Global Assessment: Ecosystem, Water,
Energy, Forest, Biodiversity
last revision -
Feb 07, 2008
click here
to return
to earthmodal
home
Source
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (new
window, website)
"The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work
program designed to meet the needs of decision makers and the public
for scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem
change for human well-being and options for responding to those
changes. The MA was launched by U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan in
June 2001 and was completed in March 2005. It will help to meet
assessment needs of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention
to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the
Convention on Migratory Species, as well as needs of other users in the
private sector and civil society. If the MA proves to be useful to its
stakeholders, it is anticipated that such integrated assessments will
be repeated every 5– 10 years and that ecosystem assessments will be
regularly conducted at national or sub-national scales."
Ecosystems and Human Well-being
operations
note: place this document in subdirectory ../mea.
Ecosystems
&
Human Well-being: Synthesis [pdf, 15646 KB]
Three major problems associated with our management of the world’s
ecosystems are already causing significant harm to some people,
particularly the poor, and unless addressed will substantially diminish
the long-term benefits we obtain from ecosystems:
■ First, approximately 60% (15 out of 24) of the ecosystem services
examined during the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are being degraded
or used unsustainably, including fresh water, capture fisheries, air
and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local
climate, natural hazards, and pests. The full costs of the loss and
degradation of these ecosystem services are difficult to measure, but
the available evidence demonstrates that they are substantial and
growing. Many ecosystem services have been degraded as a consequence of
actions taken to increase the supply of other services, such as food.
These trade-offs often shift
the costs of degradation from one group of people to another or defer
costs to future generations.
■ Second, there is established but incomplete evidence that changes
being made in ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear
changes in ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt, and potentially
irreversible changes) that have important consequences for human
well-being. Examples of such changes include disease emergence, abrupt
alterations in water quality, the creation of “dead zones” in coastal
waters, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate.
■ Third, the harmful effects of the degradation of ecosystem services
(the persistent decrease in the capacity of an ecosystem to deliver
services) are being borne disproportionately by the poor, are
contributing to growing inequities and disparities across groups of
people, and are sometimes the principal factor causing poverty and
social conflict. This is not to say that ecosystem changes such as
increased food production have not also helped to lift many people out
of poverty or hunger, but these changes have harmed other individuals
and communities, and their plight has been largely overlooked. In all
regions, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the condition and
management of ecosystem services is a dominant factor influencing
prospects for reducing poverty.
|
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
Reporting Categories |
|
| Category |
Central
Concept |
Boundary
Limits for Mapping |
| Marine |
Ocean, with fishing typically a major driver of change |
Marine areas where the sea is deeper than 50 meters. |
| Coastal
|
Interface between ocean and land, extending seawards to about
the middle of the continental shelf and inland to include all areas strongly influenced
by the proximity to the ocean |
Area between 50 meters below mean sea level and 50 meters above
the high tide level or extending andward to a distance 100 kilometers from shore. Includes coral reefs,
intertidal zones, estuaries, coastal aquaculture, and seagrass communities.
|
Inland
water |
Permanent water bodies inland from the coastal zone, and areas whose
ecology and use are dominated by the permanent, seasonal, or intermittent occurrence of flooded
conditions |
Rivers, lakes, floodplains, reservoirs, and wetlands;
includes inland saline systems. Note that the Ramsar Convention considers “wetlands” to
include both inland water and coastal categories. |
| Forest |
Lands dominated by trees; often used for timber, fuelwood, and
non-timber forest products |
A canopy cover of at least 40 percent by woody plants
taller than 5 meters. The existence of many other
definitions is acknowledged, and other limits (such as
crown cover greater than 10 percent, as used by the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) will
also be reported. Includes temporarily cut-over forests and
plantations; excludes orchards and agroforests where the
main products are food crops. |
| Dryland |
Lands where plant production is limited
by water availability; the dominant uses
are large mammal herbivory, including
livestock grazing, and cultivation |
Drylands as defined by the
Convention to Combat
Desertification, namely lands where annual precipitation is
less than two thirds of potential evaporation, from dry
subhumid areas (ratio ranges 0.50–0.65), through
semiarid, arid, and hyper-arid (ratio <0.05), but excluding
polar areas; drylands include cultivated lands, scrublands,
shrublands, grasslands, semi-deserts, and true deserts. |
| Island |
Lands isolated by
surrounding water,
with a high proportion of coast to
hinterland |
As defined by the Alliance of
Small Island States |
| Mountain
|
Steep and high lands |
As defined by Mountain Watch
using criteria based on
elevation alone, and at lower elevation, on a combination
of elevation, slope, and local elevation range. Specifically,
elevation >2,500 meters, elevation 1,500–2,500 meters
and slope >2 degrees, elevation 1,000–1,500 meters and
slope >5 degrees or local elevation range (7 kilometers
radius) >300 meters, elevation 300–1,000 meters and
local elevation range (7 kilometers radius) >300 meters,
isolated inner basins and plateaus less than 25 square
kilometers extent that are surrounded by mountains. |
| Polar |
High-latitude systems
frozen for most of
the year |
Includes ice caps, areas
underlain by permafrost, tundra,
polar deserts, and polar coastal areas. Excludes highaltitude
cold systems in low latitudes. |
| Cultivated |
Lands dominated by
domesticated plant
species, used for and substantially
changed by crop, agroforestry, or
aquaculture production |
Areas in which at least 30
percent of the landscape comes
under cultivation in any particular year. Includes orchards,
agroforestry, and integrated agriculture-aquaculture
systems. |
| Urban |
Built environments with a
high human
density |
Known human settlements with a
population of 5,000 or
more, with boundaries delineated by observing persistent
night-time lights or by inferring a real extent in the cases
where such observations are absent. |
earthmodal note: the square brackets [99] refer to the chapters of the
full report Ecosystems & Human Well-being
which is listed in the bottom of this section. The scenarios mentioned
are given in the Synthesis or can be found in the above section
Scenarios - MEA.
