The Global Environment Outlook

So it takes a 'conservative' report for some broadsheets to sit up and take notice that we are living beyond our means and that Planet Earth can't handle it for much longer (what's it going to take for the trashy tabloids, presumably when they start taking statistics on the erosion of soap stars or 'celebrities'). The report in question is the Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development (GEO 4) produced by a team of 400 researchers and pulled together by the United Nations Environment Programme.

'The speed at which mankind has used the Earth’s resources over the past 20
years has put “humanity’s very survival” at risk, a study involving 1,400
scientists has concluded.'

Such doom and gloom has certainly made The Times Science Correspondent, Mark Henderson, sit up and take notice. Mr Henderson is slightly dismissive of earlier 'ten a penny doom-mongering documents' preferring the more rigorous, multi-authored approach of the UN. Maybe the likes of Greenpeace were just quicker to the chase and this UNEP report just confirms what many of these 'ten a penny' reports have been saying all along anyway. The Times reports

'researchers said agriculture depended on biodiversity but was the biggest cause
of reduced genetic diversity, species loss and habitat loss. Scientists
expressed concern for the future security of the supply of food because of the
narrow genetic base for agriculture. Just 14 animal species account for 90 per
cent of all livestock production, and 30 crops dominate global agriculture,
providing an estimated 90 per cent of the world’s calories.'

There is much to read and digest here.