15.10.2010
Wanted: A new planet by 2030

The ever-increasing demand for natural resources means that by 2030 we will need two Earths to meet the needs of the global economy, according to the latest version of WWF‘s flagship biodiversity study published today.

The biennial Living Planet Report is based on the campaign group‘s Living Planet Index, which measures the current state of biodiversity, and its ecological footprint assessment, which analyses humankind‘s impact on the natural world.

The latest version of the report highlights that humanity‘s demand for natural resources has doubled since 1966 and reveals that the global economy is consuming resources equivalent to 1.5 planets to support itself.

It warns that a continuation of current trends on a global scale would mean that in 20 years time we will need the productive capacity of two planets to meet our annual demands.

The report represents one of the most extensive audits of biodiversity carried out anywhere in the world and is based on assessments of almost 8,000 populations of over 3,500 different species.

It contains a host of facts and figures highlighting the unsustainable nature of current consumption patterns, including confirmation that populations of freshwater tropical species have fallen by nearly 70 per cent, while biodiversity levels across low-income countries have fallen by almost 60 per cent in less than 40 years.

The report reveals a continuing contrast between Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and developing countries, with higher income nations boasting an average per capita environmental footprint that is around five times larger than that found in poorer nations.

It also confirms that while large emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China still have significantly lower per capita impacts than rich nations they are on track to overtake the OECD bloc if they follow a similar developmental path.

The UK was ranked 31st in the ecological footprint rankings, but this still equates to a rate of consumption that requires 2.75 planets to sustain itself.

The report warned that OECD nations were increasingly depleting natural resources and biodiversity in poorer countries in order to meet its demand for resources, a scenario that could result in major economic security risks as scarce resources and degraded natural systems lead to inflation in the price of food and raw materials.

In the foreword to the report, James Leape, director general of WWF International, wrote: "The implications are clear. Rich nations must find ways to live much more lightly on the Earth, to sharply reduce their footprint, in particular their reliance on fossil fuels. Put plainly, we have to devise ways of getting as much, and more, from much less."

The report will further fuel calls for renewed political action to tackle ecosystem damage ahead of the UN‘s annual biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan next week.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK, said that world leaders had to deliver an economic system that "assigns genuine value to the benefits we get from nature: biodiversity, the natural systems which provide goods and services like water, and ultimately our own well-being".

Nussbaum challenged the UK government to take the lead in preventing demand for resource from overwhelming the environmental agenda.

"In the UK, all of us – government, businesses and individuals – need fundamentally to rethink our relationship with the planet,” he said. "The new coalition government can take a lead by putting green investment and real sustainability at the heart of its decision making."

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2271462/wanted-planet-2030