If you imagine Planet Earth having a routine health check, the Living Planet (LPR) report would be its biennial diagnostic report. The study is a science based analysis of the state of the planet – the health of our forests, rivers and oceans, as well as the impact of humans.

Dr Chris Hails, Director, Network Relations, WWF International discussed the key findings of LPR 2012 on 16th June 2012 at the Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Video link here

1. LIVING PLANET INDEX : The poor are bearing the brunt

The Living Planet Index (LPI) measures the changes in the state of the planet’s ecosystems by studying population trends of more than 2500 species. The LPI reflects the biodiversity of the earth.

The Global LPI, whose data is provided by the Zoological Society of London, showed a 28% decrease during the time period of 1970 to 2008, while in tropical countries, the decline was to the tune of 60%. This reflects the rapid destruction of natural habitats in the last 30 years.

The LPI in temperate countries increased by 31% over the same period, which could be a result of environmental conservation.  As Dr Hails pointed out, most of the biodiversity in temperate areas declined during and after the industrial revolution – big historical losses which are not reflected in the time period under study.

The global terrestrial, freshwater and marine indices all declined, with the freshwater index declining by 37%. The tropical freshwater index’s decline by 70% is most alarming.

The biodiversity trends of high, middle and low income countries also reflect disparities. The index shows a 7% increase in high income countries, a 31% decrease in middle income countries and a 60% decline in low-income countries, showing that poorer nations are rapidly losing their biodiversity. It is the poor who are most dependent on nature directly for their livelihoods and sustenance.

 2. ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: The rich are overconsuming

The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of land area per person, needed to produce renewable resources, including the area of vegetation required to reabsorb the carbon being emitted into the atmosphere. In 2008, humanity’s ecological footprint was 18.2 billion global hectares (gha) or 2.7 gha per person

This is compared with Biocapacity or the area of land actually available to produce renewable resources and absorb carbon emissions. The earth’s biocapacity in 2008 was 12.0 billion gha, or 1.8 gha. 

This difference between the ecological footprint and biocapacity represents an ecological overshoot. It takes 1.5 years to regenerate the renewable resources required to sustain the current human population. Another way of expressing the same is that we’re using the resources of 1.5 planets to keep us ticking. Instead of living off our natural capital, we’re living off the interest.

There are huge footprint disparities amongst nations. Higher income, more developed countries have in general a higher footprint than poorer, less developed countries. The top 10 countries with the largest Ecological Footprint per person are Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, the United States, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, and Ireland.

Singapore ranks 12th in its Ecological Footprint, which would require 3 planets to sustain this level of consumption.

If you click on the filter of “carbon” on the interactive graph above, Singapore ranks 5th in the world in its carbon footprint, and the highest amongst Asia-Pacific countries.

According to BBC News, “ It’s a view that doesn’t sit well with the government because the report attributes emissions to the country where carbon is consumed, instead of where it is produced.

The WWF explains that if a car is made in Japan but exported to Singapore, its carbon emissions are counted under Singapore not Japan.”

Dr Hails also highlighted that China and India are likely to experience the greatest increase in footprint by 2015, equal to 37% of the world’s total.

3. PRESCRIPTION FOR THE PLANET- Business as Usual is not a choice

As Jim P. Leape, Director General, WWF International said recently, “We are living as if we have an extra planet at our disposal. We are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide, and unless we change course that number will grow very fast – by 2030, even two planets will not be enough.

“But we do have a choice. We can create a prosperous future that provides food, water and energy for the 9 or perhaps 10 billion people who will be sharing the planet in 2050.”

Source: The Living Planet Report 2012

Dr Hails highlighted a few solutions especially certifications that are improving the sustainable use of resources.  These encompass:

1. The Forest Stewardship Council certification for sustainable timber and products such as furniture and paper, which do not overexploit forests.

2. The Marine Stewardship Council certification which helps consumers identify fish which are endangered.  80% of the world fish stocks are overexploited, according to FAO which predicts that the stock of fish species for food is expected to collapse by 2048.   Singapore in particular can take action to limit its impact on the ‘coral triangle’, a biodiverse but threatened tropical fisheries zone, by encouraging sustainable fish consumption, as Dr Hails mentions in the video.  WWF’s Sustainable Seafood Guide is available for download here.

3. The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, which is working on sustainable palm oil to protect tropical rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia.  As Michelle Desilets pointed out in an earlier interview with EWTT, the RSPO has its loopholes, but as ‘the only game in town’ , the process needs to be strengthened and made more robust.

To read the full Living Planet Report 2012, please click this link. 