Summary for Decision-makers
Finding #1:
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 life on Earth.
The structure and functioning of the world’s ecosystems changed more
rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century than at any time in
human history. [1]
- More land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950
than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850. Cultivated systems (areas
where at least 30% of the landscape is in croplands, shifting
cultivation, confined livestock production, or freshwater aquaculture)
now cover one quarter of Earth’s terrestrial surface. (See Figure 1.)
Areas of rapid change in forest land cover and land degradation are
shown in Figure 2.
- Approximately 20% of the world’s coral reefs were lost and an
additional 20% degraded in the last several decades of the twentieth
century, and approximately 35% of mangrove area was lost during this
time (in countries for which sufficient data exist, which encompass
about half of the area of mangroves).
- The amount of water impounded behind dams quadrupled since 1960,
and three to six times as much water is held in reservoirs as in
natural rivers. Water withdrawals from rivers and lakes doubled since
1960; most water use (70% worldwide) is for agriculture.
- Since 1960, flows of reactive (biologically available) nitrogen
in terrestrial ecosystems have doubled, and flows of phosphorus have
tripled. More than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which
was first manufactured in 1913, ever used on the planet has been used
since 1985.
- Since 1750, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has
increased by about 32% (from about 280 to 376 parts per million in
2003), primarily due to the combustion of fossil fuels and land use
changes. Approximately 60% of that increase (60 parts per million) has
taken place since 1959.
Humans are fundamentally, and to a significant extent irreversibly,
changing the diversity of life on Earth, and most of these changes
represent a loss of biodiversity. [1]
- More than two thirds of the area of 2 of the world’s 14 major
terrestrial biomes and more than half of the area of 4 other biomes had
been converted by 1990, primarily to agriculture. (See Figure 3.)
- Across a range of taxonomic groups, either the population size or
range or both of the majority of species is currently declining.
- The distribution of species on Earth is becoming more homogenous;
in other words, the set of species in any one region of the world is
becoming more similar to the set in other regions primarily as a result
of introductions of species, both intentionally and inadvertently in
association with increased travel and shipping.
- The number of species on the planet is declining. Over the past
few hundred years, humans have increased the species extinction rate by
as much as 1,000 times over background rates typical over the planet’s
history (medium certainty). (See Figure 4.) Some 10–30% of mammal,
bird, and amphibian species are currently threatened with extinction
(medium to high certainty). Freshwater ecosystems tend to have the
highest proportion of species threatened with extinction.
- Genetic diversity has declined globally, particularly among
cultivated species.
Most changes to ecosystems have been made to meet a dramatic growth in
the demand for food, water, timber, fiber, and fuel. [2]
Finding #2:
The changes that have been made to ecosystems have contributed to
substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but
these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the
degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear
changes, and the exacerbation of
poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed,
will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain
from ecosystems.
In the aggregate, and for most countries, changes made to the world’s
ecosystems in recent decades have provided substantial benefits for
human well-being and national development.[3]
These gains have been achieved, however, at growing costs in the form
of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of
nonlinear changes in ecosystems, the exacerbation of poverty for some
people, and growing inequities and disparities across groups of people.
Degradation and Unsustainable Use of
Ecosystem Services
Approximately 60% (15 out of 24) of the ecosystem services evaluated in
this assessment (including 70% of regulating and cultural services) are
being degraded or used unsustainably. [2]
Actions to increase one ecosystem service often cause the degradation
of other services. [2, 6]
The degradation of ecosystem services often causes significant harm to
human well-being. [3, 6]
- Most resource management decisions are most strongly influenced
by ecosystem services entering markets; as a result, the nonmarketed
benefits are often lost or degraded. These nonmarketed benefits are
often high and sometimes more valuable than the marketed ones.
- The total economic value associated with managing ecosystems more
sustainably is often higher than the value associated with the
conversion of the ecosystem through farming, clear-cut logging, or
other intensive uses.
- The economic and public health costs associated with damage to
ecosystem services can be substantial.
- The impact of the loss of cultural services is particularly
difficult to measure, but it is especially important for many people.
The degradation of ecosystem services represents loss of a capital
asset. [3]
Wealthy populations cannot be insulated from the degradation of
ecosystem services. [3]
- The physical, economic, or social impacts of ecosystem service
degradation may cross boundaries. (See Figure 10.) For example, land
degradation and associated dust storms or fires in one country can
degrade air quality in other countries nearby.
