'State Of The Planet' Report Depicts Grim Future If We Are Unwilling To Change
Forbes
By David Bressan
Mar 22, 2021,07:34am EST
Science
Human actions are threatening the resilience and stability of Earth's biosphere. This has profound implications for the development of civilization, say an international group of researchers in a report published for the first Nobel Prize Summit, a digital gathering to be held in April to discuss the state of the planet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel will discuss two urgent questions: What can we learn from the global pandemic to reduce risk of future shocks? And what can be achieved in this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all of humanity?
... In a single human lifetime, largely since the 1950s, we have grossly simplified the biosphere, a system of interactions between lifeforms and Earth that has evolved over 3.8 billion years. Now, just a few plants and animals dominate the land and oceans," says lead author Carl Folke, director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and chair of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. "Our actions are making the biosphere more fragile, less resilient and more prone to shocks than before. Humanity must become effective planetary stewards. About 96% of all mammals by weight are us and our livestock, like cattle, sheep and pigs. Just 4% are wild mammals like elephants, buffalo or dolphins."
The report summarizes recent research on the scale of human activity: "Seventy-five percent of Earth's ice-free land is directly altered as a result of human activity, with nearly 90% of terrestrial net primary production and 80% of global tree cover under direct human influence."
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2021/03/22/state-of-the-planet-report-depicts-grim-future-if-we-are-unwilling-to-change/?sh=ca35d1b6ea6a
