Posted on 04/07/2005 7:48:48 PM PDT by lafroste
Humanity is heading for ecological disaster if instead of foreseeing and preventing environmental degradation we just react to it. This is the conclusion of a United Nations report compiled by 1300 leading scientists from 95 countries.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report previews the ecological state of the world in 2050. It lists 24 essential "ecosystem services," such as timber, clean air, and fresh water, and finds that 60% of them are being degraded or used unsustainably.
This degradation obstructs the UN Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000, the most ambitious of which was a halving of the world's population existing on less than a $1 (£0.53; {euro}0.78) a day or threatened by hunger or lack of clean water. Among the gravest threats to the environment are excessive "nutrient loading" from agricultural fertilisers and the progressive disappearance of biodiversity. The extinction rate of species is already a thousand times higher than the average rate shown by the fossil record and is set to increase 10-fold in the next 50 years.
"Humans are fundamentally and to a significant extent irreversibly changing the diversity of life on earth," says the report, noting that this could harm pharmaceutical research and development.
The scientists warn of possible "accelerating, abrupt, and potentially irreversible changes." These include the collapse of fish stocks, such as North Sea cod; rapid growth of marine algae, creating oxygen depleted dead zones in the sea; and emergence of disease.
In Africa, growing pressure on water supplies combined with regional climate change has the potential to greatly enlarge the areas in which cholera is a threat. The range of malaria bearing mosquitoes is also likely to increase.
The release of carbon into the atmosphere and the leaching of nitrogen based fertilisers into water pose serious risks for chronic disease, the report finds. Increases in ultraviolet B radiation, ozone and other air pollution, and pollen production are also predicted.
The report gives four sets of predictions for 2050, based on the approach currently adopted to counter ecosystem degradation. "The scenario we are closest to now is the one we call order from strength," said Dr Reid. This describes a world in which international cooperation is lacking, economic competition is fierce, and environmental threats are faced only after they emerge. This is likely to deliver the fastest population growth, the lowest economic growth, and the most environmental damage of the four scenarios, he said.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report is available at www.millenniumassessment.org//en/Products.Synthesis.aspx.
...funny...that's what Saddam said.
...I think Uday and Qusay said it, too.
...hmmmmm....
I'll drink to that...
We start dieing from the day we are born..
Some say we'll live forever, all of us, its just matter of where we will spend our time..
Your guess is as good as theirs, probably better.
How much money did this UN funded study cost, where did it come from, and who pocketed the leftover change?
Not just Saddam. The UN, and the Democratic senators and representatives, France,Germany. The list is endless.
these "scientists" must have been involved in the UN "oil for BS" scandal.....
You can find "1300 leading scientists" (including Nobel Prize winners) who believe just about anything, including that "up" is really "down", "white" is "black" and that the moon is really made from green cheese.
Generally, though, there is evidence that the extinction rate varies greatly over time. We (humans) may think we're pretty darn powerful, but we ain't nuttin' compared to the comet that killed the dinosaurs.
Now I understand why they opposed Bush's plan to remove Saddam from power. He was integral to their meeting this goal.
DOOMED!
When I was a kid, a previous generation of scientists told me I was going to commute to work in a flying car...or that I would have to live in an underwater house because there wouldn't be any land left to live on...but not to worry, because those were only temporary problems; apparently we would all starve to death by the year 2000.
Hmm, I seem to recall that an environmental apocalypse has been predicted consistently since the 1950s or so.
/Looks outside
No apocalypse yet.
A little bird told you, no doubt.
vaudine
There aren't 1300 leading scientists.
Are you tellin' us that iffn our ancestors had used Bonami instead of Comet the dynos would still be alive? Damn that Fred Flintstone!
Well, that settles it! No more electricity or SUV's, or other trappings of modernity. We're just going to have to bring back feudalism and live like tenth-century peasants!/sarcasm off
Still fighting population growth, eh? 50 years from now, everybody, even the UN, if we are so unfortunate as to still have a UN, will know that population decline is the actual problem.
POSSIBLE CHANGES! GOD HELP US ALLLLL!!!
I read it somewhere but it was a couple of summers ago. It was when the Energy Bill got voted down.
I doubt that I could ever find it again.
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