The world’s biodiversity and ecosystems deliver services to humanity estimated to be worth as much as the world gross national income, the UN environment programme (UNEP) said on Thursday.
In a study released two days before World Environment Day is held in Rwanda, the UN agency warned that two-thirds of these ecoystems have already been damaged by humans.
“Biodiversity and ecosystems deliver crucial services to humankind — from food security to keeping our waters clean, buffering against extreme weather, providing medicines to recreation and adding to the foundation of human culture,” the report said.
“Together these services have been estimated to be worth over US$21 trillion to US$72 trillion every year — comparable to the World Gross National Income of US$58 trillion in 2008,” it said.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said this reality has not been given enough consideration in the past and urged governments to factor in ecosystem management in their development plans and accounts.
“In the past these services have been invisible or near invisible in national and international accounts,” he said. “Restoration pays off: wetlands and forests can be up to 22 times more effective than investing in water treatment plants.”
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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