Sbsp affirmative- arl lab- ndi 2011
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- Biodiversity exacerbates poverty and climate change
BiodiversityNow key – biodiversity’s at a tipping point – further losses exacerbate poverty and climate changeVidal, ’10 – Environment editor at The Guardian [John, 8/17/2010, The Guardian, “The real butterfly effect: destroying nature will ruin economies and cultures, pleads UN: Biodiversity chief to push for more ambitious targets Damage to natural world 'reaching tipping point',” Lexis, DS] Britain and other countries face a collapse of their economies and loss of culture if they do not protect the environment better, the world's leading champion of nature has warned. "What we are seeing today is a total disaster," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. "No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. If current levels (of destruction) go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet now depends on governments taking action in the next few years." Industrialisation, population growth, the spread of cities and farms, and climate change are all now threatening the fundamentals of life itself, said Djoghlaf, in London before a UN meeting in which governments are expected to sign up to a more ambitious deal to protect nature. "Many plans were developed in the 1990s to protect biodiversity but they are still sitting on the shelves of ministries. Countries were legally obliged to act, but only 140 have even submitted plans and only 16 have revised their plans since 1993. Governments must now put their houses in order," he said. According to the UN Environment Programme, the Earth is in the middle of a mass extinction of life. Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate and, claim many biologists, is greater than anything the world has experienced since the dinosaurs vanished nearly 65m years ago. Around 15% of mammal species and 11% of bird species are classified as threatened with extinction. Djoghlaf warned Britain and other countries not to cut nature protection amid the recession. In a reference to expected 40% cuts in Britain's Department of the Environment spending, he said: "You may well save a few pounds now but you will lose billions later. Biodiversity is your natural asset. The more you lose it, the more you lose your cultural assets too." Djoghlaf said 300 million people who depended on forests and the more than 1 billion who lived off sea fishing were in immediate danger."Cut your forests down, or over-fish, and these people will not survive. Destroying biodiversity only increases economic insecurity. The more you lose it, the more you lose the chance to grow." He added: "The loss of biodiversity compounds poverty. Biodiversity is fundamental to social life, education and aesthetics. It's a human right to live in a healthy environment." Djoghlaf criticised countries for separating action on climate change from protecting biodiversity. "The loss of biodiversity exacerbates climate change. But it is handled by the poorest ministries in government, it has not been mainstreamed or prioritised by governments. Climate change cannot be solved without action on biodiversity, and vice versa." The UN chief said that children were losing contact with nature. "In Algeria, children are growing up who have never seen olive trees. How can you protect nature if you do not know it?" A UN report on the impact of biodiversity loss, out in October, is expected to say that the economic case for global action to stop species destruction is even more powerful than the argument for tackling climate change. It will say that saving biodiversity is cost-effective and the benefits from saving "natural goods and services", such as pollination, medicines, fertile soils, clean air and water, are between 10 and 100 times the cost of saving the habitats and species that provide them. Biodiversity exacerbates poverty and climate changeAdegboye, ’10 – [Kingsley, Vanguard (Lagos), “Publication Stresses Role for Biodiversity in Fight Against Climate Change,” Lexis, DS] Nature's riches can play a major role in poverty eradication, but only if governments and businesses recognise the true economic value of the goods and services our environment provides us. This is the central message of a free book published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Birdlife International and Pavan Sukhdev, leader of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study. It warns that biodiversity loss is not only an environmental problem but also a fundamental threat to people's livelihoods, well-being and ability to confront the impacts of climate change. The publication comes on the eve of the world's biggest international conference on biodiversity, in Nagoya, Japan. "The ongoing decline of the world's biological resources such as rainforests, coral reefs and agricultural biodiversity threatens to increase poverty and people's vulnerability to climate change," says Dr. Dilys Roe , a senior researcher at IIED. "These challenges must be tackled together rather than in isolation." The book shows how nature provides humanity with goods and services worth trillions of dollars. But it warns that these benefits are threatened by policies that fail to treat the environment and human well being as two sides of the same coin. Biodiversity includes the crops we eat and the insects that pollinate them; the plants we use for both traditional medicines and modern drugs; the bacteria that help create the soil that sustains farming; and the microscopic plankton at the base of food chains that end with fish on our dinner plates. It includes ecosystems such as forests that regulate water supplies and the global climate. While millions of the world's poorest people depend heavily on nature for their livelihoods, efforts to use biodiversity to boost incomes often fail because of poor policies and legal frameworks that govern how biological resources are used and by whom. "Systems that communities have developed over generations to sustainably manage their natural resources have often been swept aside by policies that favour short-term commercial gains," says David Thomas of BirdLife International. "By supporting these communities' long-term stewardship of the land and the sea, policymakers can tackle two urgent global issues extreme poverty and the loss of biodiversity - at the same time." The book outlines the economic, scientific and moral arguments for shifting to a new way of managing the Earth's resources that brings benefits to all in a sustainable way. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 1.74 Mb. Share with your friends:
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