(CBS/AP) RIO DE JANEIRO - A United Nations report warns that the
earth's environmental systems "are being pushed towards their
biophysical limits" and that sudden, irreversible and potentially
catastrophic changes are looming.
The UN's Environment Program says that climate change, the
depletion of the ozone layer, plummeting fish stocks and the mass
extinction of animals are among the most worrisome environmental
threats.
"The world continues to speed down an unsustainable path despite
over 500 internationally agreed goals and objectives to support the
sustainable management of the environment and improve human
wellbeing," a press
release for the report states.
The 525-page report released Wednesday said little or no progress
has been made in recent years toward meeting international targets
for reducing environmental destruction.
The report calls on policymakers to take urgent action. Achim
Steiner is the UN program's head and he says the UN's
mega-conference on sustainable development to be held in Rio de
Janeiro this month would be the ideal forum to take the steps needed
to prevent an environmental catastrophe.
"If humanity does not urgently change its ways, several critical
thresholds may be exceeded, beyond which abrupt and generally
irreversible changes to the life-support functions of the planet
could occur," a press release on the report states.
Climate-change deniers winning long-term fight
Rich-poor divide at UN climate talks
Climate talks open on ever-rising emissions
Some key facts and figures from the report:
- Under current models, greenhouse gas emissions could double
over the next 50 years, leading to rise in global temperature of
3 degrees Celsius or more by the end of the century.
- Indoor air pollution from particulate matter is responsible
for nearly 2 million premature deaths annually - including
900,000 deaths in children under the age of five.
- Outdoor particulate matter may be responsible for around 3.7
million deaths annually.
- Ground-level ozone is responsible for 700,000 respiratory
deaths, over 75 per cent of which occur in Asia.
- Global economic losses due to reduced agricultural yields
caused by air pollution are estimated at US $14-26 billion
annually.
- The extinction risk is increasing faster for corals than for
any other group of living organisms, with the condition of coral
reefs declining by 38 per cent since 1980. Rapid contraction is
projected by 2050.
- Though catches more than quadrupled from the early 1950s to
the mid-1990s, they have stabilized or diminished since then -
despite increased fishing. In 2000, catches could have been 7-36
percent higher were it not for stock depletion. This translated
into economic losses to the value of $4-36 billion.
- Water quality in at least parts of most major river systems
still fails to meet World Health Organization (standards.
- More than 600 million people are expected to lack access to
safe drinking water by 2015, while more than 2.5 billion people
will lack access to basic sanitation.
- By 2030, an estimated $9-11 billion will be spent annually
on additional infrastructure to provide sufficient quantities of
water, especially in developing countries.
- The number of flood and drought disasters rose by 230 per
cent and 38 per cent respectively between the 1980s and 2000s,
while the number of people exposed to floods rose by 114 per
cent.
- The cost of coastal adaptation to climate change is
estimated to reach between US $26 billion and US $89 billion by
the 2040s, depending on the magnitude of sea-level rise.