mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-18 20:24:24 -05:00
144 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
144 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
The information in this file was taken from the compilation of
|
|
data presented in GAIA: An Atlas of Planet Management, edited by
|
|
Norman Myers, (London, Anchor Press, 1984)(New York: Doubleday
|
|
1987).
|
|
FOR THE RECORD
|
|
|
|
The Disappearing Soil:
|
|
|
|
The total land area on the globe is 13 billion hectares,
|
|
11% is arable land and 24% potentially arable. Each year about
|
|
11 million hectares are lost through erosion, becoming desert,
|
|
becoming toxic, and cropland conversion to non-agricultural uses.
|
|
We stand to lose 18% of the world's arable land by the year 2000.
|
|
Between 1945 and 1975 about 30 million hectares of land in the
|
|
U.S. were lost under concrete and asphalt - half was arable land.
|
|
|
|
The Disappearing Fauna:
|
|
|
|
Well over 90% of all species that have ever lived have
|
|
disappeared. About one species a year was lost in the early
|
|
20th. century. Some biologists argue that it is now higher than
|
|
one species a day.
|
|
|
|
The Disappearing Flora:
|
|
|
|
Botanists estimate that there are some 25,000 species
|
|
currently threatened with extinction. Africa's Cape region
|
|
contains one of the six most significant concentrations of flora
|
|
on Earth, including 68% of South Africa's 2,373 endangered
|
|
plants. Modern plant breeding has emphasized inbred, uniform
|
|
strains. Plant diseases and pest infestations can devastate
|
|
modern breeds. Only four varieties produce 75% of the wheat
|
|
grown on Canada's prairieland. Half of this land is covered by
|
|
just one variety, Neepawa.
|
|
|
|
Loss of Green Cover:
|
|
|
|
By 1975, the area covered by tropical forest was 12%. By
|
|
the year 2000 tropical forests may cover only 7% of the land.
|
|
This decline contrasts markedly with temperate forests whose area
|
|
remains constant around 20% thanks to reforestation.
|
|
|
|
Sharing the Earth's Resources:
|
|
|
|
The U.S., with just 6% of the population, uses 30% of all
|
|
energy produced--a stark contrast to India whose 20% of global
|
|
population uses only 2% of the energy. To sustain a reasonable
|
|
quality of life requires about 80 litres of water per person per
|
|
day. But the average consumption ranges from 5.4 litres a day in
|
|
Madagascar (barely enough to survive) to 500 litres a day in the
|
|
U.S. During the decade 1970-80, the numbers of rural people
|
|
without clean water increased by 67 million to 1.15 billion,
|
|
while those without proper sanitation rose by 300 million to
|
|
almost 1.4 billion. Numbers lacking sanitation in Third World
|
|
cities doubled during the period 1975-80.
|
|
|
|
Recycling Our Resources:
|
|
|
|
Recycling half of the world's paper consumption would meet
|
|
almost 75% of new paper demand, and would release 8 million
|
|
hectares of forest from paper production. Fibre-rich countries,
|
|
such as Canada and Sweden, are not in the front ranks of paper
|
|
recyclers. The energy required to produce one tonne of secondary
|
|
aluminum from scrap is only 5% of the energy used to extract and
|
|
process primary metal from ore.
|
|
|
|
Industrial Damage:
|
|
|
|
Each year 450,000 tonnes of lead are released into the
|
|
air by humans, compared with 3,500 tonnes from natural sources.
|
|
Acid rain ranks among the most serious threats to the environment
|
|
in the northern hemisphere.. heavily industrialized areas pump
|
|
some 90 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the air each year.
|
|
Although DDT was prohibited for use within the U.S. as long ago
|
|
as 1972, the U.S. still manufactures over 18 million kilogrammes
|
|
a year for export, largely to the Third World.
|
|
|
|
Promising Beginnings:
|
|
|
|
Third UN Conference on Law of the Sea 1973-82
|
|
|
|
UNCLOS III, for the first time, unites the Law of the Sea
|
|
into one "written constitution". Under UNCLOS III, the
|
|
traditional "Freedom of the Seas" remain for 60% of the ocean,
|
|
but 42% of this, the deep sea beds area, is designated the common
|
|
heritage of mankind, and will be controlled by an international
|
|
Seabed Authority.
|
|
|
|
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
|
|
|
|
Signed by over 80 countries since 1973, CITES prohibits
|
|
international commercial trade in the rarest 600 or so species of
|
|
animals and plants, and requires licences from the country of
|
|
origin for exports of about another 200 groups. (Illicit trade
|
|
continues to undermine the impact of the Convention.)
|
|
|
|
World Conservation Strategy
|
|
|
|
Launched in 1980, backed by IUCN,WWF, UNEP, FAO and
|
|
UNESCO, and cross-checked by 400 scientists it presents a single,
|
|
integrated approach to global problems. About 30 countries have
|
|
translated the global strategy into national action.
|
|
|
|
The Regional Seas Programme
|
|
|
|
The Regional Seas Programme, launched by the United
|
|
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1974, is promoting
|
|
regional management of 11 regional seas.
|
|
|
|
The Barcelona Convention
|
|
|
|
In 1976, seventeen Mediterranean countries signed the
|
|
Barcelona Convention for concerted action to clean up the
|
|
Mediterranean. Under the convention mercury, cadmium and DDT are
|
|
completely banned.
|
|
|
|
Biological Control
|
|
|
|
China's Big Sand Commune raises 220,000 ducks to control
|
|
insect pests in fields of young rice. Ducklings consume about 200
|
|
insects per hour and cut the use of chemical insecticides from
|
|
770,000 kg in 1973 to 6,700 kg in 1975. Imported parasitic
|
|
insects have saved the Florida citrus industry $35,000,000 a year
|
|
in pesticides, following an outlay of $35,000.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
|
|
Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
|
|
|
|
& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
|
|
Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
|
|
realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
|
|
Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
|
|
The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
|
|
The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
|
|
Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
|
|
|
|
"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
|
|
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
|