Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services.
Accelerating degradation of Earth’s ecosystems threatens the very survival of the planet. Biodiversity loss – driven by a host of increasing human demands – is happening at a rate that ia sat least 100 times faster than has been normal in the planet’s history.
Beyond biodiversity, the planet’s capacity to produce invaluable ecosystem goods and services – food and water, climate benefits, prevention of natural disasters, clean air – are increasingly compromised. Eleven million hectares of arable lands (an area slightly larger than South Korea) are lost each year through erosion, desertification, and toxification. People now use half the available surface water on Earth, and that use is growing twice as fast as population; by 2025, three billion people will lie in 48 countries classified as water-stressed or water-scarce.
The challenge is to protect the health of critical ecosystems while enhancing our collective ability to meet the rapidly growing needs of the world’s six billion people for food, fiber, water, and other ecosystem servicecs; by mid-century, 9 billion people will need even more. The planet’s poorest populations – those least protected from the degradation of our ecosystems – merit priority attention.
