Rapporto WRI: lo sviluppo attuale e' insostenibile

["AlessandroGimona"<agimona at libero.it>]

Nuovo Rapporto del World Resources Institute rivela che gli ecosistemi 
sono in marcato declino a livello globale.

http://www.wri.org/wr2000/wr2000-nr01.html

L' attuale uso delle risorse naturali non e' sostenibile. Un cambio di 
rotta si impone a tutti i paesi.

Klaus Töpfer, executive director dell' UNEP ha dichiarato 

'Possiamo continuare ad alterare ciecamente gli ecosistemi della Terra o 
imparare ad usarli in modo piu' sostenibile'.


James D. Wolfensohn, presidente della World Bank ha dichiarato:
'Governi e industria devono riesaminare assunzioni di base riguardo a 
come misurare e pianificare la crescita economica.'

..Ce n'e'abbastanza per fornire solide basi e giustificazioni a 
politiche 'verdi' in ogni paese.

Dettagli sotto


Alessandro Gimona     
     


                         WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2000 -- Summary 
findings of a new report reveal a widespread decline
                         in the condition of the world’s ecosystems due 
to increasing resource demands and warn that if the
                         decline continues it could have devastating 
implications for human development and the welfare of all
                         species. 

                         "Many signs point to the declining capacity of 
ecosystems," says the Guide to the World Resources
                         2000-2001: People and Ecosystems: The Fraying 
Web of Life. The full report, to be released in
                         September, is published by the United Nations 
Development Programme (UNDP), the UN
                         Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank 
and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Over 175
                         scientists contributed to the report, which 
took more than two years to produce. 

                         Ecosystems are communities of interacting 
organisms and the physical environment in which they
                         live; they are the biological engines of the 
planet. At the heart of the re
irst-of-its-kind Pilot
                         Analysis of Global Ecosystems (PAGE). The 
report examines coastal, forest, grassland, freshwater
                         and agricultural ecosystems. 

                         It analyzes their health on the basis of their 
ability to produce the goods and services that the world currently 
relies on. These
                         include production of food, provision of pure 
and sufficient water, storage of atmospheric carbon, maintenance of 
biodiversity and
                         provision of recreation and tourism 
opportunities.

                         The scorecards that accompany the World 
Resources 2000-2001 describe most of the ecosystems in fair, but 
declining
                         conditions. The statistics it contains are 
staggering:

                              Half of the world’s wetlands were lost 
last century. 
                              Logging and conversion have shrunk the 
world’s forests by as much as half. 
                              Some 9 percent of the world’s tree species 
are at risk of extinction; tropical deforestation may exceed 130,000 
square
                              kilometers per year. 
                              Fishing fleets are 40 percent larger than 
the ocean can sustain. 
                              Nearly 70 percent of the world’s major 
marine fish stocks are overfished or are being fished at their 
biological limit. 
                              Soil degradation has affected two-thirds 
of the world’s agricultural lands in the last 50 years. 
                              Some 30 percent of the world’s original 
forests have been converted to agriculture. 
                              Since 1980, the global economy has tripled 
in size and population has grown by 30 percent to 6 billion people. 
                              Dams, diversions or canals fragment almost 
60 percent of the world’s largest rivers. 
                              Twenty 
orld’s freshwater 
fish are extinct, threatened or endangered. 

                         "For too long in both rich and poor nations, 
development priorities have focused on how much humanity can take from 
our
                         ecosystems, with little attention to the impact 
of our actions, " said Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP administrator. "With 
this report,
                         we reconfirm our commitment to making the 
viability of the world’s ecosystems a critical development priority for 
the 21st
                         century."

                         However, World Resources 2000-2001 warns that 
halting the decline of the planet’s life-support systems may be the most 
difficult
                         challenge humanity has ever faced.

                         "Our knowledge of ecosystems has increased 
dramatically, but it has simply not kept pace with our ability to alter 
them," said
                         Klaus Töpfer, UNEP executive director. "We can 
continue blindly altering Earth’s ecosystems, or we can learn to use 
them more
                         sustainably."

                         World Resources 2000-2001 recommends that 
governments and people must view the sustainability of ecosystems as 
essential
                         to human life. It calls for an ecosystems 
approach to managing the world’s critical resources, which means 
evaluating decisions
                         on land and resource use in light of how they 
affect the capacity of ecosystems to produce goods and services.

                         "Governments and businesses must rethink some 
basic assumptions about how we measure and plan economic growth," said
                         James D. Wolfensohn, World Bank president. "The 
poor, who often depend directly on ecosystems for their livelihoods, 
suffer
                         most when ecosystems are degraded."

                         According to World Resources 2000-2001, one of 
the most import
lack of much 
of the
                         baseline knowledge that is needed to properly 
determine ecosystems conditions on a global, regional or even local 
scale.

                         "The dimensions of this information gap are 
large and growing, rather than shrinking as we would expect in this age 
of satellite
                         imaging and the Internet," said Jonathan Lash, 
WRI president. "If we are to make sound ecosystem management decisions 
in the
                         21st century, dramatic changes are needed in 
the way we use the knowledge and experience at hand and the range of 
additional
                         information we need."

                         The PAGE report has provided the impetus for 
the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment – a plan put forward by 
governments, UN
                         agencies, and leading scientific organizations 
to allow an on-going monitoring and evaluation of the health of the 
world’s
                         ecosystems. 

                                                                       

                         Copies of A Guide to World Resources 2000-2001: 
People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life can be downloaded at
                         http://www.wri.org/wri/wr2000. The full report 
will be available in September.

http://www.wri.org/wr2000/wr2000-nr01.html