LIVING PLANET REPORT 2008 CONTENTS Foreword 1 WWF EDITOR IN CHIEF WWF INTERNATIONAL (also known as World Wildlife Chris Hails Avenue du Mont-Blanc Fund in the USA and Canada) is CH-1196 Gland INTRODUCTION 2 one of the world’s largest and EDITORS Switzerland Biodiversity, ecosystem services, humanity’s most experienced independent Sarah Humphrey www.panda.org conservation organizations, with Jonathan Loh footprint 4 almost 5 million supporters and Steven Goldfinger INSTITUTE OF ZOOLOGY a global network active in over Zoological Society of London CONTRIBUTORS EVIDENCE 6 100 countries. WWF’s mission is Regent’s Park to stop the degradation of the WWF London NW1 4RY, UK Global Living Planet Index 6 planet’s natural environment and Sarah Humphrey www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/ioz/projects/ Systems and biomes 8 to build a future in which humans Ashok Chapagain indicators_livingplanet.htm . Biogeographic realms 10 live in harmony with nature Greg Bourne Richard Mott GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK Taxa 12 Judy Oglethorpe 312 Clay Street, Suite 300 Ecological Footprint of nations 14 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY Aimee Gonzales Oakland, California 94607 OF LONDON Martin Atkin USA Biocapacity 16 Founded in 1826, the Zoological www.footprintnetwork.org Water footprint of consumption 18 Society of London (ZSL) is ZSL Jonathan Loh Water footprint of production 20 an international scientific, TWENTE WATER CENTRE conservation and educational Ben Collen University of Twente organization. Its mission is to Louise McRae 7500 AE Enschede TURNING THE TIDE 22 achieve and promote the Tharsila T. Carranza The Netherlands worldwide conservation of Fiona A. Pamplin www.water.utwente.nl Towards sustainability 22 animals and their habitats. Rajan Amin The energy challenge 24 ZSL runs ZSL London Zoo Jonathan E.M. Baillie Population and consumption 26 and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, carries out scientific research GFN Global trade 28 in the Institute of Zoology and Steven Goldfinger Mathis Wackernagel Managing biocapacity: An ecosystem approach 30 is actively involved in field conservation worldwide. Meredith Stechbart Sarah Rizk DATA AND TABLES 32 Anders Reed Justin Kitzes GLOBAL FOOTPRINT The Ecological Footprint, biocapacity and Audrey Peller NETWORK Shiva Niazi water footprint 32 promotes a sustainable economy Brad Ewing by advancing the Ecological The Living Planet Index, Ecological Footprint, Alessandro Galli Footprint, a tool that makes Yoshihiko Wada biocapacity and water footprint through time 40 sustainability measurable. Dan Moran Together with its partners, the The Living Planet Index: Numbers of species 40 Robert Williams Living Planet Index: Technical notes 41 network coordinates research, Willy De Backer develops methodological Ecological Footprint: Frequently asked questions 42 standards, and provides decision TWENTE makers with robust resource Arjen Y. Hoekstra accounts to help the human References and further reading 44 Mesfin Mekonnen economy operate within the Acknowledgements 45 Earth’s ecological limits. FOREWORD he recent downturn in the global economy is a stark surging demand for food, feed and biofuels, and, in some demand for global energy services in 2050 while achieving reminder of the consequences of living beyond our places, dwindling water supplies. For the first time in recorded significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions. T means. But the possibility of financial recession pales in history, this past summer the Arctic ice cap was surrounded by Crucially, this model highlights the need to take immediate comparison to the looming ecological credit crunch. open water – literally disappearing under the impact of our action to curb dangerous climate change. carbon footprint. Whether we live on the edge of the forest or in the heart of the As we act to reduce our footprint – and our impact on the city, our livelihoods and indeed our lives depend on the services The ecological credit crunch is a global challenge. The Living Earth’s services – we must also get better at managing the provided by the Earth’s natural systems. The Living Planet Planet Report 2008 tells us that more than three quarters of ecosystems that provide those services. Success requires that we Report 2008 tells us that we are consuming the resources that the world’s people live in nations that are ecological debtors manage resources on nature’s terms and at nature’s scale. This underpin those services much too fast – faster than they can be – their national consumption has outstripped their country’s means that decisions in each sector, such as agriculture or replenished. Just as reckless spending is causing recession, so biocapacity. Thus, most of us are propping up our current fisheries, must be taken with an eye to broader ecological reckless consumption is depleting the world’s natural capital to lifestyles, and our economic growth, by drawing (and consequences. It also means that we must find ways to manage a point where we are endangering our future prosperity. The increasingly overdrawing) upon the ecological capital of other across our own boundaries – across property lines and political Living Planet Index shows that over the past 35 years alone the parts of the world. borders – to take care of the ecosystem as a whole. Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by a third. The good news is that we have the means to reverse the It is nearly four decades since the Apollo 8 astronauts Yet our demands continue to escalate, driven by the relentless ecological credit crunch – it is not too late to prevent an photographed the famous “Earth Rise”, providing the first ever growth in human population and in individual consumption. irreversible ecological recession setting in. This report identifies view of Planet Earth. In the two generations since, the world Our global footprint now exceeds the world’s capacity to the key areas where we need to transform our lifestyles and has moved from ecological credit to ecological deficit. The regenerate by about 30 per cent. If our demands on the planet economies to put us on a more sustainable trajectory. human species has a remarkable track record of ingenuity and continue at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we will need the problem solving. The same spirit that took man to the moon equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles. And The scale of the challenge at times seems overwhelming, which must now be harnessed to free future generations from crippling this year’s report captures, for the first time, the impact of is why we have introduced the concept of “sustainability ecological debt. our consumption on the Earth’s water resources and our wedges” to tackle ecological overshoot across different sectors vulnerability to water scarcity in many areas. and drivers. This wedge analysis enables us to break down the various contributing factors of overshoot and propose different These overall trends have very concrete consequences, and solutions for each. For the single most important challenge, the we have seen them this year in daily headlines. Global prices WWF Climate Solutions Model uses a wedge analysis to James P. Leape for many crops have hit record highs, in large part due to illustrate how it is possible to meet the projected growth in Director-General, WWF International LIVING PLANET REPORT 2008 1 INTRODUCTION We have only one planet. Its capacity biodiversity, as measured by populations of exceeds the planet’s regenerative capacity both geographically and through time. to support a thriving diversity of species, 1,686 vertebrate species across all regions by about 30 per cent (Figure 2). This global Around 50 countries are currently facing humans included, is large but fundamentally of the world, has declined by nearly 30 per overshoot is growing and, as a consequence, moderate or severe water stress and the limited. When human demand on this cent over just the past 35 years (Figure 1). ecosystems are being run down and waste number of people suffering from year-round capacity exceeds what is available – For the first time in this report, the volume of is accumulating in the air, land and water. or seasonal water shortages is expected to when we surpass ecological limits – we data in the Living Planet Index has allowed The resulting deforestation, water shortages, increase as a result of climate change. This erode the health of the Earth’s living species population trends to be analysed by declining biodiversity and climate change are has profound implications for ecosystem systems. Ultimately, this loss threatens biogeographic realm and taxonomic group putting the well-being and development of health, food production and human human well-being. as well as by biome. While biodiversity loss all nations at increasing risk. well-being. This report uses complementary has levelled off in some temperate areas, the Water shortages are of growing concern Humanity’s demand on the planet has measures to explore the changing state overall Living Planet Index continues to show in many countries and regions. Therefore, more than doubled over the past 45 years as of global biodiversity and of human a decline. It appears increasingly unlikely this report includes a third measure, the a result of population growth and increasing consumption. The Living Planet Index that even the modest goal of the Convention water footprint, which captures the demand individual consumption. In 1961, almost all reflects the state of the planet’s ecosystems on Biological Diversity, to reduce by 2010 placed on national, regional or global water countries in the world had more than enough while the Ecological Footprint shows the the rate at which global biodiversity is being resources as a result of consumption of capacity to meet their own demand; by 2005, extent and type of human demand being lost, will be met. goods and services. Although water is not the situation had changed radically, with placed on these systems. Humanity’s demand on the planet’s living considered a scarce resource globally, its many countries able to meet their needs only The Living Planet Index of global resources, its Ecological Footprint, now distribution and availability are very uneven, by importing resources from other nations Fig.