Humans Have Destroyed 30% of Natural World
8/19/98
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Title: Humans Have Destroyed 30% of Natural World
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 8/19/98
LONDON - Humans have destroyed more than 30 percent of the natural world
since 1970, according to a report published on Thursday.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) gave details of its Living Planet
Index (LPI), which analyses the deterioration of the world's forest,
freshwater and marine ecosystems between 1970 and 1995.
The LPI has declined by 30 percent since 1970, which means the earth has
lost nearly a third of its natural wealth in that time, the report said.
The pressure of global consumption on the environment has doubled over the
past 25 years and continues to accelerate, the report said.
People put pressure on the natural environment through the production and
consumption of resources such as grain, fish, wood and water and the
emission of pollutants such as carbon dioxide.
Consumers in the industrialised world put 2-1/2 times as much pressure on
the natural environment as those in the developing world.
"This dramatic decline in the state of the natural world is a direct
result of over-consumption," said WWF official Nick Mabey.
"The developed world has lived for years off the natural wealth of
developing countries, contributing to increased poverty. We have a
responsibility to reduce our pressure on their environment."
WWF said destructive consumption could be cut by preserving the diversity
of wildlife and the environment, using renewable resources and cutting
pollution and waste.
(C) Reuters Limited 1998.