Earth's
Ecological Debt Crisis
By Martin Hickman
10 Octobe, 2006
The Independent
Today is a bleak day for the
environment, the day of the year when mankind over-exploits the world's
resources - the day when we start living beyond our ecological means.
Evidence is mounting that
rapid population growth and rising living standards among the Earth's
six billion inhabitants are putting an intolerable strain on nature.
For the first time an organisation a British think-tank
has sought to pinpoint how quickly man is using the global resources
of farming land, forests, fish, air and energy.
The new economics foundation
has calculated from research by a US academic group, Global Footprint
Network, that the day when we use more than our fair share of the Earth
when "humanity starts eating the planet" is October
9.
In other words, assuming
that the world has a certain quantity of natural resources that can
sustainably be used up each year, today is the date at which this annual
capacity is reached. And environmentalists warn that just as a company
bound for bankruptcy plunging into the red or a borrower " maxing
out" on credit cards must face the consequences, so must man.
The biggest problem relating
to the over-consumption of resources is climate change, but its other
effects include deforestation, falling agricultural yields and overfishing.
Overfishing is one of the
most easily understood examples of the abuse of nature. Catching too
many fish has left species that were once common, such as cod in the
North Sea and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, struggling to survive.
Although it is possible to
make ever-increasing catches for a while, eventually only small, juvenile
fish are left, and stocks become unviable. Similarly, emissions of greenhouse
gases are rising, exacerbated by the growth of China and India, but
the climate is poised to wreak its revenge. Already polar ice caps are
melting at a rate that is startling scientists, and examples of extreme
weather, such as Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in
August last year, are being attributed to global climate change. In
February, when he was Defence Secretary, John Reid revealed that British
military planners were already preparing for conflicts arising from
the scramble for resources in 20 to 30 years' time.
Outlining the impact of global
warming, he said: "Impacts such as flooding, melting permafrost
and desertification could lead to loss of agricultural land, poisoning
of water supplies and destruction of economic infrastructure."
Global Footprint estimates
that the human race is over-using the Earth's resources by 23 per cent.
While each individual should use up no more than the equivalent of 1.8
hectares of the Earth's surface, the actual area we use is 2.2 hectares
per person.
Mathis Wackernagel, executive
director of Global Footprint Network, which analyses 6,000 pieces of
data from such sources as the United Nations, warned that the limit
of the Earth's endurance had already been reached.
He said: "Humanity is
living off its ecological credit card and can only do this by liquidating
the planet's natural resources."
According to nef's analysis,
the unsustainability of human behaviour has speeded up markedly. Humanity
started living beyond its means on a global level in 1987, when the
limit of sustainability was reached on 19 December. By 1995, the day
was arriving by 21 November and began arriving in October shortly after
the millennium.
Consumption is particularly
profligate in the West, where individuals consume air-freighted food,
buy hardwood furniture, enjoy foreign holidays and own cars. Global
Footprint estimates the world would need five planet Earths to sustain
a global materialistic society such as that in the US while almost three
would be needed for the UK.
By contrast, developing countries
such as Kenya use a fraction of the resources. Nef highlighted the energy
wasted in trade. In 2004, for example, Britain exported 1,500 tons of
potatoes to Germany and imported the same amount. We sent 10,200 tons
of milk and cream to France and imported 9,900 tons.
Andrew Simms, policy director
of nef, warned the world was living far beyond our environmental means.
Professor Tim Jackson, head
of sustainable development at Surrey University, one of Britain's leading
experts in sustainability, said the research was broadly right and that
we are using resources faster than they can be replaced by the planet.
He said: "We are clearly
drawing natural capital and the point about collapse is that we don't
know when some of the systems in the global atmosphere and fish will
collapse but we do know that collapse is a very real possibility."
Our dwindling natural assets
Fisheries
Degradation of the marine
ecosystem is one of the world's biggest problems after climate change.
Many fish population have shrunk by 90 per cent in 50 years. Species
in particular danger are bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Atlantic
and cod in the North Sea.
Energy
Oil reserves are fast running
out: "peak oil" - the point from which oil reserves start
to decline - is imminent, with world consumption of oil at 84 million
barrels a day. In turn, the burning of fossil fuels is the largest source
of emissions of CO2.
Some 13 million hectares
of forest are lost every year, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Almost 20 per cent of The Amazon - the world's " lung" - has
been felled. In 2004 the rate of forest clearance in the Amazon was
the second highest on record, caused by the boom in growing soya beans.
Deforestation of tropical rainforests may account for the loss of as
many as 100 species a day.
Water
Population growth, pollution
and climate change are making water a scarce resource. Only 2 per cent
of water on Earth is fresh, the rest is salt or trapped in glaciers
and snow. By 2050, 7 billion people in 60 countries could be short of
drinking water.
Farming land
Overfarming drains the soil
of nutrients, while the chemicals used in the process pollute waterways.
Farming uses 70 per cent of the world's water supply: to provide 2,700
calories a day requires 4,300 litres (more than seven bathtubs) of water.
© 2006 Independent News
and Media Limited
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