Researchers calculate the effects of the global destruction of the environment
The increasing environmental pollution, according to a UN study, one-quarter of diseases worldwide, and shortens the lives of millions of people. The Belief in constant economic growth going rates in the face of future death, lost Working days and health costs is pointless, warn the researchers.
“Either we improve the protection of the environment drastically, or millions of people will die in cities and regions in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa until the middle of the century in advance”, – stated in the study.
For the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) had some 250 scientists from 70 countries over six years, and to the influences of data on the impact of the environment, as well as the development of more than a hundred diseases evaluated. The report claims to be the most detailed environmental study by the United Nations in the past five years. He has been published in the framework of the UN conference on the environment, which takes place until Friday in Nairobi.
Deforestation, chemicals, contaminated water
Air and water pollution and the progressive destruction of Ecosystems, endangered and adversely affected the habitat of billion people and the world have caused injury to the economy massively, the report says.
As contaminated drinking water and poor sanitation annually caused the death of around 1.4 million people. In water-driven chemical cross-generational health consequences of waste. The destruction of soil by industrial agriculture and deforestation concerns already regions where 3.2 billion people live.
In addition, the scientists also point to the fatal consequences of the massive use of antibiotics in food production. Until the middle of the century, resulting in drug resistance could lead to Super-bacteria spread, against many antibiotics can’t do anything.
“It is urgent Action on an unprecedented scale is necessary to stop the Situation and to reverse”, the researchers write. They are calling for an international Treaty for the protection of the environment. The consequences of environmental destruction such as deforestation, air pollution and industrial food production, however, up to now hardly foreseeable, it is called in the GEO report.
“Healthy Planet is not measured in GDP”
Without a fundamental realignment of the world economy on a more sustainable production of Faith is to point to a steady growth of the global gross domestic product (GDP), no sense, warn the experts. A “healthy Planet” was not only the “world GDP”, but also support the Poorest, who are as dependent on clean air and clean water, said GEO Ko-Boss Joyeeta Gupta.
But the situation is not hopeless, the scientists write. So, for example in the food waste, effective counter-measures possible. Food waste has a share of nine per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, a third of all the food landed in the world in the trash, in the richer countries, the rate was 56 percent. These problems could be limited by avoiding waste and avoiding meat consumption relatively quickly.