- Degradation of ecosystem services exacerbates poverty in
developing countries, which can affect neighboring industrial countries
by slowing regional economic growth and contributing to the outbreak of
conflicts or the migration of refugees.
- Changes in ecosystems that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions
contribute to global climate changes that affect all countries.
- Many industries still depend directly on ecosystem services. The
collapse of fisheries, for example, has harmed many communities in
industrial countries. Prospects for the forest, agriculture, fishing,
and ecotourism industries are all directly tied to ecosystem services,
while other sectors such as insurance, banking, and health are
strongly, if less directly, influenced by changes in ecosystem services.
- Wealthy populations of people are insulated from the harmful
effects of some aspects of ecosystem degradation, but not all. For
example, substitutes are typically not available when cultural services
are lost.
- Even though the relative economic importance of agriculture,
fisheries, and forestry is declining in industrial countries, the
importance of other ecosystem services such as aesthetic enjoyment and
recreational options is growing.
It is difficult to assess the implications of ecosystem changes and to
manage ecosystems effectively because many of the effects are slow to
become apparent, because they may be expressed primarily at some
distance from where the ecosystem was changed, and because the costs
and benefits of changes often accrue to different sets of stakeholders.
[7]
Increased Likelihood of Nonlinear
(Stepped) and Potentially Abrupt Changes in Ecosystems
There is established but incomplete evidence that changes being
made in ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear changes
in ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt, and potentially
irreversible changes), with important consequences for human
well-being. [7]
- Disease emergence.
- Eutrophication and hypoxia.
- Fisheries collapse.
- Species introductions and losses.
- Regional climate change.
The growing bushmeat trade poses particularly significant threats
associated with nonlinear changes, in this case accelerating rates of
change. [7]
The increased likelihood of these nonlinear changes stems from the loss
of biodiversity and growing pressures from multiple direct drivers of
ecosystem change. [7]
Exacerbation of Poverty for Some
Individuals and Groups of People and Contribution to Growing Inequities
and Disparities across Groups of People
Despite the progress achieved in increasing the production and use of
some ecosystem services, levels of poverty remain high, inequities are
growing, and many people still do not have a sufficient supply of or
access to ecosystem services. [3]
- In 2001, 1.1 billion people survived on less than $1 per day of
income, with roughly 70% of them in rural areas where they are highly
dependent on agriculture, grazing, and hunting for subsistence.
- Inequality in income and other measures of human wellbeing has
increased over the past decade. . . .
- Despite the growth in per capita food production in the past four
decades, an estimated 852 million people were undernourished in
2000–02, up 37 million from the period 1997–99. . . .
- Some 1.1 billion people still lack access to improved water
supply, and more than 2.6 billion lack access to improved sanitation.
Water scarcity affects roughly 1–2 billion people worldwide. Since
1960, the ratio of water use to accessible supply has grown by 20% per
decade.
The degradation of ecosystem services is harming many of the world’s
poorest people and is sometimes the principal factor causing poverty.
[3, 6]
- Half the urban population in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the
Caribbean suffers from one or more diseases associated with inadequate
water and sanitation. Worldwide, approximately 1.7 million people die
annually as a result of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.
- The declining state of capture fisheries is reducing an
inexpensive source of protein in developing countries. Per capita fish
consumption in developing countries, excluding China, declined between
1985 and 1997.
- Desertification affects the livelihoods of millions of people,
including a large portion of the poor in drylands.
The pattern of “winners” and “losers” associated with ecosystem
changes—and in particular the impact of ecosystem changes on poor
people, women, and indigenous peoples—has not been adequately taken
into account in management decisions. [3, 6]
- Many changes in ecosystem management have involved the
privatization of what were formerly common pool resources.
- Some of the people and places affected by changes in ecosystems
and ecosystem services are highly vulnerable and poorly equipped to
cope with the major changes in ecosystems that may occur.
- Significant differences between the roles and rights of men and
women in many societies lead to increased vulnerability of women to
changes in ecosystem services.
- The reliance of the rural poor on ecosystem services is rarely
measured and thus typically overlooked in national statistics and
poverty assessments, resulting in inappropriate strategies that do not
take into account the role of the environment in poverty reduction.
Development prospects in dryland regions of developing countries are
especially dependent on actions to avoid the degradation of ecosystems
and slow or reverse degradation where it is occurring. [3, 5]
Finding #3:
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.
Most of the direct drivers of change in ecosystems currently remain
constant or are growing in intensity in most ecosystems. (See Figure
13.) In all four MA scenarios, the pressures on ecosystems are
projected to continue to grow during the first half of this century.
[4, 5]
- Habitat transformation,
particularly from conversion to agriculture:
Under the MA scenarios, a further 10–20% of grassland and forestland is
projected to be converted between 2000 and 2050 (primarily to
agriculture), as Figure 2 illustrated. The projected land conversion is
concentrated in low-income countries and dryland regions. Forest cover
is projected to continue to increase within industrial countries.
