*Global CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE*

*for sustainable production intensification and land management*

Dear Subscribers,

Please see herebelow a message from David Duthie of Bioplan regarding the
two warnings issued by independent scientist calling on humankind to
curtail environmental destruction. The first warning was issued in 1992,
the year of the Earth Summit, and the second warning was issued this week.

Thank you to David Duthie for sharing this information.

Apologies for any cross-posting.

*Amir Kassam *

*Moderator*

e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Duthie <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 5:44 PM
Subject: Are we playing baseball with the planet?
To: bioplan <[log in to unmask]>


Dear BIOPLANNERS,

Twenty-five years ago, in 1992, the year of the Earth Summit, and the
adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Union of Concerned
Scientists and more than 1700 independent scientists, including the
majority of living Nobel laureates in the sciences, penned the 1992 “World
Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” - a short Manifesto calling on humankind
to curtail environmental destruction and cautioning  that “*a great change
in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast
human misery is to be avoided*.”   The original manifesto (in English only)
may be downloaded as a ZIP file here - https://oup.silverchair-cdn.
com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/bioscience/PAP/10.
1093_biosci_bix125/2/bix125_supp.zip.

This week, another warning has been issued, this time supported by 15,000
online signatures (a list is included in the ZIP file at the link above).
The message has not changed much, and the figures are pretty scary (unless
you enjoy handbrake turns!)

Here are the metadata to the English version of the "second warning"........

RIPPLE, W. J., Wolf, C., Newsome, T. M., Galetti, M., Alamgir, M., Crist,
E., et al. (2017). *World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice*.
BioScience. (in press) URL https://academic.oup.com/b
ioscience/article/4605229 (free access)

Spanish, Portuguese, and French versions of the "second warning" can be
found at the ZIP file link in the first paragraph above.

I did a quick search of the signatures looking for a few of our known
"sciencey" BIOPLANNERS, but did not find one there, so please let me know
if you are on the list - or do we have another kind of echo chamber here?

The next 25 years will bring us to 2042.  Will it be third strike and out,
or will we finally be on a much-needed home run to the "doughnut space"
that we all know we need to go to?  I can hardly wait to see!

Best wishes

David Duthie

************************************
15,000 scientists in 184 countries warn about negative global environmental
trends Date:      November 13, 2017
Source:  Oregon State University
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171113111127.htm
Summary: Human well-being will be severely jeopardized by negative trends
in some types of environmental harm, such as a changing climate,
deforestation, loss of access to fresh water, species extinctions and human
population growth, scientists warn.
*********

Human well-being will be severely jeopardized by negative trends in some
types of environmental harm, such as a changing climate, deforestation,
loss of access to fresh water, species extinctions and human population
growth, scientists warn in today's issue of *BioScience*, an international
journal.

The viewpoint article -- "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second
Notice" -- was signed by more than 15,000 scientists in 184 countries.

The warning came with steps that can be taken to reverse negative trends,
but the authors suggested that it may take a groundswell of public pressure
to convince political leaders to take the right corrective actions. Such
activities could include establishing more terrestrial and marine reserves,
strengthening enforcement of anti-poaching laws and restraints on wildlife
trade, expanding family planning and educational programs for women,
promoting a dietary shift toward plant-based foods and massively adopting
renewable energy and other "green" technologies.

Global trends have worsened since 1992, the authors wrote, when more than
1,700 scientists -- including a majority of the living Nobel laureates at
the time -- signed a "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity" published by
the Union of Concerned Scientists. In the last 25 years, trends in nine
environmental issues suggest that humanity is continuing to risk its
future. However, the article also reports that progress has been made in
addressing some trends during this time.

The article was written by an international team led by William Ripple,
distinguished professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State
University. The authors used data maintained by government agencies,
nonprofit organizations and individual researchers to warn of "substantial
and irreversible harm" to the Earth.

"Some people might be tempted to dismiss this evidence and think we are
just being alarmist," said Ripple. "Scientists are in the business of
analyzing data and looking at the long-term consequences. Those who signed
this second warning aren't just raising a false alarm. They are
acknowledging the obvious signs that we are heading down an unsustainable
path. We are hoping that our paper will ignite a wide-spread public debate
about the global environment and climate."

Progress in some areas -- such as a reduction in ozone-depleting chemicals
and an increase in energy generated from renewable sources -- shows that
positive changes can be made, the authors wrote. There has been a rapid
decline in fertility rates in some regions, which can be attributed to
investments in education for women, they added. The rate of deforestation
in some regions has also slowed.

Among the negative 25-year global trends noted in the article are:

   - A 26 percent reduction in the amount of fresh water available per
   capita
   - A drop in the harvest of wild-caught fish, despite an increase in
   fishing effort
   - A 75 percent increase in the number of ocean dead zones
   - A loss of nearly 300 million acres of forestland, much of it converted
   for agricultural uses
   - Continuing significant increases in global carbon emissions and
   average temperatures
   - A 35 percent rise in human population
   - A collective 29 percent reduction in the numbers of mammals, reptiles,
   amphibians, birds and fish

Ripple and his colleagues have formed a new independent organization, the
Alliance of World Scientists, to be a collective voice on environmental
sustainability and human well-being. Scientists who did not sign the
warning prior to publication can endorse the published warning by visiting
http://scientists.forestry.oregonstate.edu/.

Co-authors of the article include Ripple and Christopher Wolf at Oregon
State University and Eileen Crist of Virginia Tech in the United States;
Mauro Galleti of the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil; Thomas
Newsome of The University of Sydney and Deakin University and William
Laurence of James Cook University in Australia; Mohammad Alongir of the
University of Chittagong in Bangladesh; Mahmoud Mahmoud of the National Oil
Spill Detection and Response Agency in Nigeria.
------------------------------

*Journal Reference*:

   1. William J. Ripple et al. *World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A
   Second Notice*. *BioScience*, 2017 (in press) DOI: 10.1093/biosci/bix125
   <http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix125> (free access)


***********************



Bioplan is a list server run jointly by UNDP and UNEP. To join / leave
bioplan, email: [log in to unmask] with "subscribe" or "unsubscribe"
in the subject line. Please note: If you wish to reply to the sender only
you must create a new message addressed only to that individual, or forward
the message to that individual. Using the "reply" or "reply all" option
delivers your response to list administrator.

########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the CA-Cop-L list, click the following link:
&*TICKET_URL(CA-Cop-L,SIGNOFF);