Scientists: Degradation of Planet 'Undermines' Poverty Eradication

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/21-3


A farmer in the Lobesa valley of Bhutan, which pledges to be the first 100% organic country. (Photo: 10b Travelling via Flickr)

"Degradation of the natural world is undermining efforts to reduce poverty," scientists warn in a new article published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The only way we can achieve a "thriving global society" and mitigate the combined effects of environmental destruction and global poverty, the authors write in Policy: Sustainable Development Goals for People and Planet, is for international policymakers to adopt new targets that combine the need for planetary stability with poverty alleviation goals.

"Humans are transforming the planet in ways that could undermine any development gains," says lead author Professor David Griggs of Australia's Monash University.

"Mounting research shows that the stable functioning of Earth systems – including the atmosphere, oceans, forests, waterways, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles – is a prerequisite for a thriving global society," added co-author Professor Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Center.

This call comes in the wake of a meeting last week of the United Nations' working group on sustainable development to discuss new international targets to implement after the internationally agreed-upon poverty alleviation targets, millennium development goals (MDG), run out in 2015.