- Overexploitation, especially
overfishing:
Over much of the world, the biomass of fish targeted in fisheries
(including that of both the target species and those caught incidently)
has been reduced by 90% relative to levels prior to the onset of
industrial fishing, and the fish being harvested are increasingly
coming from the less valuable lower trophic levels as populations of
higher trophic level species are depleted, as shown in Figure 6. These
pressures continue to grow in all the MA scenarios.
- Invasive alien species:
The spread of invasive alien species and disease organisms continues to
increase because of both deliberate translocations and accidental
introductions related to growing trade and travel, with significant
harmful consequences to native species and many ecosystem services.
- Pollution, particularly
nutrient loading:
Humans have already doubled the flow of reactive nitrogen on the
continents, and some projections suggest that this may increase by
roughly a further two thirds by 2050. (See Figure 14.) Three out of
four MA scenarios project that the global flux of nitrogen to coastal
ecosystems will increase by a further 10–20% by 2030 (medium
certainty), with almost all of this increase occurring in developing
countries.
- Anthropogenic Climate Change:
Observed recent changes in climate, especially warmer regional
temperatures, have already had significant impacts on biodiversity and
ecosystems, including causing changes in species distributions,
population sizes, the timing of reproduction or migration events, and
an increase in the frequency of pest and disease outbreaks.
Under all four MA scenarios, the projected changes in drivers result in
significant growth in consumption of ecosystem services, continued loss
of biodiversity, and further degradation of some ecosystem services. [5]
- During the next 50 years, demand for food crops is projected to
grow by 70–85% under the MA scenarios, and demand for water by between
30% and 85%. Water withdrawals in developing countries are projected to
increase significantly under the scenarios, although these are
projected to decline in industrial countries (medium certainty).
- Food security is not achieved under the MA scenarios by 2050, and
child malnutrition is not eradicated (and is projected to increase in
some regions in some MA scenarios) despite increasing food supply and
more diversified diets (medium certainty).
- A deterioration of the services provided by freshwater resources
(such as aquatic habitat, fish production, and water supply for
households, industry, and agriculture) is found in the scenarios,
particularly in those that are reactive to environmental problems
(medium certainty).
- Habitat loss and other ecosystem changes are projected to lead to
a decline in local diversity of native species in all four MA scenarios
by 2050 (high certainty). Globally, the equilibrium number of plant
species is projected to be reduced by roughly 10–15% as the result of
habitat loss alone over the period of 1970 to 2050 in the MA scenarios
(low certainty), and other factors such as overharvesting, invasive
species, pollution, and climate change will further increase the rate
of extinction.
The degradation of ecosystem services poses a significant barrier to
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the MDG targets
for 2015. [3]
- Hunger (Goal 1, Target 2): All four MA scenarios project progress
in the elimination of hunger but at rates far slower than needed to
attain the internationally agreed target of halving, between 1990 and
2015, the share of people suffering from hunger.
- Child mortality (Goal 4): Undernutrition is the underlying cause
of a substantial proportion of all child deaths. Three of the MA
scenarios project reductions in child undernourishment by 2050 of
between 10% and 60% but undernourishment increases by 10% in Order from
Strength (low certainty).
- Disease (Goal 6): In the more promising MA scenarios, progress
toward Goal 6 is achieved, but under Order from Strength it is
plausible that health and social conditions for the North and South
could further diverge, exacerbating health problems in many low-income
regions.
Finding #4:
The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting
increasing demands for their services can be partially met under some
scenarios that the MA considered, but these 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 synergies with other ecosystem services.
Three of the four MA scenarios show that significant changes in
policies, institutions, and practices can mitigate many of the negative
consequences of growing pressures on ecosystems, although the changes
required are large and not currently under way. [5]
Past actions to slow or reverse the degradation of ecosystems have
yielded significant benefits, but these improvements have generally not
kept pace with growing pressures and demands. [8]
Substitutes can be developed for some but not all ecosystem services,
but the cost of substitutes is generally high, and substitutes may also
have other negative environmental consequences. [8]
Ecosystem degradation can rarely be reversed without actions that
address the negative effects or enhance the positive effects of one or
more of the five indirect drivers of change: population change
(including growth and migration), change in economic activity
(including economic growth, disparities in wealth, and trade patterns),
sociopolitical factors (including factors ranging from the presence of
conflict to public participation in decision-making), cultural factors,
and technological change. [4]
An effective set of responses to ensure the sustainable management of
ecosystems must address the indirect and drivers just described and
must overcome barriers related to [8]:
- Inappropriate institutional and governance arrangements,
including the presence of corruption and weak systems of regulation and
accountability.
- Market failures and the misalignment of economic incentives.
- Social and behavioral factors, including the lack of political
and economic power of some groups (such as poor people, women, and
indigenous peoples) that are particularly dependent on ecosystem
services or harmed by their degradation.
- Underinvestment in the development and diffusion of technologies
that could increase the efficiency of use of ecosystem services and
could reduce the harmful impacts of various drivers of ecosystem change.
- Insufficient knowledge (as well as the poor use of existing
knowledge) concerning ecosystem services and management, policy,
technological, behavioral, and institutional responses that could
enhance benefits from these services while conserving resources.
