U.N. says world in dire straits - Reuters

Source: Reuters

U.N. says world in dire straits
Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:40am EDT

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Two decades after a landmark report sounded
alarm bells about the state of the planet and called for urgent
action to change direction, the world is still in dire straits, a U.N.
agency said on Thursday.

While the U.N. Environment Program's fourth Global Environment
Outlook (GEO-4) says action has been successfully taken in some
regions and on some problems, the overall picture is one of sloth
and neglect.

"The global trends on climate, on ozone, on indeed ecosystem
degradation, fisheries, in the oceans, water supplies ... are
still pointing downwards," UNEP head Achim Steiner said in a
short film accompanying the report's release.

The 540-page report calls for emissions of climate warming
greenhouse gases to be cut by between 60 and 80 percent, and
notes that 60 percent of the world's ecosystems have been
degraded and are still being used unsustainably.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL255714820071025