments declined by 35 percent, with the most severe deterioration occurring in the tropical and southern temperate regions of the world.
The Living Planet Report 2000 can be found on online at: http://www.wwf.org.