Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2016) |
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the
History
During the 1990s, international conventions such as the UNEP
Funding
In May 2000 the
Findings
The MA was published in 2005 and made four main assessments:[2]
- Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of lifeon Earth.
- The changes to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net gains in human ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of povertyfor some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems.
- The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly worse during the first half of this century and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
- The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystem while meeting increasing demands for services can be partially met under some scenarios considered by the MA, but will involve significant changes in policies, institutions and practices that are not currently under way. Many options exist to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce negative trade-offs or that provide positive synergieswith other ecosystem services.
The bottom line of the MA findings has been that human actions are depleting Earth’s natural capital, putting such strain on the environment that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. At the same time, the assessment shows that with appropriate actions it is possible to reverse the degradation of many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and practice required are substantial and not currently underway.[citation needed]
Legacy
In 2008, a report calculated that the world's richest countries caused environmental damage to developing nations at more than the entire developing world debt of $1.8 trillion.[3]
See also
- Environmental issue
- Conservation (ethic)
- Sustainability
- The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
- Special Report on Climate Change and Land
- Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
- The Limits to Growth, a 1972 book about the computer modeling of exponential economic and population growth with finite resource supplies
References
- ^ a b c d "History of the Millennium Assessment". UNEP. UNEP. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 1-59726-040-1. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ James Randerson (20 January 2008) Rich countries owe poor a huge environmental debt The Guardian, retrieved 25 April 2016
Further reading
- Watson, Robert T.; United Nations Environment Programme; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1999). Protecting our planet, securing our future : linkages among global environmental issues and human needs. Nairobi, Kenya: United National Environment Programme. p. 95. ISBN 9789280717525.
- Corvalan, Carlos; Hales, Simon; McMichael, Anthony (2006). Ecosystems and human well-being : health synthesis: a report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Geneva: WHO. ISBN 9241563095.