Sophie Foster
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

THE increasing demand that humans are placing on the planet's living resources -- our Ecological Footprint -- now exceeds Earth's regenerative capacity by about 30 per cent, according to The Living Planet report released yesterday.

And the WWF report warned that this global overshoot was growing so much that "by the early 2030s we will need two planets to keep up with humanity's demand for goods and services".

The excessive demands we are placing on the ability of the Earth to regenerate its resources are placing all nations at risk.

"As a consequence, ecosystems are being run down and waste is accumulating in the air, land and water. The resulting deforestation, water shortages, declining biodiversity and climate change are putting the well-being and development of all nations at increasing risk," it said.

WWF International director-general James P. Leape said these overall trends had very concrete consequences, that have featured daily this year in news headlines.

"Global prices for many crops have hit record highs, in large part due to surging demand for food, feed and biofuels, and, in some places, dwindling water supplies. For the first time in recorded history, this past summer the Arctic ice cap was surrounded by open water - literally disappearing under the impact of our carbon footprint," he said.

Mr Leape admitted that the scale of the challenge at times could seem overwhelming.

But he said "the good news is that we have the means to reverse the ecological credit crunch - it is not too late to prevent an irreversible ecological recession setting in".

He said The Living Planet report identified key areas "where we need to transform our lifestyles and economies to put us on a more sustainable trajectory". The report said there were many effective ways to change course.

"While technological developments will continue to play an important role in addressing the sustainability challenge, much of what needs to be done is already known, and solutions are available today," it said.

Mr Leape said as we act to reduce our footprint - our impact on the Earth's services - we must also get better at managing the ecosystems that provide those services.

"Success requires that we manage resources on nature's terms and at nature's scale. This means that decisions in each sector, such as agriculture or fisheries, must be taken with an eye to broader ecological consequences," he said.

"It also means that we must find ways to manage across our own boundaries -- across property lines and political borders - to take care of the ecosystem as a whole".

The report comes as Fiji counts down to the launch of Clean Up Fiji campaign this Friday.

Clean Up Fiji Day first began in 1996 and grew into an outstanding community participation event - the largest in Fiji's modern history. The event brings communities together in unity to clean up the environment. The 2006 campaign attracted more than 41,000 people nationwide who collected more than 100,000 cubic feet of litter.

The 2008 Clean Up Fiji Day will be held on November 22 nationwide.

Article reproduced courtesy of  Fiji Times Online - http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=105261