UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews
Network
/ 7 June 2010 --
Repairing
forests, lakes and other types of nature reserves that have been damaged or
depleted can generate wealth, create jobs and become a vital means of
alleviating poverty, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
says in a report released last week.
The
report identifies thousands of ecosystem restoration projects worldwide and
showcases over 30 initiatives that are transforming the lives of communities
and countries across the globe.
Entitled
Dead Planet,
Living Planet: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable
Development, the report underlines that far from being a cost on
growth and development, many environmental investments in degraded,
nature-based assets can generate substantial and multiple returns.
“The
ecological infrastructure of the planet is generating services to humanity
worth by some estimates over $70 trillion a year, perhaps substantially
more,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.
“This
report is aimed at bringing two fundamental messages to governments,
communities and citizens on World Environment Day (WED) and in 2010 – the
UN’s International Year of Biodiversity. Namely, that mismanagement of
natural and nature-based assets is undercutting development on a scale that
dwarfs the recent economic crisis,” Mr. Steiner said.
“Well-planned
investments and re-investments in the restoration of these vast, natural and
nature-based utilities not only has a high rate of return, but will be
central, if not fundamental, to sustainability in a world of rising
aspirations, populations, incomes and demands on the Earth’s natural
resources,” said Mr. Steiner from Kigali, Rwanda, the main host for this
year’s global WED events. The Day will be officially marked on Saturday.
Nature
restoration activities include rehabilitating water flows to rivers and
lakes, improving soil stability and fertility for agriculture and combating
climate change by sequestering and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
The
report underlines that maintaining and managing intact ecosystems must be
the key priority. However, given that more than 60 per cent of the
ecosystems, ranging from marshes and coral reefs to tropical forests and
soils, are already degraded, restoration must now be an equal priority.
Rehabilitating
ecosystems also generates jobs in a world where currently 1.3 billion are
unemployed or underemployed, while supporting international goals to
substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity, a key theme this
year.
The
report cites evidence that well-planned, science-based, community-supported
programmes can recover between 25 and 44 per cent of the original services
alongside the animals, plants and other biodiversity of the former intact
system.
As
an example, it points to a study on restoring degraded grasslands and lands
around river systems in South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains. It estimates
that the project will bring back winter river flows to communities amounting
to close to 4 million cubic metres of water, cut sediment losses and store
carbon.
In
Peru, the theme of ecosystem restoration underpins the Projeto Agua Limpa or
Clean Water Project co-launched by UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Gisele Bündchen
and her father in 2008 in her hometown of Horizontina.
The
project is aimed at restoring the health of water supplies while boosting
biodiversity by restoring forests and rehabilitating river banks and
riverside vegetation in river basins.
“UNEP’s
report on ecosystem restoration spotlights the enormous opportunities for
communities to invest in their future development,” said Ms. Bündchen
after the report was released.
“Restoring
degraded environments is among the best gifts we can give and hand on to
current and future generations – we need to bring to the attention of
everyone the central link between forests, wetlands and other natural
systems and our survival and prosperity in this extraordinary world,” she
added.
The
report makes several recommendations, including urging overseas development
agencies, international finance agencies and regional development banks to
factor ecosystem restoration and long-term management assistance into
development support, food security initiatives, job creation and poverty
alleviation funding.
It
also recommends that one per cent of a country’s gross domestic product
(GDP) be set aside annually for conservation, management and restoration of
the environment and natural resources, with the precise figure linked to
national circumstances.
Ecosystem
restoration should be guided by experiences learned to date to avoid
unintended consequences such as the introduction of alien invasive species
and pests, the report suggests. It also posits that infrastructure projects
that damage an ecosystem have funds set aside to restore a similarly
degraded ecosystem elsewhere in a country or community.
Speaking
in Kigali, Mr. Steiner urged the world to move towards a “common goal of a
healthy, productive and well-managed planet that can give everyone the
opportunity to flourish under the theme of ‘Many Species, One Planet, One
Future’.”
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