REVIEW
- We use the equivalent of 1.6 planet Earth to sustain our way of life, but ecosystems are failing to meet our needs.
- The difference between the resources needed to adapt to a changing climate and the actual costs are increasing. Estimated adaptation costs continue to rise and could reach $280-500 billion per year by 2050 for developing countries alone.
- Everyone and civil society have a key role to play in raising awareness and encouraging governments and businesses to make widespread changes.
CLIMATE CHANGE
- To keep the rate of global warming within 1.5°C by the end of the century, annual greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half by 2030.
- There is a 50 percent chance that global warming will exceed 1.5°C in the next two decades.
- Methane, a major component of natural gas, is responsible for more than 25 percent of the warming observed today.
- Climate change is causing extreme weather events that are killing or displacing thousands of people and causing economic losses measured in the trillions.
- Investments in renewable energy will help ensure high economic performance, have enormous potential to attract private investment, and are an important step toward decarbonizing the entire economy.
- Even under the most optimistic scenario of zero emissions by 2050, global warming will continue in the short to medium term, with the possibility of stabilizing at 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels.
LOSS OF NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY
- Ecosystem degradation affects the well-being of about 3.2 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population.
- Restoring 15 percent of converted land while stopping further conversion of natural ecosystems could prevent 60 percent of expected species loss.
- Each year we lose ecosystem services that account for more than 10 percent of our global economic output.
- Approximately one-third of the world’s farmland is degraded, about 87 percent of the world’s inland wetlands have disappeared since 1700, and one-third of commercial fish species are overexploited.
- Food systems are responsible for 80 percent of biodiversity loss, and 80 percent of all farmland is dedicated to raising livestock and feeding them, while providing only 20 percent of their nutrients.
POLLUTION
- Air pollution is the cause of about 7 million premature deaths a year, one in nine of all deaths. Nine out of 10 people breathe polluted air, making it the most dangerous environmental health risk of our time.
- Only 57 percent of countries have a legal definition of air pollution. In 2019, 92 percent of people experienced air pollution that exceeded the World Health Organization’s safe standards.
- The latest SDG monitoring showed that more than 3 billion people are at risk because of a lack of awareness of the condition of surface and groundwater resources.
WASTE
- As things stand now, the annual volume of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple from 9-14 million tons in 2016 to 23-37 million tons by 2040.
- In 2018, the global economic damage from marine plastic pollution to tourism, fisheries, and aquaculture was estimated at $6-19 billion.
- From 1950 to 2017, about 9.2 billion tons of plastic were produced, 7 billion tons of which became waste.