The MA assessed 74 response options for ecosystem services, integrated
ecosystem management, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,
and climate change.
Institutions and Governance
Changes in institutional and environmental governance frameworks are
sometimes required to create the enabling conditions for effective
management of ecosystems, while in other cases existing institutions
could meet these needs but face significant barriers. [8]
- Integration of ecosystem management goals within other sectors
and within broader development planning frameworks. The most important
public policy decisions affecting ecosystems are often made by agencies
and in policy arenas other than those charged with protecting
ecosystems. For example, the Poverty Reduction Strategies prepared by
developing-country governments for the World Bank and other
institutions strongly shape national development priorities, but in
general these have not taken into account the importance of ecosystems
to improving the basic human capabilities of the poorest.
- Increased coordination among multilateral environmental
agreements and between environmental agreements and other international
economic and social institutions. International agreements are
indispensable for addressing ecosystem-related concerns that span
national boundaries, but numerous obstacles weaken their current
effectiveness. Steps are now being taken to increase the coordination
among these mechanisms, and this could help to broaden the focus of the
array of instruments. However, coordination is also needed between the
multilateral environmental agreements and more politically powerful
international institutions,such as economic and trade agreements, to
ensure that they are not acting at cross-purposes. And implementation
of these agreements needs to be coordinated among relevant institutions
and sectors at the national level.
- Increased transparency and accountability of government and
private-sector performance on decisions that have an impact on
ecosystems, including through greater involvement of concerned
stakeholders in decision-making. Laws, policies, institutions, and
markets that have been shaped through public participation in
decision-making are more likely to be effective and perceived as just.
Stakeholder participation also contributes to the decisionmaking
process because it allows a better understanding of impacts and
vulnerability, the distribution of costs and benefits associated with
trade-offs, and the identification of a broader range of response
options that are available in a specific context. And stakeholder
involvement and transparency of decisionmaking can increase
accountability and reduce corruption.
Economics and Incentives
Economic and financial interventions provide powerful instruments to
regulate the use of ecosystem goods and services. [8]
- Elimination of subsidies that promote excessive use of
ecosystem
services (and, where possible, transfer of these subsidies to payments
for non-marketed ecosystem services).
- Greater use of economic instruments and market-basedapproaches in
the management of ecosystem services. These include:
- Taxes or user fees for activities with “external” costs
(tradeoffsnot accounted for in the market).
- Creation of markets, including through cap-and-trade systems.
- Payment for ecosystem services.
- Mechanisms to enable consumer preferences to be expressed through
markets.
Social and Behavioral Responses
Social and behavioral responses—including population policy, public
education, civil society actions, and empowerment of communities,
women, and youth—can be instrumental in responding to the problem of
ecosystem degradation. [8]
Promising interventions include:
- Measures to reduce aggregate consumption of unsustainably managed
ecosystem services.
- Communication and education. Improved communication and education
are essential to achieve the objectives of environmental conventions
and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation as well as the sustainable
management of natural resources more generally.
- Empowerment of groups particularly dependent on ecosystem
services or affected by their degradation, including women, indigenous
peoples, and young people. Despite women’s knowledge about the
environment and the potential they possess, their participation in
decision-making has often been restricted by economic,social, and
cultural structures. Young people are also key stakeholders in that
they will experience the longer-term consequences of decisions made
today concerning ecosystem services.
Technological Responses
Given the growing demands for ecosystem services and other increased
pressures on ecosystems, the development and diffusion of technologies
designed to increase the efficiency of resource use or reduce the
impacts of drivers such as climate change and nutrient loading are
essential. [8]
- Promotion of technologies that enable increased crop yields
without harmful impacts related to water, nutrient, and pesticide use.
- Restoration of ecosystem services.
- Promotion of technologies to increase energy efficiency and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Knowledge Responses
Effective management of ecosystems is constrained both by the lack of
knowledge and information about different aspects of ecosystems and by
the failure to use adequately the information that does exist in
support of management decisions. [8, 9]
- Incorporation of nonmarket values of ecosystems in resource
management and investment decisions.
- Use of all relevant forms of knowledge and information in
assessments and decision-making, including traditional and
practitioners’ knowledge.
- Enhancing and sustaining human and institutional capacity for
assessing the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and
acting on such assessments.
A variety of frameworks and methods can be used to make better
decisions in the face of uncertainties in data, prediction, context,
and scale. Active adaptive management can be a particularly valuable
tool for reducing uncertainty about ecosystem management decisions. [8]
Sufficient information exists concerning the drivers of change in
ecosystems, the consequences of changes in ecosystem services for human
well-being, and the merits of various response options to enhance
decision-making in support of sustainable development at all scales.
However, many research needs and information gaps were identified in
this assessment, and actions to address those needs could yield
substantial benefits in the form of improved information for policy and
action. [9]
View
Large
operations
note: place these documents in subdirectory ../mea.
Living Beyond Our Means: Natural Assets and Human
Well-being pdf, 5,493 KB
Statement from the Board
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000 in a report to the General
Assembly entitled We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the
21st Century. Initiated in 2001, the objective of the MA was to assess
the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the
scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and
sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human
well-being.
