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.”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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