The world as a bank

The rate of species extinction in nature is a thousand times higher than the natural rate

We all know what happens when you continue to overdraw from the bank over time, the "collateral" dwindles and eventually the bank announces: no more. No more cash and no funding. On a global scale this is exactly what is happening, the world's human population is multiplying without stopping and creating an over-draw on natural resources. Huge cities - megapolises are robbing more and more territories and resources without taking into account the future sources are dwindling and disappearing and the future looks more and more bleak.

To clarify the picture, about 1300 researchers from 95 countries engaged for four years in assessing the state of our environment towards the third millennium (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment = MA). What is described as data collection and research on the largest scale to date presents a picture of ongoing harm and serious risk to the global environment. The research indicates that the way in which human society produces food, obtains water, fibers for clothing, wood for heating and building, fuel, in the last fifty years has diluted the natural sources and harmed the environment An irreparable injury An injury that will primarily affect the backward classes and distressed areas, classes and areas that were supposed to benefit from the decisions and activities of international bodies that announced that by the year 2015 the world's poor will be reduced by half.

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals announced by the United Nations in 2000 will encounter the barrier of environmental hazards. Any progress to achieve the goals of reducing poverty and hunger, improving health will not be realized when the environment deteriorates and its exploitation is unsustainable. And in the defined "dramatic" way. The changes in the last fifty years did bring improvements in the standard of living for Western society, but the environmental price was high. Continued unsustainable exploitation will harm development goals for the future and to reach a practical solution, policy and approach must be changed.

Since 1945, more agricultural land has been cultivated than in the previous two hundred years. The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers began in 1913, more than half of the amount of fertilizers was spread in the fields after 1985. The authors of the study continue to state that: due to the pressure to exploit sources, irreversible damage has been caused to the variety of living species, 20% of mammals, birds and amphibians are in danger of extinction due to an increase of approx. 50% in the last fifty years in domestic animals, aquaculture, as well as an increase in pollutant emissions. The environment has no possibility to neutralize the accumulation of pollution. Two "services" that the environment provides: fishing and drinking water are below production capacity. That means we are overdrawn, after current consumption there will be no fish and no water in the future.

The aim of the study, which spans 2500 pages, is to bring about an international initiative for a radical change in consumption habits, for education in understanding needs and their adaptation, for developing technologies for sustainable utilization, for setting high prices - fines for unsustainable resource utilization.

The PM will slow down the cumulative damage that human society causes to its environment. According to the study, human society is able to relieve the pressure from the "services" that nature provides and in the process bring about an improved quality of life. The achievement of this goal will require a significant change in relation to nature at the decision-making level and new ways of cooperation between governments, businesses and citizen groups.

The warning signs are flashing for all of us and the future is in our hands

The report indicates that there is evidence that the effort imposed on nature can cause sudden changes, such as the collapse of the cod fish farm in Canada in 1992, after years of overfishing. Future changes could lead to sudden outbreaks of disease. For example, the warming of the great lakes in Africa due to climate change can create conditions for the spread of the cholera epidemic.

The evaporation of nitrogen gas from fertilizer washed from agricultural lands into the sea can spur an unexpected bloom of algae that will suffocate fish or create oxygen-depleted "dead zones" along the coasts. The report also states that deforestation often causes a decrease in the amount of rainfall, and as a result, the growth conditions of the forests that still remain are damaged.

The news agencies add that UN Director General Kofi Annan said that the study "demonstrates how human actions cause environmental damage on a huge scale all over the world, and how biodiversity - the basis of life on Earth - is deteriorating at an alarming rate."

"We see a growing risk of unexpected changes occurring in many ecosystems," concludes the report, which predicts that within a hundred years, the global warming blamed on the burning of fuel in cars, factories and power plants, could become the main source of damage. The report is devoted to other risks which are usually ignored, which may erupt in the relatively near future.

The study, which will be forwarded to governments for review, claims that major changes in perception, better education, modern technology and high fines for those who exploit the ecosystems, can reduce the damage. "Governments should recognize that the "natural services" provided by the earth have a price," says A.H. Zakari, chairman of the committee that drafted the report. "Protecting them is not a priority for those who see them as a free service that can be exploited without any supervision."

The environmental studies: the human race is in danger

"All the progress achieved in addressing the issues of poverty and hunger, in attempts to improve global health and in the field of environmental protection may be lost." The "Millennium Assessment", which weighs thousands of scientific assessments, suggests that humans have caused irreversible damage to life on Earth.

