Earths Ecosystem in Danger :: essays research papers

The train, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to warm water, in the past 50 years."At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment."Human activity is pose such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planets ecosystems to deliver future generations can no longer be taken for granted," it said. decennium to 30 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened with extinction, consort to the assessment, the biggest review of the planets life support systems."Over the past 50 years, valet de chambre have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any like time in human history, generally to meet rapidly outgrowth demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel," the report said." This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on earth," it added. to a greater extent land was changed to cropland since 1945, for instance, than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined.Getting worse"The offensive consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years," it said. The report was compiled by experts, including from U.N. agencies and international scientific and development organizations.U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the study "shows how human activities are causing environmental damage on a massive scale throughout the world, and how biodiversity -- the very basis for life on earth -- is declining at an alarming rate."The report said there was turn up that strains on nature could trigger abrupt changes like the collapse of re constitute in fisheries off Newfoundland in Canada in 1992 after years of over-fishing.Future changes could bring sudden outbreaks of disea se. Warming of the Great Lakes in Africa due to climate change, for instance, could fabricate conditions for a spread of cholera.And a build-up of nitrogen from fertilizers washed off tilled land into seas could spur abrupt blooms of algae that choke fish or create oxygen-depleted "dead zones" along coasts.It said deforestation often led to slight rainfall. And at some point, lack of rain could suddenly undermine emergence conditions for re principal(prenominal)ing forests in a region.The report said that in carbon years, global warming widely blamed on burning of dodo fuels in cars, factories and power plants, might take over as the main source of damage.