The
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MA) is the most comprehensive assessment
on the links between ecosystem health
and human well-being ever undertaken.
Called for in 2000 by United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and
funded in part by the UN Foundation,
the five-year, landmark report on
the state of the world’s ecosystems
was released on March 30, 2005.
The report
concludes that humans have changed
the ecosystems more rapidly and
more extensively over the last 50
years than during any other period.
The conclusions of the MA provide
a stark warning about the ways in
which human behavior frequently
has had disastrous effects on the
ability of ecosystems to provide
essential services to people around
the world. The four main findings
of the MA are:
Ecosystems
have been changed more rapidly
and extensively by humans in
the last 50 years than in any
other period to meet rapidly
growing demands for food, fresh
water, timber, fiber, and fuel.
Ecosystem
changes have provided substantial
benefits for humans (e.g., more
land is farmed), but these gains
have resulted in the degradation
and unsustainable use of ecosystems
(60 percent are being degraded
or used unsustainably, including
fisheries, water supply, waste
treatment, water purification).
Ecosystem
degradation will worsen significantly
over the next 50 years, undermining
if not reversing efforts to
end poverty.
Effective
responses lie within our power
to if significant changes are
made in policy and institutions.
Protecting forests, for example,
conserves wildlife but also
supplies fresh water and reduces
carbon emissions.
The report
also highlights sensible, effective
guidelines for decision-makers in
the public, private, civil society
and international sectors to mitigate
these changes and ensure the sustainability
and productivity of ecosystem services
for human health, food production,
energy, and other benefits. According
to a statement released by the MA
board, “protecting and improving
our future well-being requires wiser
and less destructive use of natural
assets…. We must learn to
recognize the true value of nature
– both in an economic sense
and in the richness it provides
to our lives in ways much more difficult
to put numbers on.”
Timothy E.
Wirth, President of the UN Foundation,
added, “We can take steps
at home to reduce our nation’s
adverse impact on the global environment.
We can encourage businesses to realize
the opportunities to save ecosystems.
We can work with the United Nations
and others to develop an effective
set of responses to ensure sustainable
management of ecosystems. We can
provide capital and share our knowledge,
thereby addressing two key barriers
to reversing ecosystem degradation.”
More than
1350 scientists from 95 countries
contributed to the ten reports,
which also underwent an exhaustive
peer review process through a broad
partnership of U.N. agencies, international
scientific organizations, and development
agencies, with guidance from private
and public sectors.
For more
information about the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, or to access
the library of reports and resources,
visit: http://www.maweb.org
or navigate the resources to the
right.