The MA has involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide.
Their findings on the condition and trends of ecosystems, scenarios for
the future, possible responses, and assessments at a sub-global level
are set out in technical chapters grouped around these four main
themes. In addition, a general Synthesis draws on these detailed
studies to answer a series of core questions posed at the start of the
MA. The practical needs of specific groups of users, including the
business community, are addressed in other synthesis reports.
Each part of the assessment has been scrutinized by governments,
independent scientists, and other experts to ensure the robustness of
its findings.
This statement is from the Board governing the MA process, whose
membership includes representatives from U.N. organizations,
governments through a number of international conventions,
nongovernmental organizations, academia, business, and indigenous
peoples. (For a full list of Board members, see the inside front cover.)
It is not intended as a comprehensive summary of the findings of the
MA, but rather as an interpretation of the key messages to emerge from
it. Written for a non-specialist readership, it is nevertheless
consistent with the more detailed documents of the assessment and can
be read in conjunction with them.
We believe that the wide range of global interests combining to issue
this statement, together with the rigorous study on which it is based,
should add power and urgency to the conclusions it sets out.
—The Board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Ecosystems & Human Well-being
Preface
Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for Assessment is the
first product of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a four-year
international work program designed to meet the needs of
decision-makers for scientific information on the links between
ecosystem change and human well-being. It was launched by United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 2001, and the principal
assessment reports will be released in 2005.
Summary
"Human well-being and progress toward sustainable development are
vitally dependent upon improving the management of Earth’s ecosystems
to ensure their conservation and sustainable use. But while demands for
ecosystem services such as food and clean water are growing, human
actions are at the same time diminishing the capability of many
ecosystems to meet these demands. Sound policy and management
interventions can often reverse ecosystem degradation and enhance the
contributions of ecosystems to human well-being, but knowing when and
how to intervene requires substantial understanding of both the
ecological and the social systems involved. Better information cannot
guarantee improved decisions, but it is a prerequisite for sound
decision-making.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) will help provide the
knowledge base for improved decisions and will build capacity for
analyzing and supplying this information. This document presents the
conceptual and methodological approach that the MA will use to assess
options that can enhance the contribution of ecosystems to human
well-being. This same approach should provide a suitable basis for
governments, the private sector, and civil society to factor
considerations of ecosystems and ecosystem services into their own
planning and actions."
An ecosystem assessment can aid any
country, region, or company by:
- deepening understanding of the
relationship and linkages between ecosystems and human well-being;
- demonstrating the potential of
ecosystems to contribute to poverty reduction and enhanced well-being;
- evaluating the compatibility
of policies established by institutions at different scales;
- integrating economic,
environmental, social, and cultural aspirations;
- integrating information from
both natural and social science;
- identifying and evaluating
policy and management options for sustaining ecosystem services and harmonizing them with human
needs; and
- facilitating integrated
ecosystem management.
A Framework for Assessment
Contents
(new
windows, pdf)
World
Water Assessment Program (WWAP)
MISSION STATEMENT
This UN-wide programme seeks to develop the tools and skills needed
to achieve a better understanding of those basic processes, management
practices and policies that will help improve the supply and quality of
global freshwater resources.
Our goals are to:
- assess the state of the world's freshwater resources and
ecosystems;
- identify critical issues and problems;
- develop indicators and measure progress towards achieving
sustainable use of water resources;
- help countries develop their own assessment capacity;
- document lessons learned and publish a World Water Development Report (WWDR) at regular
intervals.
The United Nations World Water Development Report
Quick
glance at Table of Contents (new window,
html, this site)
Preface
In the three years since the launch of the first World Water
Development Report at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto (March
2003), the world has witnessed considerable change. There have been
many instances of major water-related disasters: the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami; the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes in the Caribbean, the west
Pacific and the United States; the 2005 floods in central and eastern
Europe as well as in many other regions; and the extensive droughts in
Niger, Mali, Spain and Portugal. These are a constant reminder of both
the destructive power of water and the misery deriving from lack of it
in so many regions of the world.
These extreme events are the most prominent
illustrations of fundamental changes that are affecting water resources
worldwide. In many cases, this evolution is most probably linked to
slow but persistent changes in the global climate, a phenomenon
supported by a growing body of evidence. The combination of lower
precipitation and higher evaporation in many regions is diminishing
water quantities in rivers, lakes and groundwater storage, while
increased pollution is damaging ecosystems and the health, lives and
livelihoods of those without access to adequate, safe drinking water
and basic sanitation.
Major demographic changes are also seriously
affecting the quality and quantity of available freshwater on the
planet. While the more developed countries enjoy relatively stable
populations, the less-developed regions of the world are generally
experiencing rapid growth and population shifts, particularly in towns,
small cities and mega-cities. In many rapidly growing urban areas, it
is proving difficult to build the infrastructure necessary to deliver
water supply and sanitation facilities to service the population,
leading to poor health, low quality of life and, in many cases, to
social unrest. To the urban demands for water must be added the
increasing demands on water for food production, energy creation
and industrial uses.
