09/17/00 -- Humans Stress Ecosystems to the Limit

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Humans Stress Ecosystems to the Limit

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

09/17/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Without ecosystems nothing else matters. Economics, politics,

agriculture, arts and sports and all other areas of human endeavor

are completely and totally dependent upon operable ecological

systems. Yet a new report highlights the extent to which humans are

pushing natural ecosystems to the breaking point, with disregard for

the services they provide and what is required to sustain their

operation. UNDP, UNEP, the World Bank and WRI have released a global

assessment of the state of coastal, forest, grassland, freshwater and

agricultural ecosystems that seeks to lift the profile of ecosystem

loss and diminishment, and lead to an international response on par

(although hopefully more effective) to those which address reductions

in the ozone layer and climatic system.

The report grades the health of each ecosystem type on the basis of

their ability to produce the goods and services that the World

depends upon. These include production of food, provision of pure

and sufficient water, storage of atmospheric carbon, maintenance of

biodiversity and provision of recreation and tourism opportunities.

The results "painted a gloomy picture of over-fished oceans,

excessive pumping of water for farming, and destruction of coral

reefs and forests."

Environmental conservation is more than protecting rare species of

plants and animals in isolation. It also requires conserving

ecosystems -- the whole amalgamation of natural life forms and their

functions -- in large, operable configurations sufficient to maintain

conditions conducive for life. Environmentalism is the antidote to

the modern death wish aggressively being courted through habitat

loss, species overkill, over population, over consumption and a

general disregard for the natural World. We have perhaps a decade to

mold the World's social and politic systems into forms adequate to

ensure maintenance and restoration of the Earth's ecosystems. Or

human potentiality will be greatly diminished, if not extinguished.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

ITEM #1

Title: Humans stress ecosystems to the limit

Date: September 15, 2000

By: Alex Kirby, environment correspondent

The human impact on natural ecosystems has reached dangerous levels,

according to US conservationists.

A report by the Washington DC-based World Resources Institute (WRI)

says human activities have also begun to significantly alter the

Earth's basic chemical cycles.

The report is the result of a collaboration between WRI, the United

Nations Development and Environment Programmes, and the World Bank.

It calls on policymakers to use an ecosystem-based approach when

negotiating international agreements.

The global assessment of the state of coastal, forest, grassland,

freshwater and agricultural ecosystems was released in the Norwegian

city of Bergen during a conference of world environment ministers.

It painted a gloomy picture of over-fished oceans, excessive pumping

of water for farming, and destruction of coral reefs and forests.

Satellite data

The document is based on a $4m investigation, the Pilot Assessment of

Global Ecosystems, PAGE, that used about 100 earlier assessments of

various ecosystems and regions, as well as new data from satellite

imaging and other forms of remote sensing.

PAGE will be followed by a larger $20m Millennium Ecosystem

Assessment, due to begin in 2001.

"Every measure used by scientists to assess the health of the world's

ecosystems tells us that we are drawing on them more than ever and

degrading them at an accelerating pace," Dr Klaus Topfer, executive

director of the UN Environment Programme said in a statement.

"We depend on ecosystems to sustain us, and their continued good

health depends, in turn, on how we take care of them," he added.

The report identified several examples of the stresses human

activities are causing on the world's major ecosystems:

* half the world's wetlands were lost during the last century;

* logging and land conversion have reduced forest cover by at least

20%, and possibly by as much as 50%;

* about 9% of the world's tree species are at risk of extinction;

* nearly 70% of the world's major marine fish stocks are either

overfished, or are being fished at their biological limit;

* in the last half century, soil degradation has affected two-thirds

of the world's agricultural land.

Water demand

The effect of the growing demand for water is also singled out in the

report.

"Dams and engineering works have strongly or moderately fragmented

60% of the world's large river systems. They have so impeded flows

that the length of time it takes the average drop of river water to

reach the sea has tripled."

And the authors say it is not simply individual ecosystems that are

being stressed to the limits. "Human activities are significantly

altering the basic chemical cycles that all ecosystems depend on.

"This strikes at the foundation of ecosystem functioning and adds to

the fundamental stresses that ecosystems face at a global scale."

The report expresses particular concern about increased levels of

carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

And the authors say too little attention is paid at any level to the

role ecosystems play in sustaining life. "In most nations, and in

most local practices, there is little use of the idea of ecosystems

as essential biological elements that touch daily life and business.

At an international level, there is little use of the ecosystem

approach when shaping agreements on trade, agriculture, forests, or

water use."

