Life on unsustainable Earth<\/p>\n
Harry Surjadi
\nJournalist
\nJakarta
\nhsurjadi@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
The Earth cannot go on like this. Unsustainable development
\nthreatens its health and the health of the billions of people who
\ncall it home. And despite a litany of reports, gatherings and
\nspecial bodies, such as Rachel Carlson's Silent Spring 1965, the
\nStockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, the
\nestablishment of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
\nand the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1983,
\nBrundtland Report's Our Common Future 1987 and the Earth Summit
\nin 1992, the threat remains.<\/p>\n
The world's forested area has declined from 11.4 square
\nkilometers per person in 1970 to only 7.3 km2 per person at
\npresent.<\/p>\n
Forest Watch Indonesia reported in 2002 that the deforestation
\nrate in the country had been about two million hectare per year
\nsince 1996. In 1980, the rate of deforestation was estimated at
\nabout one million hectares per year, and in the 1990s the figure
\nwas 1.7 million hectares per year.<\/p>\n
The World Bank estimates that by 2005 all lowland forests in
\nSumatra will be gone, while in Kalimantan the lowland forest will
\ndisappear by 2010.<\/p>\n
In addition, nearly 70 percent of the world's major fish
\nstocks are overfished or are being fished at their biological
\nlimit, to meet the growing demand for fish and fish products.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that worldwide, soil degradation affects over
\ntwo billion hectares of land. Almost 60 percent of the world's
\nlarge rivers have been diverted to meet the growing demand for
\nwater, especially for agriculture.<\/p>\n
According to the 2000 International Union for the Conservation
\nof Nature and Natural Resources-World Conservation Union (IUCN)'s
\nRed List of Threatened Species, a third wave of a major global
\nspecies extinction is emerging.<\/p>\n
In the 1997, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants listed an
\nextraordinary number (34,000) of plant species. About 11,046
\nspecies were threatened with extinction and 816 species had
\nalready become extinct.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has lost some 20 percent to 70 percent of its
\noriginal habitat types. Species extinction is estimated at one
\nper day.<\/p>\n
The 1998 Reefs at Risk Report estimated that as much as 58
\npercent of the world's coral reefs are at high to medium risk
\nfrom human impact. In Indonesia, it is estimated that only 6.2
\npercent of all coral reefs are still in very good condition, 23.7
\npercent are in good condition, 28.3 percent are in relatively
\ngood condition and 41.8 percent are in damaged condition.<\/p>\n
The Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000 report predicted
\nthat over half of the world's coral reef areas may be lost in 30
\nyears if efforts to conserve them are not enhanced.<\/p>\n
Poverty has increased in some countries, and the gap between
\nthe richest and poorest countries has increased. Based on an
\ninternational poverty line of US$1 per day, about 1.2 billion
\npeople live in poverty. A large majority of these people are in
\nAsia, with about 522 million in South Asia and 267 million in
\nEast Asia, including Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
The Asian economic crisis that began in 1997 has led to
\nsubstantial short-term increases in poverty, particularly in
\nIndonesia, South Korea and Thailand. In Indonesia, the poverty
\nrate almost doubled from 1996 to 1999.<\/p>\n
Approximately 826 million people worldwide were thought to be
\nchronically undernourished from 1996 to 1998, of which some 792
\nmillion lived in developing countries. In some of the poorest
\ncountries, one in five children still fails to reach his or her
\nfifth birthday, mainly owing to infectious diseases related to
\nthe environment.<\/p>\n
More than 20 million women continue to experience ill health
\neach year as a result of pregnancy. The lives of eight million of
\nthese women are threatened by serious health problems, and about
\n500,000 women, almost 90 percent of them in Africa and Asia, die
\nfrom pregnancy and childbirth-related disorders.<\/p>\n
More than one billion people are without access to adequate
\nwater supplies, and 2.4 billion lack access to adequate
\nsanitation. Diarrhea diseases, largely preventable through access
\nto safe drinking water, sanitation and clean food, claim 1.5
\nmillion lives a year among children under five years of age.<\/p>\n
The Earth's climate is now changing. According to Inter-
\nGovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC), the Earth's atmosphere near
\nthe surface warmed overall by between 0.4 degrees and 0.8 degrees
\nCelsius over the past 100 years.<\/p>\n
Given all these developments, the United Nations, during its
\n55th General Assembly, decided to organize a summit to review any
\nprogress achieved on the environmental front over the last 10
\nyears ahead of the UN Conference on Environment and Development
\n(UNCED) in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2002. And the
\nsummit will be called the World Summit on Sustainable Development
\n(WSSD).<\/p>\n
The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) will act as
\nthe preparatory committee for the WSSD. And during the 10th
\nsession of the CSD, professor Emil Salim of Indonesia was elected
\ncommittee chairman.<\/p>\n
The UN General Assembly has also decided to organize a third
\nand final substantive preparatory session at the ministerial
\nlevel in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. This session will be held
\nfrom May 27 to June 7.<\/p>\n
The 10-year review of progress achieved since the UN
\nConference on the Environment and Development should focus on the
\nimplementation of Agenda 21 and other outcomes of the Conference,
\nwhich were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1997.<\/p>\n
Of the utmost importance is that the summit, including the
\npreparatory process leading up to it, ensures a balance between
\neconomic development, social development and environmental
\nprotection, as these three things are interdependent and mutually
\nreinforcing components of sustainable development<\/p>\n
UN Resolution 55\/199 encourages effective contributions from
\nand the active participation of nine major groups at all stages
\nof the summit's preparatory process. The nine major groups, as
\nidentified in Agenda 21, are children and youth, indigenous
\npeople, non-governmental organizations, women, workers and trade
\nunions, scientific and technology communities, local authorities,
\nfarmers, business and industry.<\/p>\n
Will the summit result in the sustainable development of
\nEarth? Yes, if the Earth is no longer dominated by a small group
\nof people, made up of world leaders, the heads of multinational
\ncorporation and the heads of international financial institutions
\nsuch as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the
\nWorld Trade Organization. The Earth belongs to the people, not
\ninternational institutions.<\/p>",
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