Free
E-Zine

Subscribe
to Magazine

Customer
Service

31 March 2005

HOME

|NEWS

|EXPLORE BY SUBJECT

|BACK PAGE

|SUBSCRIBE

|SEARCH

|ARCHIVE

|RSS

|JOBS

Premium
Content

ALL
SUBJECTS

Info-Tech

Being Human

Life

Space

Mech-Tech

Earth

Fundamentals

Sex and Cloning

Health

Opinion

New
Scientist Special Reports

PRINT
EDITION

Subscribe

Current
issue

Archive

Premium
Content

JOBS

JOB OF THE WEEK

EMBO
WORKSHOP ON RNA CONTROL OF NEURONAL FUNCTION

TARGET
Conferences

Televiv,
Middle East/Africa

Assistant
Director

National
Health and Medical Research Council

Canberra,
Australia

Science
Manager

Ministry's
Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity

New
Zealand

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscribe

Renew

Change
address

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://adserver.adtech.de/?addyn|2.0|289|122925|1|401|target=nsad;loc=700;"></script><noscript><a href="http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink|2.0|289|122925|1|401|ADTECH;loc=300;" target="nsad"><img src="http://adserver.adtech.de/?adserv|2.0|289|122925|1|401|ADTECH;loc=300;" width="160" height="160" alt="" title=""/></a></noscript>

Planet in peril: Humans push natural systems to the brink

02 April 2005

NewScientist.com news service

Duncan Graham-Rowe

Bob Holmes

More Earth Stories

Planet
in peril: Humans push natural systems to the brink

Planet
in peril: Civilisation's litany of destruction

Planet
in peril: Fix the Earth to fight poverty

Planet
in peril: What can be done to put it right?

Editorial:
Save humanity by saving ecosystems

More Stories

Explore: earth

IT HAS cost $24 million and taken more than 1300 scientists in 95
countries four years to put together. This week, the first ever global
inventory of natural resources was finally published. Its overwhelming
conclusion: we are living way beyond our means.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), approximately 60
per cent of the planet's "ecosystem services" - natural products and
processes that support life, such as water purification - are being
degraded or used unsustainably. What is more, this degradation increases
the risk of abrupt and drastic changes, such as climate shifts and the
collapse of fisheries.

But amid the doom and gloom there is hope. According to the MA, which
is backed by the UN, the World Bank and the World Resources Institute,
there is still tremendous scope for action that could mitigate these
problems. "The future is in our hands," Robert Watson, MA project leader
and chief scientist for the World Bank told New Scientist.

Unlike previous ecological assessments, the MA takes a global overview
of both the state of ecosystems and their impact on human well-being. UN
secretary general Kofi Annan called it "an unprecedented contribution to
our global mission for development, sustainability and peace."
Specifically, the MA reports that human activity has changed ecosystems
more rapidly and extensively in the past 50 years than at any other time
in human history.

The scientists involved hope the MA will have a similar impact to that
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group of experts
assembled to evaluate the evidence for and against man-made climate
change. "I think the IPCC has made a huge difference in terms of people's
understanding of the realities of climate change," says Jane Lubchenco, an
ecologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis and president of the
International Council for Science. "Every successive iteration has
provided stronger and stronger information, and I think the world is
beginning to respond."

The MA recorded no new data itself, but draws together all available
information on the state of the planet's ecosystems. "What's important
about it is that it's not just one scientist's view, it's the view of
thousands of scientists," says Harold Mooney, an ecologist at Stanford
University in California and one of the founders of the MA project.

“The world has lost 35 per cent of
mangroves and 27 per cent of coral reefs in the past few
decades”

But this is where parallels with the IPCC end. While that panel is a
top-down exercise initiated by policy makers who wanted to establish a
scientific consensus on climate change, the MA has no direct link to the
people in power. It came about as a grass-roots initiative from scientists
- so governments are not under any obligation to listen.

The MA is meant to feed into four international environmental treaties,
including the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. "The hope is that it
will have some impact on some of these conventions," says Steve Lonergan,
director of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment at the UN
Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. "But it's difficult to see how
this is going to happen."

“The global catch from marine
fisheries increased by over 40 per cent between 1970 and
2000”

Walter Reid, director of the MA, disputes this. He says UN agencies and
international environmental conventions were involved from an early stage.
They shaped the report and have set up formal links. The Ramsar Convention
on Wetlands, for example, has adopted the MA's method of focusing on
ecosystem services.

William Clark, a specialist in environmental policy at Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government agrees. He says that
efforts like the IPCC, aimed at establishing consensus and influencing
policy, take a decade or more to have an impact. "You don't look for them
to jump from the brow of Zeus and suddenly the world changes," says Clark,
"The question really is whether they leave in their wake a higher bar at
which subsequent debate is based. I think there's no question the MA will
do that."

From issue 2493 of New
Scientist magazine, 02 April 2005, page 8

For exclusive news and expert analysis every week subscribe
to New Scientist Print Edition

For what's in New Scientist magazine this week see
contents

Search
all stories

Contact
us about this story

Sign
up for our free newsletter

SUBSCRIBER LOGIN

username

:

password

:

Forgotten
your password?

Subscribe
now

Institutional
Subscribers

Athens
login

SPONSORED LINKS

Car
Insurance by A Quote

Van
Insurance by A Quote

Bike Insurance by A Quote

Home
Mortgage

Movers in Your area

Find Moving
Companies

Real Estate

mobile phone
accessories

Versicherungen Versicherung

1stoptravelinsurance.co.uk

Italian
Charm Bracelets

"Mortgages, Cheap Mortgage"

Contact
us about links

Subscribe

Contact Us

FAQ / Help

Advertise

Disclaimer

Terms and Conditions

Cookies

Privacy Policy

Open Source

Site Map

About NewScientist.com

About New Scientist magazine

© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Home Breaking News Explore by
Subject Special Reports Back Page Subscribe Archive RSS
Jobs

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://adserver.adtech.de/?addyn|2.0|289|113637|1|16|target=nsad;loc=700;">
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink|2.0|289|113637|1|16|ADTECH;loc=300;" target="nsad">
<img src="http://adserver.adtech.de/?adserv|2.0|289|113637|1|16|ADTECH;loc=300;" border="0" width="1" height="1" alt="Advertising" />
</a>
</noscript>