OTTAWA — Humans are consuming natural resources faster than the planet can keep up, led in part by Canadians who have the seventh largest ecological footprint in the world, says a report released on Wednesday.
The Living Planet 2010 report, conducted by WWF International, a global environmental research organization, says that humans would now need 1.5 planets to sustain their consumption patterns.
Breaking it down to nationalities, Canadians are consuming at a pace that's 2.5 times greater than the average global citizen, the study suggests.
"Exhaustion of natural resources has already happened locally in some places, for example the collapse of cod stocks in Newfoundland in the 1980s," said the report. "At present, people are often able to shift their sourcing when this happens — moving to a new fishing ground or forest, clearing new land for farming, or targeting a different population or a still-common species. But at current consumption rates, these resources will eventually run out, too — and some ecosystems will collapse even before the resource is completely gone."
The report, which evaluates the health of the planet, was produced with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network. It measures the health of almost 8,000 populations of more than 2,500 species showing a 30 per cent drop in biodiversity "stock" since 1970, with the tropics showing a 60 per cent decline in less than 40 years.
The United Arab Emirates had the largest footprint per average citizen, according to the report, consuming the equivalent of 10.7 global hectares of resources such as fossil fuels, forests, and cropland in the year 2007. This was followed by Qatar (10.5 hectares/person), Denmark (8.3 hectares/person), Belgium (8 hectares/person), the U.S. (8 hectares/person), Estonia (7.9 hectares/person), and Canada (7 hectares/person).
Rounding up the top 10 were Australia (6.8), Kuwait and Ireland, each at (6.3).
By comparison, the report estimates that the planet only has 1.8 hectares of resources for each person to consume.
"Half of our Canadian footprint is from fossil fuel consumption, so half of that impact is carbon emissions," said Steven Price, senior director of conservation science and practice, at WWF-Canada. "No business person or banker or financial adviser would ever advise dipping into capital — at least not regularly on a long-term basis — and that's what we're doing here."
The report received an endorsement from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international partnership of countries promoting economic growth and social development. Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the OECD, said the report raises awareness about the realities of our ecosystems, sending a message that "business as usual" is not an option.
"Rather than an excuse to delay further action, the recent financial and economic crisis should serve as a reminder of the urgency of developing greener economies," wrote Gurria in a foreword message appearing in the report. "This will require fundamental changes to the structure of our economies, by creating new green industries, cleaning up polluting sectors and transforming consumption patterns. An important element will be educating and motivating people to adjust their lifestyles, so we can leave a healthier planet to future generations."
Price said the report doesn't predict exactly when resources would run out. But he explained that it warns that humans need to make more sustainable choices in areas such as energy consumption to avoid damaging basic life-support systems on Earth over the next few decades.
"It's a dire trend in the sense that by 2030, this rate would mean two Earths of productivity per person, globally, so that's not heading in the right direction," he said. "So, our productivity will start to decline, even as consumption rates are growing, so that's a prescription rate for disaster."
The analysis also concluded that low-income countries are losing biodiversity faster than the rest of the world, with serious damage to local resources such as clean water and land. For example, it said that 71 countries were experiencing stress on resources of water that are used but not returned.
"This has profound implications for ecosystem health, food production and human well-being, and is likely to be exacerbated by climate change," said the report.
Overall, the analysis said that humanity first began consuming more resources than the planet could sustain in the 1970s, explaining that vast resources are gradually becoming depleted over time. At the planet's current pace, it predicts humans will be consuming resources equivalent to two Earths by 2030.
"Just as it is easy to withdraw more money from a bank account than the interest this money generates, it is possible to harvest renewable resources faster than they are being generated," said the report. "More wood can be taken from a forest each year than re-grows, and more fish can be harvested than are replenished each year. But doing so is only possible for a limited time, as the resource will eventually be depleted."
"Similarly, CO2 emissions can exceed the rate at which forests and other ecosystems are able to absorb them, meaning additional Earths would be required to fully sequester these emissions."
Chart: Top 15 footprints per average citizen
1) United Arab Emirates: 10.67 global hectares per person
2) Qatar: 10.51 global hectares per person
3) Denmark: 8.26 global hectares per person
4) Belgium: 8 global hectares per person
5) The United States of America: 7.99 global hectares per person
6) Estonia: 7.87 global hectares per person
7) Canada: 7 global hectares per person
8) Australia: 6.83 global hectares per person
9) Kuwait: 6.33 global hectares per person
10) Ireland: 6.3 global hectares per person
11) the Netherlands: 6.19 global hectares per person
12) Finland: 6.14 global hectares per person
13) Sweden: 5.88 global hectares per person
14) Czech Republic: 6.75 global hectares per person
15) Macedonia: 5.65 global hectares per person
Consumption of average global citizen: 2.7 global hectares of land and water
Capacity of Earth ecosystems per person: 1.8 global hectares of land and water
Source: WWF Living Planet 2010 report