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Rendezvous
with Planet Earth
BY
RAMESH JAURA
BERLIN
(IDN) - 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. And we all have
a rendezvous with Planet Earth this year. In order that as many of us as
possible feel encouraged to make it to the venue at the right point in
time, the United Nations has launched some of the most innovative
initiatives.
It is gathering facts and figures to underscore what 'Mother Earth' is
worth to its inhabitants, particularly us -- the homo sapiens. 'The
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)', hosted by the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP), and a myriad of other reports and
initiatives are under way to provide a glimpse of the value of the
Earth's natural assets and their role in development.
UNEP's new report -- 'Dead planet, living planet: Biodiversity and
ecosystem restoration for sustainable development' -- says that
ecosystems are estimated to deliver essential services worth between $21
trillion and up to $72 trillion a year, comparable to World Gross
National Income in 2008 of $58 trillion.
Wetlands, half of which have been drained over the past century often
for agriculture, provide annual services of near $7 trillion.
Forested wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and have up
to 22 fold higher cost-benefit ratios than traditional sand filtration
in treatment plants.
Coastal wetlands in the United States, which among other services
provide storm protection, have been valued at $23 billion annually.
GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY OUTLOOK
Another report, the third Global Biodiversity Outlook, was presented at
the UN headquarters in New York in May this year. Explaining the main
thrust of the study, a senior UN development official warned that,
without swift action and renewed political will, current
"alarming" biodiversity declines would continue, and some
life-giving ocean and rainforest ecosystems would spiral towards
collapse, threatening sustainable development and human well-being.
"The projections are dire," Delfin Ganapin, Global Manager of
the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme, said on
May 10 at a press conference on the results of the GBO-3, which was also
launched in a number of other cities around the world, including
Alexandria, Bonn, Brasilia, Chamonix, London, Manama, Montreal, Nairobi,
Panama and Tokyo.
Ganapin informed that the Outlook, based on more than 110 national
reports submitted by governments to the Secretariat of the United
Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and compiled in close
cooperation with the UN Environment Programme, is advising humankind to
halt a "massive" biodiversity loss with consequences that
would be much worse than previously thought.
NEW GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOR BIODIVERSITY
In yet another attempt to lure the inhabitants of Planet Earth to the
rendezvous, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on July 8 appointed
acclaimed actor and conservation activist Edward Norton as United
Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. Norton said the issues of
community development and conservation were close to his heart, and he
hoped to channel the attention he receives for his work in Hollywood
towards raising awareness of the UN's ideals and activities.
"I think that (Goodwill) Ambassadors in many ways can play a role
in highlighting the models of success that the UN is promoting around
the world," he said.
We have it from the UN that Norton's family has long been involved in
sustainable development issues: his father is a conservation advocate
and his maternal grandparents founded an organization to help provide
affordable housing in the United States.
For his part, the new Goodwill Ambassador is very active in garnering
support for conservation efforts, serving as a board member of the
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and taking part in launching an
innovative social networking platform called Crowdrise to boost
participation in charitable work.
Last year, Norton ran in the New York City Marathon, helping to raise
more than $1 million for local communities in Kenya. In his new role,
Norton has vowed to work with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
to put a spotlight on the "crisis of biodiversity" and ensure
that world leaders take appropriate measures to protect the environment.
One of his top priorities as Goodwill Ambassador will be to increase
"people's focus on the fact that human well-being is intertwined
fundamentally with biodiversity". It is vital that "people
realize that they are not separate from the web of life", he added.
"Our ability to thrive as a species and as a civilization totally
depends on that web of life."
Norton's appointment comes as the heads of government and State are set
to discuss the issue (of biodiversity) at a high-level meeting at UN
Headquarters in New York at the start of the General Assembly’s 65th
annual General Debate in September.
UNDER-REPORTED
However, those involved in the daily business of driving home the
significance of Planet Earth for the very survival of humankind are
rather sceptical that we will be there in time for the rendezvous.
United Nations' top climate change official, Yvo der Boer, sounded far
from optimistic in his farewell address in Bonn before leaving his job
beginning of this month (July). "One major aspect of the climate
change story that is perhaps under-reported is that of the green growth
opportunities," he said.
Many, perhaps all, countries fear in one way or another that climate
change action will constrain their economic growth. For policy makers in
the industrialised world, the prime concern is whether jobs and a stable
society will still be there in the future. For policy makers in the
developing world, the primary concerns are economic growth and poverty
alleviation.
However in 2009, recalled de Boer, the International Energy Agency found
that the economic crisis has created a unique window of opportunity to
shift the world’s energy sector onto a 450 ppm CO2 equivalent
scenario, which gives us a 50 percent chance of keeping the global
temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
Many investments in the energy sector have been postponed as a result of
the crisis. In 2008 and 2009, this also hit investments in renewable
energies. But to a larger extent, it has affected investments in
unsustainable technologies, which would have locked emission intensive
technologies into energy sectors for the next 20 or 30 years to come.
He added: "As economic growth picks up again, it is critical to
direct new investments into low emissions infrastructure."
This is indeed a chance the world cannot afford to miss. Nations can now
seize the opportunity of greening economic growth through an effective
UN climate change regime which can help mobilize significant amounts of
capital towards green technology.
They can contribute to preserving soil's biodiversity that, as Luc
Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of UN Convention to Combat Desertification
pointed out recently, is worth trillions of dollars.
There is obviously an enormous lot of trillions Planet Earth holds out
for us: in terms of biodiversity of all kinds, including soil, green
energy and green technologies before humankind evaporates as a result of
global warming.
[Source:
IDN-InDepthNews
| Analysis That Matters]
_____________
Ramesh
Jaura is chief editor of
IDN-InDepthNews
and GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES that belong to the GLOBALOM MEDIA group.
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