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Bhavani Prakash is the Founder of Eco WALK the Talk .com.  She is a sustainability speaker, trainer and writer can be contacted at bhavani[at]ecowalkthetalk.com. Follow Eco WALK the Talk on Facebook, Twitter, Linked IN and YouTube

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by Ria Tan

The report card on global biodiversity is out. And the results are not good. But there is still hope.

What is the Global Biodiversity Outlook?
It is a report based on scientific assessments, national reports submitted by governments and a study on future scenarios for biodiversity. It is produced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and subject to an extensive independent scientific review process. The publication of this the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) is one of the principal milestones of the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity.

What are some of the findings?
The report confirms that the world has failed to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. In particular, the report warns that losses may be irreversible if they reach “tipping points” such as:

• Dieback of large areas of the Amazon forest, due to climate change, deforestation and fires. Resulting in further global climate and regional rainfall changes and widespread species extinctions.
• Multiple collapses of coral reef ecosystems, due to a combination of ocean acidification, warmer water leading to bleaching, overfishing and nutrient pollution. Impacting hundreds of millions of species directly dependent on coral reefs.

How big is the problem?
Here’s some charts from the report to give a quick idea of the monumental size of the issues:

From Global Biodiversity Outlook 3: Executive summary (pdf)

Most indicators of the state of biodiversity show negative trends, with no significant reduction in the rate of decline.
There is no evidence of a slowing in the increase of pressures upon biodiversity, based on the trend shown by indicators of humanity’s ecological footprint, nitrogen deposition, alien species introductions, overexploited fish stocks and the impact of climate change on biodiversity.
The limited indicators of the benefits derived by humans from biodiversity also show negative trends.
In contrast, all indicators of the responses to address biodiversity loss are moving in a positive direction. More areas are being protected for biodiversity, more policies and laws are being introduced to avoid damage from invasive alien species, and more money is being spent in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its objectives.
The overall message from these indicators is that despite the many efforts taken around the world to conserve biodiversity and use it sustainably, responses so far have not been adequate to address the scale of biodiversity loss or reduce the pressures.

From “State of Biodiversity in Asia and the Pacific” (pdf)

Figure I. Threatened plant and animal species, Asia and the Pacific, 2008 (Statistics Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
Figure II. Ratio of protected terrestrial areas to surface area, 1990–2008 (Statistics Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
Figure III. Ratio of protected marine areas to territorial water, 1990–2008 (Statistics Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)

Are there any solutions?
Among the key recommended approaches is for policymakers to give equal priority to biodiversity loss and climate change. The two challenges are linked and must be dealt with in close co-ordination, if the most severe impacts of each are to be avoided. Conserving biodiversity and ecosystems can help to store more carbon, reducing further build-up of greenhouse gases; and people will be better able to adapt to unavoidable climate change if ecosystems are more resilient.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme says:

“Many economies remain blind to the huge value of the diversity of animals, plants and other life-forms and their role in healthy and functioning ecosystems from forests and freshwaters to soils, oceans and even the atmosphere,”

“Many countries are beginning to factor natural capital into some areas of economic and social life with important returns, but this needs rapid and sustained scaling-up.”

“Humanity has fabricated the illusion that somehow we can get by without biodiversity or that it is somehow peripheral to our contemporary world: the truth is we need it more than ever on a planet of six billion heading to over nine billion people by 2050.”

In outlining a possible new strategy for reducing biodiversity loss, the report includes addressing patterns of consumption, the impacts of increased trade and demographic change. Ending harmful subsidies would also be an important step.

The report and a new Strategic Plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity will be dealt with at the 2010 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit to be held in October. One of the key elements of this strategy is:

Communication, education and awareness-raising to ensure that as far as possible, everyone understands the value of biodiversity and what steps they can take to protect it, including through changes in personal consumption and behavior.

This article is by our Guest Writer  Ria Tan. Ria is an accomplished Nature Guide in Singapore and has diligently documented the precious biodiversity in and around the Singapore Islands.  She is co-author of “Chek Jawa Guidebook” on the 400 or so marine species of Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, an offshore island of Singapore.  She maintains a prolific blog for environment news at WildSingapore .  More about Ria here.   Contact her at hello@wildsingapore.com

Further links you may be interested in:

You CAN make a difference for our biodiversity!
Here’s more on what one person can do.

• More media reports on the Global Biodiversity Outlook report on wildsingapore news.
• The Global Biodiversity Outlook can be downloaded from the UNEP site.
• Global Biodiversity Outlook and our shores on wild shores of singapore. 
• UNEP: New Database Brings Together Vital Data on Biodiversity to Climate Change Covering 70,000 Islands

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