A PLANET IN PERIL

It is generally acknowledged that in the World today
there are potentially calamitous problems relating to
environmental destruction, resource depletion, global
warming and over population. The natural resources of
this planet, its forests, fisheries and crop lands are
already being used at such a rate that is unsustainable.
We are already using the planets renewable resources
faster than what the planet can replenish. This trend is
related to the ongoing and accelerating process of
species extinction and the destruction of natural
habitats such as the tropical rainforests, whole ocean
ecosystems, rivers and coastal wetlands. This gradual
destruction of the earths biosphere, its animal and plant
species together with their complex webs of self
sustenance, is certainly set to continue as human
population growth and increased economic activity
imposes more pressures on the planetary ecosystem.
The worlds population at an estimated 7 billion people
today, is projected to grow to over 10 billion people as
early as 2050. This is coupled with massive growth in
economic activity lead by the surging economies of
China and India and further boosted by economic
growth in the rest of the World as well. If the Planet is
already struggling to cope with the demands placed
upon it by the human race currently, when we also
factor in these other considerations, then certainly we
are heading for some interesting times. The United
Nations Environment Programme and the World Wildlife
Fund for Nature issued a joint report in 2000 that said,
'The World's seas, fresh waters, forests and croplands
are being exploited at such a rate that nothing will be
left by 2075'. Also food shortages and food price hikes
that were experienced by the World in 2008 may be the
shape of things to come.