Miscellaneous
The GEO-4 is the fourth Global Environment report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The reports main message is that protection of the environment (and that includes the atmosphere, already stressed by greenhouse gases) must be a core aim of every public undertaking and of every single piece of legislation within Government. The report was prepared by 390 experts and reviewed by more than 1,000 others across the world. Key Messages for Decision MakersThere is evidence of unprecedented environmental change at global and regional levels: - The Earth's surface is warming. This is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising average sea level. Other major impacts include changes in water availability, land degradation, food security, and loss of biodiversity. The projected increase in frequency and intensity of heat waves, storms, floods and droughts would dramatically affect many millions of people including those in small island states and Polar regions. While in the past century the global average temperature increased by 0.74°C, the best estimate of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for additional warming over the current century is projected to be from 1.8 to 4.0°C. Climate change may further exacerbate the loss of biodiversity and degradation of land, soil, forest, freshwater and oceans.
- More than 2 million people globally die prematurely every year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution. Although air pollution has decreased in some cities due to technological and policy measures, increasing emissions in other cities are intensifying the challenges. Indoor air pollution due to the improper burning of solid biomass fuels imposes an enormous health burden.
The "hole" in the stratospheric ozone layer over the Antarctic -- the layer that protects people from harmful ultraviolet radiation -- is now the largest it has ever been. Due to decreased emissions of ozone depleting substances and assuming full Montreal Protocol compliance, the ozone layer is expected to recover, but not until between 2060 and 2075 as a result of long lag times. - Unsustainable land use and climate change are driving land degradation, including soil erosion, nutrient depletion, water scarcity, salinity, desertification, and the disruption of biological cycles. Poor people suffer disproportionately from the effects of land degradation, especially in the drylands, which support some 2 billion people, 90% of whom live in developing countries.
- The per capita availability of freshwater is declining globally, and contaminated water remains the greatest single environmental cause of human sickness and death. If present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of of the people in the world could be subject to water stress. The decline of quantity and quality of surface and groundwater is impacting aquatic ecosystems and their services.
- Aquatic ecosystems continue to be heavily exploited, putting at risk sustainability of food supplies and biodiversity. Global marine and freshwater fish catches show large-scale declines, caused mostly by persistent overfishing.
- The great majority of well-studied species are declining in distribution, abundance or both. Although the decline in the area of temperate forest has been reversed, with an annual increase of 30,000 square km between 1990 and 2005, deforestation in the tropics continued at an annual rate of 130,000 square km during the same period. More than 16,000 species have been identified as threatened with extinction.
These unprecedented changes are due to human activities in an increasingly globalized, industrialized and interconnected world, driven by expanding flows of goods, services, capital, people, technologies, information, ideas and labour, even affecting isolated populations. The responsibility for global environmental pressures is not evenly distributed throughout the world. For instance, in 2004, [certain developed] countries with 20% of world population produced 57% of gross world product .. and accounted for 46% of greenhouse gas emissions. Industrial development, natural resource extraction and carbon-intensive industrial production, may have significant environmental consequences, which need to be addressed. Responses include the use of the best available technologies and practices as appropriate.
Environmental change affects human development options, with poor people being the most vulnerable. For example, in the period between 1992 and 2001, floods were the most frequent natural disaster, killing nearly 100,000 people and affecting more than 1.2 billion people. More than 90% of the people exposed to disasters live in the developing world. Biophysical and social systems can reach tipping points, beyond which there are abrupt, accelerating, or potentially irreversible changes. The four GEO-4 scenarios show an increasing risk of crossing tipping points, even as some global environmental degradation trends are slowed or reversed at different rates towards the middle of the century. Changes in biophysical and social systems may continue even if the forces of change are removed, as evidenced in the stratospheric ozone depletion and the loss of species. The transition towards sustainable development needs to be pursued more intensively by nations and the international community, including through capacity building and technological support to developing countries. Actions to reduce the drivers of environmental change by all stakeholders, including the private sector and consumers, require trade-offs, which may involve hard choices, among different values and concerns. Decision-makers can promote timely action by integrating prevention, mitigation and adaptation efforts into the core of decision-making. Click here to visit the UNEP website and download full report
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