– Incredibly Scary – Nature – NRK

The International Panel on Nature (IPBES) adopted Saturday the most comprehensive report on the nature and biodiversity of the Earth.

The report was written by 145 experts from 50 countries. It describes the relationship between human activity, economic development and nature over the last fifty years. It also presents a number of scenarios for the coming decades.

The report shows that our future is dark if we do not make major changes to the way we consume natural resources.

The loss of natural diversity is accelerating and more and more species are in danger of disappearing in the history of mankind.

The trends we are currently seeing will make it nearly impossible to achieve 35 of the 44 sustainable development goals of the UN; These include the fight against poverty, hunger and disease.

I hope the report will reverse the trend

Researchers believe that biodiversity loss is just as important a threat to the world as climate change. They hope that the Nature Panel's report will have the same effect on world politicians as the report of the UN Panel on Climate.

– It's really dramatic and scary. We are destroying nature so quickly that sustainability goals are in danger and we are no longer able to feed the world's population, "said Silje Ask Lundberg, head of the Norwegian Society for Nature Conservation. at NRK.

– What can politicians do?

– Today, the biggest threat to biodiversity is that we are building the areas where the species live. The next step is not to allow large construction projects in an intact and valuable nature, as we now see in Norway with the planned wind farms. It will be important to conduct a thorough study of the nature and species and how we can take care of them.

The report should serve as the scientific basis for an international agreement on nature to be negotiated in China next year.

– This is a historical report, the most comprehensive of its kind and a remarkable contribution to a common understanding of the main challenges of loss of natural diversity. Thus, we can assess what is needed to preserve nature and our livelihoods for future generations, said Ellen Hambro, director of the Environment Agency.

Many species are disappearing

According to the report, 10% of the world's plant and animal species are already extinct.

In addition, about one million eight million animal and plant species are threatened. Many of them are likely to be exterminated in the coming decades.

Human activity has caused profound changes in three-quarters of the Earth's environment and in 66% of marine environments.

Nearly one third of coral reefs and at least one third of marine mammals are threatened.

Of the more than 5.9 million species living on the land today, more than 500,000 are threatened with extinction due to the loss of their habitats.

It is mainly in the tropical regions of the world that the loss of ecosystems is greatest. For example, 100 million hectares of tropical forests were lost between 1980 and 2000.

"The loss of nature is the result of human activities and poses a direct threat to human well-being around the world," said environmental professor Josef Settele.

Human activities reported as particularly harmful include, in order of priority:

• Changes in land and marine agriculture
• Human predation on animal and plant species such as forestry, agriculture, hunting and fishing
• climate change
• pollution
• The spread of invasive / exotic species

Read also:

Believes that Norway draws a brilliant picture of the Norwegian nature in the UN report

Not too late

At the same time, the report shows that it's not too late to change direction.

– But we must start right now, at all levels, both locally and globally. We need fundamental changes and a paradigm shift for our values ​​if we want to preserve, rebuild and use nature in a sustainable way, said Sir Robert Watson, head of the Nature panel.

The report emphasizes that these measures are crucial to reverse the trend:

• The actual cost of production and consumption, such as penalties for pollution, should be incorporated into laws and regulations.
• Remove harmful subsidies, minimize the recovery and waste of materials, and strengthen certifications that ensure ethical and sustainable production.
• The link between a good and meaningful life and an ever increasing material consumption must be broken.
• The rights, knowledge and values ​​of indigenous peoples and communities must be recognized.

A threat to humanity

The species are interdependent. If we lose a species, the entire food chain can be destroyed and each extinct species weakens the natural links we all enjoy.

The man is also threatened when nature is threatened. More than two billion people depend on wood to produce energy, while four billion depend on natural remedies. And without pollinators, three-quarters of our food is at risk.

"We are destroying the very foundations on which our economy, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life lie," Watson said.

Biodiversity loss is also a moral issue that affects many of the UN's sustainability goals and international biodiversity targets, the report says.

In terms of pollution, about 400 million tons of industrial waste are released into the water each year. And plastic pollution has more than increased tenfold since 1980.

Increasing population growth is also a challenge: since 1970, the population has more than doubled from 3.7 billion to 7.6 billion.

Each year, we now use almost twice as many resources from Earth as in 1980, and each of us consumes 15% more material goods. It's more than the carrying capacity of nature.