We were delighted by the clear consensus that emerged at the end of the Iceland conference, that population size and growth is one of the major factors in assessing the sustainability of economies and societies, which should be taken into account. As an aid to doing so, we attach the current Overshoot Index. This is a simple extrapolation for population size from the data of the (Kenneth Boulding Award-winning) Global Footprint Network. No-one, of course, claims that the figures are precise. Indeed, by omitting non-renewables and biodiversity, they may overstate sustainable populations. But as a rough guide to orders of magnitude, not least of the scale of the overshoot problem, we believe they could be of use to ISEE members.
Signed: Blake Alcott; Carter Dillard; Sigrun Maria Kristinsdottir; Karin Limburg; Roger Martin; Luke O’Brien; Maria Ibbarola Rivas.
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Mankind chomping through Nature's bounty
Australia's ecological footprint is the 13th-largest in the world - and is likely to get bigger following the repeal of the carbon tax, conservation group WWF has warned.
WWF's Living Planet Report found the demands placed on the planet are more than 50 per cent what nature can sustain. The introduction of a price on carbon was the likely cause of our country's improved ranking, but the repeal of the two-year-old carbon price scheme in July would likely see Australia go backwards in future rankings.
The new report tracks the growth or decline of more than 10,000 populations of 3038 species ranging from forest elephants to sharks, turtles and albatrosses. Humans were consuming natural resources at a rate that would require 1.5 Earths to sustain – cutting down trees faster than they mature and harvesting more fish than oceans can replace.
The report found that if the rest of the world lived like Australians, 3.6 planet's worth of natural resources would be needed to sustain the demands placed on nature. We are in serious ecological overshoot, and our growth and living standards can't be sustained, but this report simply is incomprehensible to our leaders, and general public, and business continues as usual!
Freshwater species, which have suffered a 76 per cent decline since 1970 - double that of land and marine animals. Small mammals in Australia such as bilbies, bettongs and bandicoots, which are battling predation from introduced species such as cats and foxes.
Global biodiversity suffers as humanity lives beyond its means (30/9/11) at http://www.theage.com.au/environment/global-biodiversity-suffers-as-humanity-lives-beyond-its-means-20140929-10nl6b.html
The WWF report says it expects the world’s population to exceed 9.5-billion by 2050, and half of all future population growth is expected to occur in just eight countries, six of which are in Africa.
In just 40 years as Earth's human population has nearly doubled, while there was a 39-percent drop in numbers across a representative sample of land- and sea-dwelling species. Mankind was chomping through Nature's bounty much faster than the rate of replenishment, the WWF warned.
Read more: at Startling New Evidence Confirms That Humans Are Devastating Wildlife Across The Globe http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wildlife-numbers-halved-over-past-four-decades-wwf-2014-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wildlife-numbers-halved-over-past-four-decades-wwf-2014-9#ixzz3EwMQraeD