The pace at which humans used the planet’s resources during the past 20 years may pose a serious threat to the very survival of the humanity, an United Nations report put up by 400 experts reads, as quoted by the electronic edition of Times on Friday.
According to the study, each person currently consumes three times more than the planet can offer. Experts say that each individual needs 21.9 hectares of terrain to support his needs, while the Earth’s capacity is only 15.7 hectares / person.
One of the reasons is that the entire population grew 34% during the past 20 years, from 5 to 6.7 billion people.
Meanwhile, 30% of the amphibians, 23% of the mammals and 12% of the birds face extinction and one in each 10 large rivers on the planet dries out every year.
Other figures quoted by timesonline.co.uk are:
- 73,000km2 of forest is lost across the world each year - 3.5 times the size of Wales
- 75,000 people a year are killed by natural disasters
- Three million die of water-related diseases
- Ten million children under 10 die
- Farmers produce 39% more from their land than in the 1980s
- 60 per cent of the world’s major rivers have been dammed or diverted
- Populations of freshwater fish have declined by 50 per cent in 20 years
- More than half of all cities exceed WHO pollution guidelines
