Global wildlife populations halve in 40 years
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, September 30, 2014
The report also highlights that we are using more resources than our planet can continue to provide and if we continue to do so, we will create even greater problems for ourselves in years to come.
For example, we are cutting down trees more quickly than they can regrow, harvesting more fish than the oceans can restock, pumping water from our rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them, and emitting more carbon than the oceans and forests can absorb. This cannot continue without profound harm to humans and to the natural world on which we depend.
The report, published days after the UN Climate Summit in New York, concurs with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that climate change is already impacting on the health of the planet.
WWF-UK Chief Executive David Nussbaum, who attended the UN Climate Summit said: "Ambitious and focused negotiations over an international climate deal to be agreed in Paris next year are a clear opportunity to control, and hopefully reverse, the trends highlighted in the Living Planet Report. Concluding a global agreement that sets countries on course to build low carbon economies is essential, and our reliance on fossil fuels is currently the dominant factor in driving dangerous climate change."
While recognizing that the task ahead is difficult, the report points out that there is nothing inevitable about the continuing decline in the Living Planet Index or our overuse of the earth's resources.
Wildlife's continued decline highlights the need for sustainable solutions to reverse the trends highlighted in the report. While biodiversity loss around the world is at critical levels, the Living Planet Report 2014 also provides solutions for a healthy planet. It calls for better ways of managing, using and sharing natural resources within the planet's limitations -- so as to ensure food, water and energy security for all.
In 2015, world leaders will agree two potentially critical global agreements: the post-2015 development framework - which will include Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by all countries by 2030; and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
While there are many hard facts about the state of our planet in the report, there are grounds for optimism. We have an opportunity to make decisions that allow all people to live a good life on a healthy planet, in harmony with nature. This opportunity, together with the many examples of how people are reversing the trends outlined in the report, give us hope for a better future.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)