Posted on 20-7-2002

Planet Earth On Overdraft
Says new WWF report

Geneva, Switzerland - Standards of living and human development will start
to plummet by 2030 unless humans stop using more natural resources than the
planet can replace, according to a new report released by WWF, the
conservation organization, 50 days before the start of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development .

Living Planet Report shows that humans are currently running a huge deficit
with the Earth - using over 20 percent more natural resources each year
than can be regenerated - and this figure is growing each year. Projections
based on likely scenarios of population growth, economic development and
technological change, show that by 2050, humans will consume between 180
percent and 220 percent of the Earth's biological capacity. According to
the report, this means that unless governments take urgent action, by 2030,
human welfare, as measured by average life expectancy, educational level,
and world economic product will go into decline. "The fact that we live on
a bountiful planet, but not a limitless one, presents world leaders at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development with a clear challenge," said Dr.
Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International. "Ensuring access to
basic resources and improving the health and livelihoods of the world's
poorest people can not be tackled separately from maintaining the integrity
of natural ecosystems. Unless we ensure the health of those ecosystems, we
will never be able to guarantee an acceptable standard of living for much
of the world's population."

According to the Living Planet Report, the Earth has about 11.4 billion
hectares of productive land and sea space - or 1.9 hectares of productive
land to provide for each of the 6 billion people on the planet. The global
ecological footprint - or consumption of natural resources - is 2.3
hectares per person. However, while the footprint of the average African or
Asian consumer being less than 1.4 hectares per person in 1999, the average
Western European's footprint was about 5.0 hectares, and the average North
American's was about 9.6 hectares.

At the same time, the Living Planet Index (LPI), which is based on trends
in populations of hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles,
amphibians and fish also shows clearly that the current human consumptive
pressure is unsustainable. Over the past 30 years, the LPI has declined by
about 37 percent. The decline in freshwater species has been particularly
dramatic, with 54 percent decline on average in the populations of 195
species living in rivers and wetland ecosystems. Marine species are also
under threat - with an average decline of 35 percent in 217 species, while
forest species populations show a 15 percent decline in 282 species.

WWF believes that governments could reverse some of these negative trends
and put humanity back on a path to sustainable development if they address
some key issues. These include improving the resource efficiency with which
goods and services are produced - in particular moving energy supplies away
from fossil fuels and promoting energy-efficient technologies, buildings
and transport systems; encouraging equitable and sustainable consumption;
and conserving and restoring natural ecosystems to maintain their
biological productivity and diversity. "We do not know exactly what the
result will be of running this massive overdraft with the earth. What is
clear though is that it would be better to control our own destiny, rather
than leave it up to chance," said Jonathan Loh, author of the Living Planet
Report. "At the WSSD, world leaders will have a magnificent opportunity to
address the root causes of our obvious failure to achieve sustainable
development and set us on the path to a truly sustainable future."

For further information contact: Kyla Evans, Head of Press, WWF
International, tel: +41 22 364 9550, email: kevans@wwfint.org