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Sunday Reading
New Delhi, 27 October 2009
Environmental WMDs
ACT OR ELSE FACE
EXTINCTION
By Suraj Saraf
The world is already face to face with environmental WMDs
(Weapons of Mass Destruction) and there isn’t much time left for mankind to
jointly adopt measures to ward off the impending cataclysm. Not mere words but
a stern warning from experts from varied fields.
The catastrophe will result from increasing overuse of
natural resources that are outstripping nature’s capacity to replenish in
addition to ongoing human activity, which is causing climate change. Both these
WMDs if not faced squarely, pose an extremely ominous future for mankind and
may even lead to extinction of life.
NASA scientist James Hansen widely considered the doyen of
American climate research had said the world has a mere 10-year window of
opportunity to take decisive action on global warming to avert a weather
catastrophe. Humans are living
beyond their ecological means and are now exhausting them at an unprecedented
rate. In doing so, they are threatening themselves and all other species with
extinction, emphasizes the bi-annual report of the WWF.
New calculations on the decline in the planet’s capacity to
provide food, fodder and timber, and absorbing of carbon dioxide, suggest we
are using 25% more resources than are renewed naturally in a year. The
ecological over sheet which has been growing steadily for over 40 years will in
the present trend be 100% by mid-century, making the likelihood of large scale
ecosystem collapse and conflict and political tension certain.
The frightening calculations have been made by tracking down
annual fortunes of 3600 populations of over 1300 land and marine species, and by
factoring in climate changing carbon dioxide emissions, crop yields and fish
harvests. The study underpins a 31% decline between 1970 and 2003 in population
of land species and only slightly less in sea and fresh water species
Overfishing is now affecting the health of nearly all
oceans. The most dramatic decline is seen in India
and South-East Asia, points out the WWF report.
In a country-wise scale of overuse of natural sources, the report held the UK as the 14th
most profligate nation on earth. This was measured by calculating the amount of
land and sea needed to produce the resources used by Britons and the amount of
land needed to absorb their waste. The global average is roughly 2.2 hectares,
but each person in Britain
uses the equivalent of 5.6 hectares. “If everyone lived like we do, we would
need three planets to support us,” said the WWF.
The UAE, however, is the most ecologically profligate part
of the world, followed by the US.
Bangladesh, Somalia, Afghanistan
and Malawi have the smallest
ecological footprints, whereas the US has the highest per person
ecological deficit followed by the EU. The report, however proposes five ways
to cut the global ecological deficit. Increase in population can be slowed down
and turned into decreases by people having smaller families. The affluent can
cut consumption and still improve their quality of life. The resources used in
the production of goods can be greatly reduced. And, better management can
reclaim land while rigorous protection of soils, fisheries and forests will
help the planet produce more resources.
Another recent study by researchers in Washington has warned
that the world’s fish and seafood production will collapse by 2048 if current
trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, resulting in less food
for humans. In an analysis of scientific data going back to 1960 and records
over 1000 years, the researchers found that marine biodiversity, variety of
ocean fish, shellfish, birds, plants
and micro organism, had collapsed by 29 per cent. And, when ocean species
collapse, it makes the ocean itself weaker and less able to recover from
climate change.
In an audit of the world’s ecosystem services conducted over
four years by 1300 researchers from 95 nations, it had been underpinned that
60% of the world’s ecosystem services were being used unsustainably and/or
being degraded. Failing to curb our enthusiasm for just about all of the
earth’s resources, including fresh water, fish stocks and virgin forests, means
that between 10 and 30% of the world species face extinction, said this
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
Not surprisingly then, the latest solution to environmental
mayhem seeks to take humans down a peg or two. Take, for example, biomimicry,
an emerging science that gives nature credit for having 3.8 billion years
experience in matters such as recycling and conservation, and suggests that we
should not only talk to the animals in the manner of Dr. Dolittle, but actually
learn from them.
So to curb climate-changing emissions caused by heating and
cooling buildings, we should observe the way the termites regulate their mounds
using complex web of tunnels. It works with plants, too. If you want to build a
better solar cell, for example, follow the structure of a leaf. The audit
eventually argues that this will lead us to design out waste and toxicity.
The havoc that global warming and climate change play as a
WMD is reflected amply in the fact that over the last 30 years, natural disasters
had affected five times more people than they did only a generation ago. This
year alone, 117 million people have suffered from some 300 natural disasters,
including devastating droughts in China
and Africa and massive flooding throughout Asia and Africa,
costing nearly $ 15 billion in damages.
The dangers are real. But so, too, are the opportunities we
must seize--today without delay--to safeguard lives and livelihood. Three
principles should guide us. First, be aware – and prepare. An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure. One dollar invested in disaster reduction
today can save up to seven dollars tomorrow in relief and rehabilitation costs.
The benefits of this investment will be calculated not only in dollars saved,
but most importantly in saved lives.
Secondly, we need to strengthen our resilience to disasters
and build ‘smarter and safer’ homes especially in high-risk regions. Disasters
can also erase decades of development gains overnight. Thirdly, we need to get
back to basics. Disaster risk reduction is fundamentally a matter of
communication and education. Everyone has a role to play in making communities
more resilient to nature’s hazards. Well-prepared evaluation plans, better land
usage and environmental policies, public awareness campaigns, emergency
broadcasting systems --- these steps and more can be taken today to help
mitigate tomorrow’s threats.
Indeed, we must act today if we are to prevent calamity
tomorrow. We have no time to lose. Global warming could change the face of our
planet within the lifetime of our children or grand children. --INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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