The Living Planet report, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
>http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,750783,00.html
>
>Earth 'will expire by 2050'
>
>Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered
>so
>much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be
>colonised
>
>Mark Townsend and Jason Burke Sunday July 7, 2002 The Observer
>
>Earth's population will be forced to colonise two planets within 50 years
>if
>natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate, according
>to
>a report out this week.
>
>A study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to be released on Tuesday, warns
>that the human race is plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its
>capacity to support life.
>
>In a damning condemnation of Western society's high consumption levels, it
>adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required
>by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted.
>
>The report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals
>thatmore
>than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans overthepast
>three decades.
>
>Using the image of the need for mankind to colonise space as a stark
>illustration of the problems facing Earth, the report warns that either
>consumption rates are dramatically and rapidly lowered or the planet will
>no
>longer be able to sustain its growing population.
>
>Experts say that seas will become emptied of fish while forests - which
>absorb carbon dioxide emissions - are completely destroyed and freshwater
>supplies become scarce and polluted.
>
>The report offers a vivid warning that either people curb their extravagant
>lifestyles or risk leaving the onus on scientists to locate another planet
>that can sustain human life. Since this is unlikely to happen, the only
>option is to cut consumption now.
>
>Systematic overexploitation of the planet's oceans has meant the North
>Atlantic's cod stocks have collapsed from an estimated spawning stock of
>264,000 tonnes in 1970 to under 60,000 in 1995.
>
>The study will also reveal a sharp fall in the planet's ecosystems between
>1970 and 2002 with the Earth's forest cover shrinking by about 12
>percent,the ocean's biodiversity by a third and freshwater ecosystems in
>the
>region of 55 per cent.
>
>The Living Planet report uses an index to illustrate the shocking level of
>deterioration in the world's forests as well as marine and freshwater
>ecosystems. Using 1970 as a baseline year and giving it a value of 100,the
>index has dropped to a new low of around 65 in the space of a single
>generation.
>
>It is not just humans who are at risk. Scientists, who examined data for
>350
>kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, also found the numbers of many
>species have more than halved.
>
>Martin Jenkins, senior adviser for the World Conservation
>MonitoringCentrein
>Cambridge, which helped compile the report, said: 'It seems things are
>getting worse faster than possibly ever before. Never has one
>singlespecieshad such an overwhelming influence. We are entering uncharted
>territory.'
>
>Figures from the centre reveal that black rhino numbers have fallen from
>65,000 in 1970 to around 3,100 now. Numbers of African elephants have
>fallen
>from around 1.2 million in 1980 to just over half a million while
>thepopulation of tigers has fallen by 95 per cent during the past century.
>
>The UK's birdsong population has also seen a drastic fall with the
>cornbunting population declining by 92 per cent between 1970 and 2000, the
>treesparrow by 90 per cent and the spotted flycatcher by 70 per cent.
>
>Experts, however, say it is difficult to ascertain how many species have
>vanished for ever because a species has to disappear for 50 years before it
>can be declared extinct.
>
>Attention is now focused on next month's Earth Summit in Johannesburg,
>themost important environmental negotiations for a decade.
>
>However, the talks remain bedevilled with claims that no agreements will be
>reached and that US President George W. Bush will fail to attend.
>
>Matthew Spencer, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said: 'There will have to be
>concessions from the richer nations to the poorer ones or there will be
>fireworks.'
>
>The preparatory conference for the summit, held in Bali last month, was
>marred by disputes between developed nations and poorer states and
>non-governmental organisations (NGOs), despite efforts by
>Britishpoliticians
>to broker compromises on key issues.
>
>America, which sent 300 delegates to the conference, is accused of blocking
>many of the key initiatives on energy use, biodiversity and
>corporateresponsibility.
>
>The WWF report shames the US for placing the greatest pressure on the
>environment. It found the average US resident consumes almost double the
>resources as that of a UK citizen and more than 24 times that of
>someAfricans.
>
>Based on factors such as a nation's consumption of grain, fish, wood and
>fresh water along with its emissions of carbon dioxide from industry
>andcars, the report provides an ecological 'footprint' for each country by
>showing how much land is required to support each resident.
>
>America's consumption 'footprint' is 12.2 hectares per head of population
>compared to the UK's 6.29ha while Western Europe as a whole stands at
>6.28ha. In Ethiopia the figure is 2ha, falling to just half a hectare for
>Burundi, the country that consumes least resources.
>
>The report, which will be unveiled in Geneva, warns that the wastefullife
>styles of the rich nations are mainly responsible for the exploitation and
>depletion of natural wealth. Human consumption has doubled over thelast30
>years and continues to accelerate by 1.5 per cent a year.
>
>Now WWF wants world leaders to use its findings to agree on specificactions
>to curb the population's impact on the planet.
>
>A spokesman for WWF UK, said: 'If all the people consumed natural resources
>at the same rate as the average US and UK citizen we would require
>atleasttwo extra planets like Earth.'