While The UNEP Year Book 2010, by the United Nations Environmental Programme and published by Earthprint in 2010 acknowledges that global warming is the most persuasive of the looming man-made environmental crises facing the planet, it also highlights other man-made ecological disasters that may affect the Earth’s ecosystems in the future, such as:
- Increasing biodiversity loss.
- A looming freshwater crisis.
- A continuing increase in hazardous waste.
- Degradation of the marine environment.
The UNEP Year Book uses figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List Index of Threatened Species (the most comprehensive source on the status of plants and animals) to show that there is an increasing biodiversity loss occurring in the earth today.
- 36% of all species are under some form of environmental threat including 21% of mammals, 28% of reptiles, 37% of freshwater fish and 70% of plants.
- River deltas, such as the Irrawaddy and the Mekong, are among the most biodiverse on the planet and 24 of the 33 largest river deltas are sinking. All but five have experienced severe flooding over the last 10 years, largely driven by land change use.
- Increasing demand for food and conversion of natural ecosystems to biofuel production are adding to the increasing biodiversity loss.
A Looming Freshwater Crisis
Although water is the most plentiful compound on the planet, 99% is locked away in the oceans and polar regions. As a result over 2.8 billion people live under freshwater stress:
- The “water footprint” (the amount of water a country uses) of developed nations is increasing, due to rising economic activity, leaving less water for the poorer regions of the world.
- Some of the richer developing countries of the world such as China, India and Saudi Arabia are leasing vast tracts of farmland in less developed countries in order to grow food crops for their own population, thus using up the” virtual water” component of these products.
- In both developed and developing nations much of the freshwater supply is being contaminated by a rising tide of waste-water from intensive farming, heavy industry and inefficient waste-water management systems.
Continuing Increase in Hazardous Waste
The Year Book lists the numerous ways human activity has increased the amount and range of hazardous waste materials entering the environment:
- Hazardous materials such as arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals are being produced in ever greater quantities by traditional industries such as mining, metal works and cement production.
- New industries, such as communications technology, are producing large amounts of electronic waste which are putting further stress on the environment.
- Another emerging technology, nanotechnology, is producing nanomaterials with unknown environmental impacts.
- Huge amounts of atmospheric nitrogen are being converted to more reactive forms and being leaked into the Earth’s ecosystems through the over use of manufactured fertilizers.
UNEP Year Book 2010 points out that the most important and biodiverse ecosystem on earth is the marine environment. Already under enormous environmental stress from man-made global warming, the world’s oceans are also being degraded by other man-made processes, such as:
- Ocean dead zones are increasing in number and range. Escalating nutrient run-off from intensive farming and industrialized coastal areas has caused the number and range of ocean dead zones to double every ten years since 1960.
- Over exploitation of the marine fish stocks is becoming unsustainable. The Yearbook quotes a 2008 study by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization as stating that, “The exploitation and near depletion of the ocean’s most valuable fish stocks have caused an annual net loss in the value of global marine fisheries in the order of US$50 billion.”
- The ocean’s coral reefs are near a tipping point and in danger of disappearing as functioning ecosystems partly due to pollution, unregulated tourism and inappropriate forms of fishing.
The Year Book makes plain that continued depletion of the Earth’s environmental resources is unsustainable and will lead to future environmental impacts, such as a global freshwater shortage, biodiversity loss and serious marine degradation. Combined with the effects of man-made global warming, such reckless ecological behavior could lead to irreversible environmental changes.
Laurence O'Sullivan - Larry O'Sullivan, Irish short story and freelance Article writer now living in Thailand. I am Irish, 55 years old and am now living in ...
Join the Conversation