European Diversity Loss

Administrator — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:32:59 +0000

European biodiversity loss ‘as serious’ as climate change, European environment commissioner warns. Most of Europe’s species and habitats are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise, environment chiefs warned at a major biodiversity conference in Athens recently. But is it too late?
The natural world across Europe is suffering a crisis as serious as the threat of climate change, Europe’s environment chiefs are to warn this week. A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) sounded the alarm that most species and habitats across the continent are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise. New figures for the UK also show that even the most important and rare plants and animals are suffering: eight out of 10 habitats and half of species given the highest level of European protection are in an “unfavourable” condition. Species at risk in the UK range from insects like the honeybee and swallowtail butterfly, to mammals and birds at the top of the food chain such as the otter and the golden eagle, said the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).
At another recent high-level conference in London organised by the CEH, leaders from business, government, academics and NGOs were warned that ecosystems underpin human lifestyles from air, water and food to resources for industry. Professor Lord May of Oxford, a former government chief scientific adviser and president of the Royal Society, said: “Our massive and unintended experiment on the planet’s reaction to unsustainable levels of human impacts is approaching crisis point. The future is not yet beyond rescue, provided we take appropriate action with due urgency.”

EU Pressure Cooker

Administrator — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:39:17 +0000

It has now been estimated that the growing economic strength of the European Union has doubled the ecological pressure on the planet in the past 30 years, according to a WWF report.
Despite technological advances, environmental pressure has been growing at a faster rate than the European population, creating a deficit of natural resources for the rest of the world and for future generations. “Just a generation ago much of Europe was an ecological creditor, using fewer resources than it had,” said Tony Long, Director of WWF’s European Policy Office.
“But today Europe lives beyond its means. If the world’s citizens lived as Europeans, we would need 2.6 planets to provide the necessary resources and absorb the waste.”

In the report, Europe 2007 – Gross Domestic Product and Ecological Footprint*, the WWF has compared the performance of EU countries in three key areas since 1971:
• Economic growth measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
• Pressure on natural resources measured by Ecological Footprint, and
• Human development measured by the UN’s Human Development Index.

“What we currently measure as development is a long way away from the EU and world’s stated aim of sustainable development,” said WWF International President Chief Emeka Anyaoku. “This is because economic decisions routinely ignore natural capital expenditure.”
“Economic indicators are essential, but without natural resource accounting, ecological deficits will go unnoticed and ignored,” he added. “It is as if we spent our money without realizing that we are liquidating the planet’s capital.”

The Ecological deficit
All but three EU Members of the European Union— Finland, Latvia and Sweden — run an ecological deficit. Though these three countries have greater ecological reserves than others, they do not necessarily manage their assets well. Finland’s pressure on environment, for example, has grown by 70% since 1975 and is now the highest among EU countries.
Germany, together with Bulgaria and Latvia, actually reduced their ecological footprint in the past three decades yet have grown in human development. Nevertheless, its footprint is two-and-a-half times its natural resources and remains more than double the world average per person. On the other hand, Greece and Spain are still expanding in both economic and consumption terms. Greece has experienced the highest growth of ecological footprint, accompanied by a limited growth in terms of human development. France parallels the general EU trend. With improved technology, its resource availability is increasing but is outpaced by growth of consumption, with the largest component being energy.
Among Eastern European countries, Hungary’s footprint — as other former centrally planned European economies — has fallen since 1991, mainly because of economic shifts resulting from the ending of the Soviet era. Back in 1995, Slovenian citizens were practising, in global terms, sustainable development, but in 2003 Slovenia’s ecological footprint per capita had more than doubled while the development level rose by less than 5%. Romania has the lowest ecological footprint in the EU-27, yet it remains an ecological debtor. “Countries are increasingly realizing the significance of ecological assets for economic competitiveness, national security and social justice,” said Tony Long.
“Development has to be redefined. Improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people will have to be separated from ever growing material consumption and waste.”

How is the ecological footprint defined?
The Ecological Footprint measures humanity’s demand on the biosphere in terms of the area of biologically productive land and sea required to provide the resources we use and to absorb our waste. The footprint of a country includes the cropland, grazing land, forest and fishing grounds required to produce the food, fibre and timber it consumes and absorb the waste it emits. Biocapacity is the total supply of productive area. The difference between Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity shows whether countries are ecological creditors or debtors. The EU is home to 7.7% of the global population and 9.5% of the world’s biocapacity. The EU is also responsible for 16% of the global ecological footprint. Europe’s shares have diminished since 1971, largely as a result of increase in global population.

*Reference: World Wildlife Fund (2007, November 28). European Union Has Doubled Ecological Pressure On Planet In 30 Years.

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European Diversity Loss

EU Pressure Cooker