Revamping global food production, retooling the financial sector, moving beyond GDP as a measure of progress and other “transformative changes” are needed to save Nature and ourselves, a major UN biodiversity report says.
Delegates from 130 nations yesterday wrapped up week-long negotiations in Paris on the executive summary of a 1,800-page tome authored by 400 scientists, the first UN global assessment of the state of nature — and its effects on humanity — in 15 years.
The bombshell Summary for Policymakers, to be unveiled tomorrow, makes for very grim reading.
Photo: Reuters
Up to 1 million of Earth’s estimated 8 million species face extinction, many of them within decades, according to a draft version of the report. All but 7 percent of major marine fish stocks are in decline or exploited to the limit of sustainability. At the same time, humanity dumps up to 400 million tonnes of heavy metals, toxic sludge and other waste into oceans and rivers each year.
Since 1990, Earth has lost 2.9 million hectares — an area more than eight times the size of Germany or Vietnam — of forests that play a critical role in absorbing record-level carbon-dioxide emissions.
The new report details how humans are undermining Earth’s capacity to produce fresh water, clean air and productive soil, to name a few “ecosystem services.”
The direct causes of nature’s degradation — in order of importance — are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in body parts, climate change, pollution, and predatory or disease-carrying alien species such as rats, mosquitoes and snakes.
“There are also two big indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change — the number of people in the world and their growing ability to consume,” Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services chair Robert Watson said ahead of the meeting.
The way that humanity produces, distributes and consumes food — accounting for a third of land, 75 percent of fresh water use and a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions — is especially destructive, the report shows.
“Feeding the world in a sustainable manner entails the transformation of food systems,” the report says.
Local food production, less demand for meat, fewer chemical inputs, use of renewable power, sustainable limits for fisheries and a sharp decline in tropical deforestation — all are feasible and would help restore nature.
The summary for policymakers maps out what Watson calls “several plausible futures,” some inviting, others less so.
One labeled “economic optimism” sees burgeoning international trade unfettered by regulation. Population growth slows, but per capita consumption is high, leading to more climate change and pollution. A “reformed markets” variant would feature more policies aimed at poverty alleviation and protecting the environment, but consumer demand remains high, if more equally distributed.
“Global sustainable development” would see politicians and the public prioritize environmental issues and strict regulations. Policies and education promote low population growth, sustainable production and a concept of progress based on well-being, not just GDP. People eat a lot less meat and energy consumption declines.
“All variations of this archetype are beneficial for biodiversity,” the report says.
In a kindred world, international institutions weaken, but regional ones pick up the slack toward the same ends.
Finally, the last two scenarios — “business-as-usual” and “regional competition” — plunge the planet into a nightmarish, downward spiral of conflict, growing inequality and continuing degradation of nature.
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