Download the full Report
[PDF format - 15.8 MB]
Executive Summary
[PDF format - 2.63 MB]
Environment and Energy for Sustainable Development
Energy for Sustainable Development:
Overview
Energy is central to sustainable development and
poverty reduction efforts. It affects all aspects of development --
social, economic, and environmental -- including livelihoods, access to
water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels, education,
and gender-related issues. None of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) can be met without major improvement in the quality and quantity
of energy services in developing countries. UNDP's efforts in energy
for sustainable development support the achievement of the MDGs,
especially MDG 1, reducing by half the proportion of people living in
poverty by 2015. Through an integrated development approach, UNDP works
to help create enabling policy frameworks, develop local capacity and
provide knowledge-based advisory services for expanding access to
energy services for the poor.
World Energy Assessment: Energy and the Challenge of
Sustainability (new
window, 4.5MB, pdf)
Author: José Goldemberg (Editor), 2000
Title: World Energy Assessment: Energy and the
Challenge of Sustainability
Publisher: UNDP / UN-DESA / World Energy Council, 500
pages
Quick
glance at Table of Contents (new window,
html, this site)
UNDP’s flagship energy publication, this
publication provides the best current thinking on the social, economic,
environmental and security issues linked to energy, and the
compatibility of different energy options. It analyses how energy can
serve as an instrument to reach the goal of sustainable human
development, which has been committed by the United Nations and its
Member States. It describes the fundamental relationship between energy
and sustainable human development and shows how different approaches to
energy relates to other issues in the world, such as economic growth,
poverty alleviation, the situation of women, security and a wide range
of environmental issues from indoor air pollution to urban air
pollution, from acidification to climate change. It concludes that the
adoption of new policies that encourage the delivery of energy services
in cleaner and more efficient ways is a prerequisite to address current
development problems. The World Energy Assessment showed that by acting
now to embrace these policies, a more equitable, economically
prosperous, and environmentally sound world is within our reach.
Download of this publication by chapter is available at http://www.undp.org/energy/weapub2000.htm
Overview is available in all UN official languages (Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian, Spanish)
"In Agenda 21 the United Nations and its member states have strongly
endorsed the goal of sustainable development, which implies meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs (WCED, 1987, p. 8).3 The importance of
energy as a tool for meeting this goal was acknowledged at every major
United Nations conference in the 1990s, starting with the Rio Earth
Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) in 1992. But
current energy systems, as analysed in this report and summarised here,
are not addressing the basic needs of all people, and the continuation
of business-as-usual practices may compromise the prospects of future
generations.
Energy produced and used in ways that support human
development
over the long term, in all its social, economic, and environmental
dimensions, is what is meant in this report by the term sustainable energy.
In other words, this term does not refer simply to a continuing supply
of energy, but to the production and use of energy resources in ways
that promote—or at least are compatible with— long-term human
well-being and ecological balance.
Many current energy practices do not fit this
definition. As noted in
Agenda 21, “Much of the world’s energy…is currently produced and
consumed in ways that could not be sustained if technology were to
remain constant and if overall quantities were to increase
substantially” (UN, 1992, chapter 9.9). Energy’s link to global
warming through greenhouse gas emissions (most of which are produced by
fossil fuel consumption) was addressed by the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, adopted in 1992. And in 1997 a United
Nations General Assembly Special Session identified energy and
transport issues as being central to achieving a sustainable future,
and set key objectives in these areas.
The energy industry also recognises the need to
address energy
issues within a broad context. For example, the conclusions and
recommendations of the 17th Congress of the World Energy Council
discuss the need to provide commercial energy to those without it, and
to address energy-linked environmental impacts at all levels (WEC,
1998). Although there seem to be no physical limits to the world’s
energy supply for at least the next 50 years, today’s energy system is
unsustainable because of equity issues as well as environmental,
economic, and geopolitical concerns that have implications far into the
future. Aspects of the unsustainability of the current system include:
- Modern fuels and electricity are not universally accessible, an
inequity that has moral, political, and practical dimensions in a world
that is becoming increasingly interconnected.
- The current energy system is not sufficiently reliable or
affordable
to support widespread economic growth. The productivity of one-third of
the world’s people is compromised by lack of access to commercial
energy, and perhaps another third suffer economic hardship and
insecurity due to unreliable energy supplies.
- Negative local, regional, and global environmental impacts of
energy
production and use threaten the health and well-being of current and
future generations.
More specific—and more quantifiable—elements of
sustainability are
identified below in the section on energy scenarios. Before looking
into the future, however, some basic features of energy and its
relationship to economic development
are described, and the linkages between energy and major global
challenges are analysed."
See also
The Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral
forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and
debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. We
help developing countries and countries in transition modernize and
improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good
nutrition for all. Since our founding in 1945, we have focused special
attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world's
poor and hungry people. FAO's activities comprise four main areas:
FAO regularly disseminates, through its "State of ... " publications,
the most recent world-wide information and analyses on major topics of
its competence - food and agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture,
forests, food insecurity.
The State
of . . . .
