Environmental organisation WWF yesterday released a report in which it added weight to growing concerns over the effects that a growing population and unsustainable consumption are having on the planet’s biodiversity.

The latest Living Planet report follows a US study released earlier in the month wherein researchers examined the findings of a number over 200 pieces of research and concluded that the threat posed to the planet by falling biodiversity levels is greater than has previously been appreciated.

The WWF’s Living Planet Report is a biennial survey of the Earth’s health; it uses its own ‘Living Planet Index’ to measure changes in the health of the planet's ecosystems, tracking 9,000 populations of more than 2,600 species. Since 1970, the Index has recorded a 30 per cent decrease in biodiversity around the world. The tropics have been the hardest hit; there has been a 60 per cent decline over the measured period.

Tragically, the effects are being felt in worst in poorer countries; according to the global Living Planet Index, declines in biodiversity since 1970 have been most rapid in the lower income countries, demonstrating how the poorest and most vulnerable nations are subsidizing the lifestyles of wealthier countries. The report’s authors explained that decreasing biocapacity (a region’s capacity to regenerate resources) will require a country to import essential resources from foreign ecosystems – potentially to the long-term detriment of the latter.

The report’s authors also point out that, based on unsustainable consumption patterns, at the current rate humanity is using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can sustainably produce. More worrying still is that, in line with projections of population growth and changes in consumption, by 2030 humanity will require an area the size of two Earths to support human activity.

With an increasingly urbanised population, the report ‘s authors called for new ways to manage natural resources, such as urban growing, managing water better, reducing waste and increasing production of clean renewable energies.

16 step programme

This report is particularly relevant as it comes before the Rio +20 Summit next month. During the summit world leaders will discuss ways to reduce poverty and address threats posed by climate change and pollution. However, the Rio +20 moniker is slightly misleading, as the first Earth Summit took place in Stockholm 40 years ago. Since then, despite much discussion, little has changed.

Following similar actions by other environmental coalitions, WWF has set out 16 priority actions to improve consumption patterns and help avert disaster. These are focused on placing an economic value on natural capital, as was discussed in the UK government’s National Ecosystem Assessment, to enable the economically minded to understand the consequences of their actions, gearing food policy in a more social and equitable direction and doing the same for policies on water and energy.

Jim Leape, Director General of WWF, commented on the report’s release, “The challenges underlined in the Living Planet Report are clear. Rio+20 can and must be the moment for governments to set a new course towards sustainability. The meeting is a unique opportunity for coalitions of the committed – of governments, cities and businesses – to join forces and play a crucial role in keeping this a living planet.”

Reactions to WWF report

Although EU ministers have said they have plans to support renewable energies, protect biodiversity and expressed a willingness for a paradigm shift towards a mode of thinking that includes the environment and social justice as well as the pursuit of capital, environmental organisations have expressed doubts that any concrete agreements will be reached in June and said anyone pushing for such changes will face staunch opposition.

The WWF director general expressed concern at the lack of preparation for next month’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. He said that world leaders had not yet demonstrated any great willingness to take the radical actions needed to end poverty and shift towards greater sustainability. He made the moribund pronouncement that “I don't think anyone would dispute that we're nowhere near where we should be a month before the conference.”

Jonathan Baillie, Conservation Programme Director with the Zoological Society of London, spoke of the relevance of the report, “This report is like a planetary check-up and the results indicate we have a very sick planet. Ignoring this diagnosis will have major implications for humanity. We can restore the planet’s health, but only through addressing the root causes, population growth and over-consumption.”

Earlier this week, MPs on the UK government’s Environmental Audit Committee also released a report calling for reduced consumption and more cohesive policy decisions, which deal with the environment, health, education and other social considerations together instead of treating them separately.  

Both the EAC and WWF called for more focus on education covering growing and eating healthier food. The recommendations will be welcomed by many food groups, but livestock bodies in the UK have reacted testily to calls for consumers to eat “less, but better quality meat.”

Nick Allen, a spokesperson for red meat lobbying body EBLEX said, “We are all pushing in the same direction and working towards more sustainable production. In England we have the right climate, landscape and professionalism to produce high quality beef and lamb to help feed our population in an efficient way making best use of available resources. However, the complexities around consuming ‘less but better quality meat’ are far reaching and we are far from clear exactly what this statement means, how this is achieved – or what it gains.”

Speaking at the release of the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Monday, Labour MP and committee chair Joan Walley stated plainly that increasing consumption of meat and dairy around the world is contributing to overconsumption of resources. She said, “The world faces growing fears about food security as the global population increases, more people eat meat and dairy, and the climate destabilises as a result of forest destruction and fossil fuel use. In many cases, reducing environmental impacts and getting people to eat more healthily can be achieved in tandem."

She lamented, "The government does not yet have a strategy that unifies policy areas that impact on food production, supply and demand in a way that drives the system as a whole towards greater sustainability."

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