- A project to assess the world's ecosystems has found
that the widespread use of fertilisers and the burning of fossil fuels
will severely damage life in lakes and rivers around the globe.
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- The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, launched by the
World Bank in Washington in 2001, examines how any disruption to the
environment,
whether by human action or natural events, will harm human health, food
production and natural resources.
-
- Scientists have spent the past three years piecing
together
data from thousands of studies. Their official report will be published
early next year, but a first draft shows a number of alarming
trends.
-
- A major concern is the increase in nitrogen emissions
because of fertiliser use and the burning of fossil fuels.
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- "In the past 100 years, emissions have risen from
around 20m tonnes a year to more than 150m tonnes a year," said Robert
Watson, the project leader and the World Bank's chief scientist.
"We're
emitting more than seven times more nitrogen and that is going to have
incredible implications for ecological systems."
-
- As an ingredient in fertiliser, nitrogen helps to feed
some 2 billion people. But when it is washed from soils into water courses
it can make rivers and lakes too rich in nutrients.
-
- As a result, algae and other life can grow out of
control,
eventually stripping oxygen from the water which fish and other aquatic
life need.
-
- Dead zones have already begun to appear, notably in the
Gulf of Mexico, which is fed by nitrogen-rich water from the Mississippi
river. "We are looking at major effects in the US, Europe and
south-east
Asia," Dr Watson said.
-
- As the world's population is estimated to grow to 9
billion
in 40 years, food production is expected to become more intensive,
requiring
ever more nitrogen-rich fertiliser.
-
- Kenneth Cassman, an expert on environmental health at
the University of Nebraska, said the efficiency of nitrogen use needed
to be "massively improved". "There are a number among us
who think this is more important than carbon emissions, in terms of
environmental
impact," he said.
-
- In a separate part of the study, the scientists found
that global warming would severely disrupt ecosystems, especially in the
developing world, if it was not kept in check. An increase of more than
2C (3.6F) would be enough to severely degrade the availability of food,
water and human health in developing countries.
-
- Dr Watson, who worked as a scientific adviser to the
White House during the Clinton administration, said that while the final
report would describe different ways the problems might be dealt with,
it was up to governments and private companies to collaborate.
-
- "We can move in a direction where we destroy our
natural heritage or we can move in a direction where we improve both human
wellbeing and maintain our natural heritage," he said. "We've
got choices and we have to decide which future we want."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/
- science/story/0,12996,1323558,00.html
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