Archived press release

New UN Report points to international emergency.

25 October 2007

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has today published its global assessment on the state of the World, which Friends of the Earth has called an "important call for global political leadership in a fast degrading World".

The report states that:

• Governments, businesses and individuals have not given environmental action the priority required despite better scientific understanding that the future of humankind depends on a healthy environment.
• Climate change is a key factor in the death of 1.5 million lives over the last two decades from `natural disasters' such as floods, windstorms and extreme temperatures which have affected more than 200 million people.
• All available evidence points to a sixth major extinction event currently underway. Unlike the previous five events, which were due to natural disasters and planetary change the current loss of biodiversity is mainly due to human activities. Global market demand for high value commodities, such as soybeans and bio-fuels, has resulted in substantial ecosystem degradation.
• Environmental change has altered disease patterns and increased human exposure to diseases.
• Failure to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions will hit the poorest hardest and impacts will be severe and far reaching. Impacts include sea-level rise, increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, storms, floods, droughts, changing rainfall patterns and water availability, land degradation, and biodiversity loss. These will threaten settlements, food security, disrupt social relations and contribute to conflict.

However the report also points to positive achievements over the last 20 years, including:

• The consumption of ozone depleting substances has decreased and it is expected that the ozone hole over the Antarctica will recover by 2060.
• The decline in the area of temperate forest has been reversed with an increase of 30 000km2 between 1990 and 2005.

Mike Childs, Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth, said:

`It is now clearer than ever that we need concerted international political action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the loss of wildlife and ecosystems. This report clearly demonstrates that we also need a step change in understanding that the steady degradation of the world's environment threatens the well-being of everybody on the planet. Our response to this planetary emergency must be to harness humankinds amazing ingenuity to make the next two decades a time of innovation and determination to create a fairer and greener world.'

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust