Mankind will need two planets to support life by 2030, say scientists

MANKIND will need two planets to produce enough food, materials and water to sustain itself by 2030 if exploitation of the land and oceans continues at the present rate, scientists have warned.

As delegates prepare to meet in Japan next Monday to agree to new targets to halt the loss of wildlife species worldwide, a report has found that mankind is plundering the earth's natural resources at 1.5 times the rate it can replace them.

The Living Planet Report, released every two years by the Zoological Society of London and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said demand on natural resources has doubled since 1966.
Delegates from 190 countries are due to meet in Nagoya, Japan on Monday for two weeks to set new targets to stop the rapid loss of species and habitats around the world.

The authors of the report studied 8000 populations of 2500 species and measured changes in land use and water consumption across the world.

They found that species in temperate regions were in a healthier state than at any time in the past 40 years.
However in the tropics the living planet index, a measure of the healthiness of a particular environment, fell by 60 percent since the 1960s.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-U.K. said: "We need a new green economy which assigns genuine value to the benefits we get from nature: biodiversity, the natural systems which provide goods and services like water, and ultimately our own wellbeing."


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/mankind-will-need-two-planets-to-support-life-by-2030-say-scientists/story-e6frfku0-1225938923345#ixzz12LNwE6iR