ITEM #2

Title: Landmark Report Urges New Approach to Stem Widespread Decline

in World's Ecosystems

Source: World Resources Institute via Environmental News Network

Date: September 15, 2000

BERGEN, NORWAY - A landmark assessment released today during a

meeting of the world's top environment officials called for a new

approach to managing ecosystems in order to stem the widespread

decline of the processes that sustain life on earth.

"Every measure used by scientists to assess the health of the world's

ecosystems tells us that we are drawing on them more than ever and

degrading them at an accelerating pace," said Dr. Klaus T"pfer,

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. "We

depend on ecosystems to sustain us, and their continued good health

depends, in turn, on how we take care of them."

The report, World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems, The

Fraying Web of Life, was released today by the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), UNEP, the World Bank and the World

Resources Institute (WRI). Over 175 scientists contributed to this

global research effort, which took more than two years to complete.

The report examines coastal, forest, grassland, and freshwater and

agricultural ecosystems. It grades their health on the basis of their

ability to produce the goods and services that the world currently

relies on. These include production of food, provision of pure and

sufficient water, storage of atmospheric carbon, maintenance of

biodiversity and provision of recreation and tourism opportunities.

"For too long we have focused on how much we can take from our

ecosystems, with little attention to the services that they provide,"

said Thomas Johansson, Director of UNDP's Energy and Atmosphere

Programme. "Ecosystems provide essential services like climate

control and nutrient recycling that we cannot replace at any

reasonable price."

The scorecards and the statistics in People and Ecosystems paint a

dismal picture of over-fished oceans, over-pumping of water for

farming, destruction of coral reefs and forests, even too much

tourism. The report identifies human population growth and increasing

consumption as the two principal drivers of the decline of the

world's ecosystems.

"Stripped of its ecosystems, Earth would resemble the stark, lifeless

images beamed back from Mars in 1997," People and Ecosystems reports.

The study recommends that governments and people must view the

sustainability of ecosystems as essential to human life. It calls for

an ecosystems approach to managing the world's critical resources,

which means evaluating decisions on land and resource use in light of

how they affect the capacity of ecosystems to produce goods and

services.

"We already know enough to begin to manage ecosystems sustainably. We

can restore some of the natural productivity we have lost," said

Jonathan Lash, President of WRI. "Many of the 'fixes' are simple and

non-technical."

The report contains case studies from all over the world on how

people are acting to reverse the damage to their ecosystems. In South

Africa, people are restoring the ecosystem by uprooting invasive

trees. In Dhani, India, communities use watchmen and patrols, simple

harvest plans, and bans on cattle grazing in order to restore their

community forests. In Machakos, Kenya, the Akamba people collect

rainwater and construct terraces-a practice dating back to ancient

times in many parts of the world.

Lash added that while our knowledge of ecosystems has increased

dramatically, it has not kept pace with our ability to alter them.

"Our failure to think in terms of ecosystems has been rooted in our

profound lack of information about how ecosystems affect us and what

condition they are in," he said.

Lessons drawn from People and Ecosystems suggest four basic tenets of

an ecosystem approach:

? Tackle the information gap. Managing ecosystems effectively

requires a detailed understanding of their current condition and how

they function.

? Engage in a public dialog on goals, policies, and trade-offs.

Dramatic improvements in ecosystem condition and capacity are

possible when governments and nongovernmental organizations create

opportunities to air diverse ideas about ecosystem management.

? Recognize the value of ecosystem services. Removing subsidies and

explicitly pricing ecosystem services can be politically difficult

but can promote more efficient resource use.

? Involve local communities in managing ecosystems. Local communities

are often the most prudent ecosystem managers. Involving local

communities can also yield a more equitable distribution of the

benefits and costs of ecosystem use.

"If we are to make sound ecosystem management decisions in the 21st

century, dramatic changes are needed in the way we use the knowledge

and experience at hand and the range of additional information we

need, " said Dr. Robert T. Watson, Chief Scientist and Director for

Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development of the World

Bank.

The report was released at the start of the Informal Ministerial

Meeting on the Environment, being held Sept. 15-17 in Bergen, Norway.

Siri Bjerke, Norway's Minister of the Environment, said that the

World Resources Report 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems is

significant to all those concerned with the environment. "It provides

us with an up-to-date analysis of what we know today, at the start of

the new millennium. And - perhaps even more important - what we will

need to know in order to address the global challenges ahead," she

said.

-30-

Issued jointly by the United Nations Development Programme, the

United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and the World

Resources Institute.

