Living Planet Report 2018

Healthy Planet offers a clear and concise overview of the global ecological crisis that humanity has brought upon itself, and what options we still have to save a benevolent climate, to restore biodiversity, reduce pollution, and heal the ecosphere of this planet, including ourselves. Since well before the Covid-19 crisis the United Nations have been emphasizing that only a healthy planet can support healthy people. The degradation and pollution of nature also poisons our own bodies. Climate breakdown and the global loss of biodiversity also threaten the human species. But what is a "healthy planet"? How does it work, how much do we disrupt the planet’s life support systems, and what changes are overdue? We have all the necessary means at our disposal, though just patching up the worst symptoms won’t do anymore, we have to address the underlying causes, including our habits, values, and paradigms. We are at a crucial crossroads, and time is running short. If we act fast enough, a dignified and truly sustainable healthy future awaits.

This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.

This book applies system theory to analyze the operation and structure of the complex earth surface system, including the interactions between society and nature that cause environmental degradation and threats to human populations. The possible ways to harmonize the operation of a global society as a complex system using the United Nation sustainable development goals are investigated, as well as the major efforts currently implemented to achieve this objective and why many are unsuccessful. Readers will learn this material through case studies that assess the essential conditions required to occupy a planet sustainably, and examine the complex interactions between society and nature in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and outer layers of the lithosphere. The book is written for undergraduate students in geography, earth sciences, environmental sciences, and ecology, and will also appeal to environmental agency employees, nature protection representatives, teachers, and researchers.

The book addresses the gaps in the body of knowledge from two grounds. Firstly, it adds value through explaining the dynamics of natural resource governance by focusing on the particular arenas of biodiversity resources, water resources and climate change in developing country context. Secondly, it critically scrutinizes the market-centric perspectives on one hand and combines political economy questions that are generally overlooked in discussions of current resource governance framework, on the other. It develops a new framework to examine the reasons behind the degradations of natural resources to offer sustainable solutions to the problems. It shows that the natural resources have been exploited beyond sustainable limits due to the structural rigidities, embedded in, and reproduced by, fragile institutions and unequal power-sharing arrangements under the market-centric economic system. The book formulates a new understanding of sustainability in case of usage and management of natural resources by incorporating the idea of human sociality. It highlights the importance of the well-being of nature, and human beings must go side by side; one without the other is not a sustainable option. The book contains key learnings for scholars and researchers working in the field of development studies who wish to gain a deeper understanding on the sustainable natural resource governance specifically in the contexts of developing countries. For policymakers and policy advocates, the book serves as the groundwork on policies regarding biodiversity resources, water resources, and climate change, specific to the context of developing countries, providing more relevant contents in terms of laying out justification for policy objectives.

This book addresses the crucial question of how the essential needs of the growing human population can be met without breaking the Earth's already-stretched life-support system. With four out of five people predicted to be urban dwellers by 2080, ‘One Planet’ Cities proposes a pathway to genuine sustainability for cities and neighbourhoods, using an approach based on contraction and convergence. Utilising interviews with key players, including the Global Footprint Network, World Future Council, WWF, mayors and government officials, and case studies from across the globe, including Europe, North and South America, Australia, South Africa, China and India, David Thorpe examines all aspects of modern society from food provision to neighbourhood design, via industry, the circular economy, energy and transport through the critical lens of the ecological footprint and relevant supporting international standards and indicators. Recommendations on managing supply chains and impacts, how the transition to a world within limits might be financed, and a deep examination of the Welsh Government's pioneering efforts follow. It concludes with an imagined vision of what a genuinely sustainable future might be like, and an appeal for 'one planeteers' everywhere to step up to the challenge. This book will be of great interest to practitioners and policymakers involved in governance, administration, urban environments and sustainability, alongside students of the built environment, urban planning, environmental policy and energy.

"The Atlas describes soil as habitat for the diversity of organisms that live under our feet. At the same time, it draws attention to the threats to soil biodiversity, such as invasive species, pollution, intensive land use practices or climate change. The Atlas provides current solutions for a sustainable management of soils. It was coordinated by the JRC and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org) with more than 70 contributing organisations and several hundred individual contributions. It illustrates the diversity of soil organisms, explains their geographical and temporal distribution, the ecosystem functions and services provided by soil biota. Most importantly, it draws attention to the myriad of threats to soil biodiversity. These include inappropriate land management practices (e.g. deforestation, land take for infrastructure development), agricultural systems, over-grazing, forest fires and poor water management (both irrigation and drainage). Other practices such as land conversion from grassland or forest to cropped land result in rapid loss of soil carbon, which indirectly enhances global warming. The Atlas shows that mismanaging soils could exacerbate the effects of climate change, jeopardise agricultural production, compromise the quality of ground water and worsen pollution. It also proposes solutions to safeguard soil biodiversity through the development of policies that directly or indirectly target soil health, leading to a more sustainable use."--