Scientists urge Rio moves on population and consumption
More than 100 science academies around the world have called on world
leaders to take action on population and consumption at the Rio+20
summit. They say past failures on these issues threaten the natural
world and prospects for future generations.
The science academies include the UK's Royal Society as well as its
peers in countries at all stages of development. Preparatory talks for
next week's summit have opened but sources report slow progress on
unresolved issues.
The science academies’ public declaration is particularly notable as
experts in both developed and developing countries have joined forces on
what used to be a divisive topic.
“The overall message is that we need a renewed focus on both
population and consumption - it's not enough to look at one or the
other,” said Prof Charles Godray from the Martin School at the
University of Oxford, who chaired the process of writing the
declaration.
“We need to look at both, because together they determine the
footprint on the world.”
The footprint is getting heavier and heavier, the academies warn.
The developed world is mainly responsible for the world's record
consumption levels, the scientists say “The global population is
currently around seven billion, and most projections suggest that it
will probably lie between eight and 11 billion by 2050,” their
declaration says. “Global consumption levels are at an all time high,
largely because of the high per-capita consumption of developed
countries.”
If the billion poorest people are to have adequate access to food,
water and energy, the academies say, developed countries will have to
reduce their own consumption of natural resources. They say this can be
done without reducing prosperity so long as different economic models
are followed.
Failing to make these changes “will put us on track to alternative
futures with severe and potentially catastrophic implications for human
well-being”.
The declaration builds on a recent report from the Royal Society. The
topics of population and consumption are both mentioned in the draft
agreement that negotiators are discussing in Rio. But both crop up in a
far weaker form than many observers would like.
As of now, governments are set to agree to “commit to systematically
consider population trends and projections in our national, rural and
urban development strategies and policies”.
But the clause in the draft agreement pledging to “change
unsustainable consumption and production patterns” is so far being
vetoed by the US and the EU.
The new report is an indication of how things have changed on the
population question.
In decades gone by, developing nations tended to see the issue as a
ploy by rich countries to avoid talking about unsustainable consumption.
But Eliya Zulu, executive director of the African Institute for
Development Policy in Nairobi who worked on the recent Royal Society
report, said perceptions were changing.
“Many African countries are feeling the effects of population growth,
and are finding they'll need to deal with it in order to continue
developing as well as to address their environmental issues,” he told
BBC News.
“If you look at a country like Rwanda, it's one of the most densely
populated in Africa and the government believes one of the reasons
behind the genocide was high population density and competition for
resources.
Courtesy: BBC NEWS
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