For more information, contact:

Adlai Amor

Media Director

World Resources Institute

202 729 7736

aamor@wri.org

Web site: http://www.wri.org

ITEM #3

Title: Landmark report highlights eco-issue

Date: September 15, 2000

By: Miguel Llanos

MSNBC

Sept. 14 - In the 1980s, the world woke up to the threat of the

ozone hole, and in the 1990s it began to realize the dangers of

climate change. Now, if a survey Thursday has its intended effect,

there'll be a new environmental focus: Earth's ecosystems. Some 175

scientists working with two U.N. agencies, the World Bank and an

environmental group say in the survey that people are destroying the

planet's forests, coral reefs and other habitats at an ever-faster

rate.

"EVERY MEASURE used by scientists to assess the health of the world's

ecosystems tells us that we are drawing on them more than ever and

degrading them at an accelerating pace," Klaus T"pfer, head of the

U.N. Environment Program, said in a statement accompanying the

report.

That program, the U.N. Development Program, the World Bank and the

World Resources Institute released the report - "World Resources

2000-2001: People and Ecosystems" - which took two years to prepare.

Five ecosystems were graded based on their ability to benefit humans

as: a food source; a water source; a place to store atmospheric

carbon (thus keeping it from adding to the "greenhouse" climate

effect); a shelter for biodiversity; and a place of recreation and

tourism.

FUTURE SURVEYS

Overfished seas, overuse of water for farming, destruction of coral

reefs and forests, and too much tourism were cited as some of the

destructive factors. The two principal causes of that destruction,

the report added, are human population growth and increasing

consumption.

The head of the World Resources Institute told MSNBC.com that, unlike

other surveys that have fallen by the wayside, this one has money

behind it for follow-up action.

The partners have agreed to start a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,

said Jonathan Lash, and nearly all of the $21 million needed to fund

the four-year project has been raised.

That project will aim to fill in the "information gaps" shown by this

first survey. "For example," said Lash, "information on biodiversity

is poor across all ecosystems studied. We also lack critical data on

such things as level of fuel wood and the impact of livestock on

grassland forage conditions. As these gaps are filled, we will

certainly update the scorecards."

RATIONALE FOR REPORT

Norway's environment minister, who hosted an international meeting in

Bergen, Norway, where the report was released, said it lays out where

policymakers need to look. "It provides us with an up-to-date

analysis of what we know today, at the start of the new millennium,"

said Siri Bjerke. "And, perhaps even more important, what we will

need to know in order to address the global challenges ahead."

For the survey partners, the information gaps are a key reason why

humans haven't paid more attention to ecosystems. "Our failure to

think in terms of ecosystems has been rooted in our profound lack of

information about how ecosystems affect us and what condition they

are in," Lash said.

UNDP official Thomas Johansson said the lack of knowledge includes

what ecosystems can do for us. "For too long we have focused on how

much we can take from our ecosystems, with little attention to the

services that they provide." he said. "Ecosystems provide essential

services like climate control and nutrient recycling that we cannot

replace at any reasonable price."

FOCUS ON FIXES

The study urges governments and people to view ecosystems as

essential to human life.

And the partners aren't saying there's no hope for Mother Earth.

"We already know enough to begin to manage ecosystems sustainably,"

said Lash. "We can restore some of the natural productivity we have

lost. Many of the 'fixes' are simple and non-technical."

But will the world listen? It took an international protocol to get

nations to reduce chemicals eating Earth's ozone layer, and an

international treaty to set goals for reducing gases that many

scientists fear are warming the Earth.

Might ecosystems merit their own international forum? Lash doesn't

preclude that possibility. "What is certain," he said, "is that we

will have the best scientific minds and development experts in the

world involved in assessing the state of our ecosystems.

"The first step is to fill in the information gaps. If they conclude

that we will need international treaties to protect the world's

ecosystems - in addition to the ones we already have - then I expect

the United Nations and its member governments will take the lead in

formulating them.

Tenets of an ecosystem approach

U.N. agencies and a major environmental group have drafted four basic

tenets:

* Tackle the information gap. Managing ecosystems effectively

requires a detailed understanding of their current condition and how

they function.

* Engage in a public dialog on goals, policies, and trade-offs.

Dramatic improvements in ecosystems are possible when governments and

nongovernmental groups create opportunities to air diverse ideas

about ecosystem management.

* Recognize the value of ecosystem services. Removing subsidies and

explicitly pricing ecosystem services can be politically difficult

but can promote more efficient resource use.

* Involve local communities in managing ecosystems. They are often

the most prudent ecosystem managers and can also yield a more

equitable distribution of the benefits and costs of ecosystem use.