04/04/2005 “Human activity
places such strong pressure on the natural
functioning of the Earth that the capacity
of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future
generations can no longer be taken for granted”.
The alarm was launched by the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, the report presented in Rome today
by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation
of the United Nations) and by the WWF. The
report was also presented in other nine capital
cities across the world. WWF Italia was recognised
by the Global Secretary of the Millennium
as launch-partner of all initiatives aimed
at the distribution of the report in our country.
Over 1300 of the world’s most highly qualified
experts, from 95 different countries, contributed
to the drafting of the report. The first important
conclusive finding contained in the report
is that approximately 60% of the ecosystem
services examined, that is those, which offer
benefits to human beings, are being degraded
or used unsustainably. These include fresh
water, capture fisheries, air and water purification,
and the regulation of regional and local climate,
natural hazards, and pests.
The Director General of the FAO, Jacques
Diouf stressed that “the problems we are facing
today –loss of biodiversity, scarcity of water,
the degradation of dry lands – could exacerbate
significantly in the next 50 years if no immediate
action is taken. We have a responsibility,
not only towards ourselves but especially
towards the poor in the world, to ensure that
global systems be maintained in the best possible
condition in order for these to continue providing
those goods and services which are necessary
for our survival.”
The report reveals that over the past 50
years, humans have changed the ecosystems
more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable
time in human history, largely to meet rapidly
growing demands for food, fresh water, timber,
fibre, and fuel. This transformation of the
Earth has entailed a high price to pay for
the complex systems of those plants, animals,
micro-organisms, functions and biological
processes which enable life on the planet.
In 2000 the concentration of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere had reached the highest
level in the last 450.000 years. From the
beginning of the industrial revolution the
concentration levels had seen a 32% increase
rising from 280 to 376 parts per million.
Between 1960 and 11000 the use of chemical
fertilizers led to the global concentration
levels of nitrogen and phosphor in the ground
trebling. This increase can provoke a harmful
growth of algae in lakes and coastal areas,
which algae, in turn, reduce the availability
of oxygen in the water, causing the death
of many species.
The experts warn that all this has resulted
in the vastest, and largely irreversible,
loss of bio-diversity on the planet: around
12% of bird species, 25% of mammals, and at
least 32% of amphibious creatures risk extinction
in the next two centuries. Two fundamental
resources – fishing and water – have reached
limit levels. Human intervention is subtracting
water out of hydraulic reserves at levels
which are well above their ability to regenerate.
The same negative trend can be identified
in the case of fishing. The advent of industrial
fishing methods has substantially weakened
the regeneration capacity of species and led
to the reduction of available catch of up
to 90% in certain areas.
The FAO report highlights the fact that the
poorer populations are one ones to suffer
most damage from the effects of changes in
the ecosystem and that any development policy
which ignores the impact of human behaviour
on the environment, is destined to fail. In
sub-Saharan Africa, for example, poverty levels
are expected to rise from 315 million people
in 1999 to 404 million in 2015.
The degradation of the ecosystem services
could grow significantly worse during the
first half of this century and is a barrier
to achieving the Millennium Development Goals
on the reduction of hunger and poverty by
2015. The Director of the FAO’s Division for
Agriculture and Economic Development, Prabhu
Pingali, underlined that “ Radical changes
are necessary on all fronts: in the political
world, in the industrial community and throughout
civil society. Everyone must do their part.
The protection of natural resources can simply
no longer be delegated to a small sector of
a government or society.”
“As to what concerns Italy”, Gianfranco Bologna,
Scientific and Cultural Director of the WWF
Italy stated, “ the Parliament should grant
maximum priority to the approval of the law
on environmental accounting, which eventually
would enable Counties, Provinces, and Regions
as well as the State to include nature in
the balance and to also consider the economic
value of ecosystem services.” This will be
a fundamental step towards properly achieving
the reduction of the loss of bio-diversity
by 2010.
Inverting the degradation of ecosystems and,
at the same time, facing the rapidly growing
demands for these systems is still possible
but requires a wiser and less destructive
use of natural resources. The Declaration
signed by the 45 members of the Board which
co-ordinated the drafting of the report clearly
reads: “The alarm bells are visible to all
of us. The future is now in our hands.”
Translated by Isabella Trupke
