Ecosystem report now a benchmark

By Emily Smith

Date: 24/05/06

The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, published in March last year, has since become a point of reference for politicians and pressure groups around the world.

The report, put together by 1,300 scientists from 95 countries, sounded alarm bells over the speed at which modern society consumes natural resources. It warned of an increase in disease, hunger and poverty over the next 50 years unless action was taken immediately.

One year later, the UN found the assessment had started to change the thinking of many institutions, regions, countries, and sectors.

Its key findings were that:

• 60% of "ecosystem services" (eg water, fish stocks, trees) are being consumed too quickly;
• as much as 30% of animals are threatened with extinction;
• around 100 birds and other species of animal are known to have become extinct in the past 100 years;
• deforestation leads to an increase in diseases, including malaria and cholera;
• 20% of known coral reefs have been destroyed by human activities and another 20% have degraded, and;
• biodiversity is becoming increasingly less varied between regions.

But crop, livestock and aquaculture ecosystems have improved over the past 50 years, as have carbon capture technologies.

The 20th century saw a trade-off between what is good for "human well-being and economic development" and what is good for the environment.

There are likely to be further trade-offs between the international millennium development goal of reducing global poverty by 2015 and the target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.

Author says that the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, published in March 2005, has since become a point of reference for politicians and pressure groups around the world.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'Biodiversity'.

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment: Homepage http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

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