World agriculture: towards 2015/2030 (new
window, website)
An FAO perspective, Jelle
Bruinsma, editor., Earthscan Pubs 2003
Quick
glance at Table of Contents (new window,
html, this site)
Introduction and overview (new
window, 151 KB, pdf)
1.1 Introduction
"This study is the latest forward assessment by FAO of possible
future developments in world food, nutrition and agriculture, including
the crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries sectors. It is the product
of a multidisciplinary exercise, involving most of the technical units
and disciplines present in FAO, as well as specialists from outside
FAO. It continues the tradition of FAO's periodical perspective studies
for global agriculture, the latest of which was published in 1995
(Alexandratos, 1995). Earlier editions were Alexandratos (1988), FAO
(1981a) and FAO (1970). An interim, less complete version of the
present study was published in April 2000. Comments received on the
interim report helped shape the study in its present form.
The projections were carried out in considerable detail, covering
about 140 countries and 32 crop and livestock commodities (see Appendix
1). For nearly all the developing countries, the main factors
contributing to the growth of agricultural production were identified
and analysed separately. Sources of productivity growth, such as higher
crop yields and livestock carcass weights, were distinguished from
other growth sources, such as the area of cultivated land and the sizes
of livestock herds. Special attention was given to land, which was
broken down into five classes for rainfed agriculture and a sixth for
irrigated agriculture. This level of detail proved both necessary and
advantageous in identifying the main issues likely to emerge for world
agriculture over the next 30 years. Specifically, it helped to spot
local production and resource constraints, to gauge country-specific
requirements for food imports and to assess progress and failure in the
fight against hunger and undernourishment. The high degree of detail
was also necessary for integrating the expertise of FAO specialists
from various disciplines, as the analysis drew heavily on the judgement
of in-house experts (see Appendix 2 for a summary account of the
methodology). Owing to space constraints however, the results are
mainly presented at the regional level and for selective alternative
country groups, which of course, masks wide intercountry differences."
The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (new
window, 7.714 MB, pdf)
Quick
glance at Table of Contents (new window,
html, this site)
The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000) was the most
comprehensive since FAO first reported on forest resources 50 years ago.
There are two possible approaches to a global
assessment of forest resources. One approach is to collect data at the
field level and to aggregate information upward to the country,
regional and global levels. The other approach is to look down from
above, either literally by using satellite remote sensing, or
figuratively through global studies. FRA 2000 was based on the
bottom-up approach, but supplemented by global level verification. The
backbone of FRA 2000 is the data, information and knowledge provided by
countries. However, because of inconsistencies in data quality and
availability, country information was verified and supplemented with
“top down” studies and remote sensing analysis using the latest
technology. Countries were then invited to review and comment on the
outcome of the combined global analysis. The result was a forest
assessment of unprecedented scope and participation.
Convention on Biological Diversity (new
window, website)
Biodiversity - The Web of Life
Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is the term given to the
variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. The
biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years of
evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly, by the
influence of humans. It forms the web of life of which we are an
integral part and upon which we so fully depend. This diversity is
often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and
microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been
identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon
that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates
range from 3 to 100 million.
Global
Biodiversity Assessment 2 (new
window, 8 MB, pdf)
Quick
glance at Table of Contents (new window,
html, this site)
"In 2002, the Conference of the Parties of the Convention adopted a
Strategic Plan, with the mission “to achieve, by 2010, a significant
reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global,
regional and national level, as a contribution to poverty alleviation
and to the benefit of all life on Earth”. Th is 2010 target was
subsequently endorsed by the Heads of State and Government at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Recently, world leaders meeting at the 2005 World Summit of the United
Nations reiterated their commitment to meeting the 2010 target.
In order to assess progress towards the 2010
Biodiversity Target, the
Conference of the Parties has established supporting goals and targets
and identified indicators for evaluating biodiversity status and
trends. The second edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook makes use
of these indicators and targets to describe current trends in
biodiversity and prospects for achieving the 2010 target."
FIG.
4.4 Outcomes for hunger
reduction and biodiversity loss under the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment scenarios
Hunger reduction is shown as
reduction in the number of malnourished
children (0-5 years) in developing countries, by 2050 as compared to
2000.
Biodiversity loss is shown as the eventual loss of
vascular plant
species on land, due to land-use change (dark part of bars) and to the
combined effects of land-use change, climate change and nitrogen
deposition (total bars) by 2050, as compared to 1970.
Projections are for each of the four
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
scenarios, namely “Global Orchestration”, “Order from Strength”,
“Adapting Mosaic” and “Techno-Garden” . The first two have a reactive
approach to environmental issues, but differ in that the world
represented by the “Order from strength” scenario is regionalized and
fragmented, emphasizing security and protection, whereas the world
under the “Global orchestration” scenario has moved towards increased
global cooperation. The remaining two scenarios feature proactive
approaches, and also differ from one another in taking a regional
versus a global approach. The world represented by the “Techno-Garden”
scenario is globally connected and the environment is highly managed,
whereas under the “Adapting Mosaic” scenario, society emphasizes
ecosystem management strategies and institutions on a local scale.
Note that there is no simple relationship between
hunger reduction and
biodiversity loss. The scenario “Order from strength” features poor
outcomes for both hunger reduction and biodiversity conservation.
However, the other three scenarios show an inverse relationship between
the two goals. |
|