WWF's Living Planet Report 2010
WWF has launched its latest Living Planet Report which shows humanity’s demands on natural resources are sky-rocketing to 50 per cent more than the earth can sustain. This has resulted in a 30 per cent decline in species and wildlife populations globally since 1970.
This alarming global trend has led WWF Cymru to call on the Welsh Assembly Government to keep focused on delivering its environmental and sustainable targets set out in the One Wales: One Planet Scheme. It believes that this important agenda should not be squashed under budgetary cuts as the evidence is too great to ignore.
The biennial report, produced in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, uses the global Living Planet Index as a measure of the health of almost 8,000 populations of more than 2,500 species.
“There is an alarming rate of biodiversity loss in low-income, often tropical countries while the developed world, including Wales, is living in a false paradise, fuelled by unsustainable levels of consumption and high carbon emissions,” said Anne Meikle, Head of WWF Cymru.
The Ecological Footprint, one of the indicators used in the report, shows that our demand on natural resources has doubled since 1966 and we’re using the equivalent of 1.5 planets to support our activities. If we continue living beyond the Earth’s limits, by 2030 we’ll need the equivalent of two planets’ productive capacity to meet our annual demands.
“When we compare Wales with the rest of the world’s nations, we can see that we are using much more than our fair share of the world’s resources. The Government must hold its ground in delivering the footprint reduction commitments in the One Wales: One Planet Scheme especially in key areas such as housing, food and transport,” said Meikle.
The Living Planet Report shows that carbon is a major culprit in driving the planet to ecological overdraft. An alarming 11-fold increase in our carbon footprint over the last five decades means carbon now accounts for more than half the global Ecological Footprint.
“Although Wales has an ambitious target of a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, since 1990 we have only reduced emissions by approximately 10%. This, along with the global picture, shows the scale of the challenge to bring about the big reduction in emissions. WWF Cymru is eager to continue to work with WAG and the next Government of Wales to help identify and deliver these targets”
“The challenge posed by the Living Planet Report is clear,” said Meikle. “Somehow we need to find a way to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly prosperous population within the resources of this one planet. All of us have to find a way to make better choices in what we consume and how we produce and use energy."
The top 10 countries with the biggest Ecological Footprint per person are the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Denmark, Belgium, United States, Estonia, Canada, Australia, Kuwait and Ireland.
The 31 OECD countries, which include the world’s richest economies, account for nearly 40 per cent of the global footprint. While there are twice as many people living in BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – as there are in OECD countries, the report shows the current rate of per-person footprint of the BRIC countries puts them on a trajectory to overtake the OECD bloc if they follow same development path.