The most comprehensive study ever conducted on the state of the earth suggests that the activities of the human race threaten its ability to sustain future generations. According to the report, the way human society consumes its resources has caused irreversible damage to the natural processes that support life on Earth. Thus, according to the BBC, the international struggles against hunger and poverty and the striving to improve global health will also be affected.

The "Millennium Assessment of the Ecosystem" is a weighting of assessments by 1,300 researchers from 95 countries, made in the last four years. Its bottom line is the assessment that the human race has changed most ecosystems beyond recognition within a very short period of time - the last 50 years. The manner in which the company consumed food, water, wood, fiber and fuel during this period severely damaged the environment, the assessment concludes.

The current situation may be a barrier to the "Millennium Development Goals", which world leaders declared at the United Nations in 2000. A measure of the 'services' of the ecosystem that sustain it," the assessment states.

"This report is like an audit of accounts on the natural economy, showing that we are in the red line in most of our accounts," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), "therefore, the results are expected to significantly undermine the ability of the human race to fulfill its ambitions to reduce poverty and achieve a state of prosperity".

The pressure on resources caused irreversible damage

Two "ecological services" - fish and fresh water - are in a situation where it is doubtful whether they will be able to meet the demands of humans in the future. The Millennium Assessment differs from its predecessors, in that it defines ecosystems as "services" or "benefits", according to the human need for them - air to breathe, Wood for construction, fish for food, fiber for making clothes.

According to the estimate, it was the needs of the world's population after World War II that created an increasing and uncontrollable demand for natural resources. Despite the achievements of humanity throughout the process - the world's economies and food production continued in the process of growth - the manner in which they were achieved endangers the prosperity of the human race in the future.

"When we examine the effect of the driving forces of change on the ecosystems, we see that over time these forces remain stable, or they get worse - changes in the living environment, changes in the climate, the intrusion of invasive species, overexploitation of resources and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution," he said. The director of the evaluation, Dr. William Reid.

Since 1945, more land has been converted to agriculture than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined. Over half of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers ever used have been spread over the land since 1985 (these substances were first produced in 1913). The authors of the Millennium Assessment claim that the pressure on resources has caused irreversible damage to the variety of life forms on Earth, with 10% to 30% of mammal, bird and amphibian species under threat of extinction.

Growth has been detected in only four ecosystems in the last 50 years: agricultural crops, livestock (domestic animals), water sources cultivated by humans and the carbon consumed to regulate the global climate (which comes from planting new forests in the northern hemisphere of the planet). Two "ecological services" - fish and fresh water - are, according to the assessment, in a situation where it is doubtful whether they will be able to meet the demands of humans in the future.

accelerate the pace of change

Food pollution has led to a change in the structure of life in the coastal areas. The assessment spans over 2,500 pages, and is designed to serve global environmental policy initiatives. It largely reflects the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which coordinates efforts to slow global warming by bringing together hundreds of scientists from around the world under one roof. "The Millennium Assessment is considered a very powerful consensus, considering the crash course most of the world's ecosystems are on," said Prof. John Laughton, former head of the British Council for Natural Environment Research, "There will undoubtedly be those who challenge the assessment, but I place them in the same A group together with people who believe that smoking does not cause cancer".

The Millennium Assessment does not only include black prophecies. Among possible future scenarios, human society may ease the pressures it puts on nature, while continuing to use them to raise living standards. In order to reach this state, the assessment states, there is a need for changes in consumption patterns, improving education, using advanced technologies and increasing the costs of utilizing the ecosystems.

Some of the proposed solutions refer to old initiatives that have not yet been implemented. One of them is the cancellation of the subsidies granted to the manufacturing sector, which destabilize world trade and are also accused of loading fertilizers and pesticides on land intended for agriculture. Newer solutions focus on "external values" that are currently considered "free" - airlines do not pay for the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere, and the price of food does not reflect the costs of purifying water sources contaminated by agricultural chemicals. In the future, it will be possible to force these changes through markets that trade permits - for example, the carbon emission permit market, which was recently established within the European Union.

However, the evaluation warns, the pace of changes must be accelerated. "The pace of the current responses does not match the needs of nature and the degree of urgency," said Angela Cropper, vice-chair of the Millennium Assessment Panel, "from our set of scenarios, it can be seen that our ambitions can be implemented."

Selection of dry data

• 20% to 60% of ecosystem services have been significantly degraded in the last 50 years.
• Of the 24 ecosystems assessed, 15 are currently damaged.
• 20% of the world's corals have been lost in the last 20 years. Another 20% were significantly disturbed.
• Food contamination led to a change in the structure of life in the coastal areas.
• The rate of species extinction in nature is a thousand times higher than the natural rate.