Excerpts from: Biodiversity and Human Well–being
Thursday, May 19, 2005 | Washington DC, US
Launched today, the second Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report, Biodiversity and Human Well-being: A Synthesis Report for the Convention on Biological Diversity, synthesizes and integrates findings related to biological diversity from the four MA Working Groups: Conditions and Trends, Scenarios, Responses and Sub-global Assessments, in response to requests for information received through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)....
“Loss of biodiversity is a major barrier to achieving development goals, and poses increasing risks for future generations,” said Walter Reid, Director of the Millennium Assessment. “The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report shows that management tools, policies and technologies do exist to dramatically slow this loss.”
Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity, said that the report is of great value to all those concerned with the Convention on Biological Diversity and its objectives – the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and the equitable sharing of its benefits.
“The report’s findings remind us that biodiversity is a requirement for all life on the planet – it is life insurance for our changing world,” he said. “The report reminds us of the need for action now....”
The key findings in this report highlighted by the CBD are:
1. In the last 50 years, human actions have changed the diversity of life on the planet more than at any other time in history. Our activities have lifted many people out of poverty, but at the price of a loss of biodiversity. If we continue down this road, we will reduce biological diversity, with life-threatening consequences.
2. Biodiversity is the foundation for human well-being. Not only does it provide the materials we need for food, clothing and shelter, but also gives us security, health and freedom of choice. The current pace and rhythm of our activities are harming ecosystems, consuming biological resources and putting at risk the well-being of future generations.
3. Human activities are leading to the loss of the variety of life. Population increase and economic activity, fuelled by technological change and our patterns of political and cultural life are placing undue pressure on ecosystems. Our actions are changing habitats, the climate, overexploiting resources, creating pollution and promoting the spread of invasive alien species. If current patterns continue, the loss of biodiversity will accelerate, not diminish.
4. In the past, actions and programs that promoted conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity limited biodiversity loss. This is promising, but we are not doing enough. To further reduce and stop the loss of biodiversity will require a whole host of new and stronger actions. Sustainable human development remains the primary goal and we need to strengthen the range and power of our ability to respond to biodiversity loss.
5. The size of the task ahead of us is so great that the 2010 biodiversity target will only realistically be achieved in certain areas and regions if we engage in substantial efforts. This sobering conclusion is not hopeless. Humankind can choose to act now for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity if it changes the way it is causing change, carefully chooses the ways it responds to change and makes the right tradeoffs.
Biodiversity is defined by the MA as the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part...
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The 2nd MEA is also reported in The Australian, The Guardian, BBC and this Pakistan paper, but I find no mention in most other Asian dailies. I guess the underlying fate of the world is too far a goal for elites in these nations striving to hit first-world per capita incomes (if not first-world distributions) at all costs – nay, at little cost in fact, since the earth's resources come free for the taking, aren't they? Egad, if we had to measure the costs and benefits accrued by our use of nature's bounty, what do you expect us to rely on for growth and prosperity – our brains?
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