Revamping global food production, retooling the financial sector, moving beyond GDP as a measure of progress and other "transformative changes" are needed to save Nature and ourselves, a major UN biodiversity report is set to conclude.

Delegates from 130 nations wrap up week-long negotiations in Paris Saturday on the executive summary of a 1,800-page tome authored by 400 scientists, the first UN global assessment of the state of Nature -- and its impact on humanity -- in 15 years.

The bombshell Summary for Policymakers, to be unveiled on May 6, makes for very grim reading.

Up to a million of Earth's estimated eight million species face extinction, many of them within decades, according to a draft version obtained by AFP.

All but seven percent of major marine fish stocks are in decline or exploited to the limit of sustainability. At the same time, humanity dumps up to 400 million tonnes of heavy metals, toxic sludge and other waste into oceans and rivers each year.

Since 1990, Earth has lost 2.9 million hectares -- an area more than eight times the size of Germany or Vietnam -- of forests that play a critical role in absorbing record-level CO2 emissions.

The heavily negotiated text does not make explicit policy recommendations, but will serve "as a basis for redefining our objectives" ahead of a key meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in China next Fall, said Yunne Jai Shin, a researcher at the Research Institute for Development in Marseilles.

But the pressure to set clear targets -- similar to the cap on global warming in the 2015 climate treaty inked in the French capital -- has sparked calls for a "Paris moment" on biodiversity.

- 'Harmful subsidies' -

The new report details how humans are undermining Earth's capacity to produce fresh water, clean air and productive soil, to name a few "ecosystem services".

The direct causes of Nature's degradation -- in order of importance -- are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in body parts, climate change, pollution, and predatory or disease-carrying alien species such as rats, mosquitoes and snakes.

"There are also two big indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change -- the number of people in the world and their growing ability to consume," Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), told AFP ahead of the meeting.

The way humanity produces, distributes and consumes food -- accounting for a third of land, 75 percent of fresh water use and a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions -- is especially destructive, the report shows.

Fertiliser use, which degrades the soil's ability to grow plants and absorb CO2, has risen four-fold in just 13 years in Asia, and doubled worldwide since 1990.

"Feeding the world in a sustainable manner entails the transformation of food systems," the report notes.

Local food production, less demand for meat, fewer chemical inputs, use of renewable power, sustainable limits for fisheries, a sharp decline in tropical deforestation -- all are feasible and would help restore Nature.

The report also spotlights "harmful subsidies" that encourage environmentally damaging fishing, agriculture, livestock raising, forestry and mining.

- A downward spiral -

The report cites estimates that tax havens finance about 70 percent of vessels implicated in unregulated fishing, and an equal share of the soy and beef sectors that are ravaging the Amazon.

The summary for policymakers maps out what Watson calls "several plausible futures," some inviting, others less so.

One labelled "economic optimism" sees burgeoning international trade unfettered by regulation. Population growth slows, but per capita consumption is high, leading to more climate change and pollution.

A "reformed markets" variant would feature more policies aimed at poverty alleviation and protecting the environment, but consumer demand remains high, if more equally distributed.

"Global sustainable development" would see politicians and the public prioritise environmental issues and strict regulations. Policies and education promote low population growth, sustainable production and a concept of progress based on well-being, not just gross domestic product (GDP). People eat a lot less meat, and energy consumption declines.

"All variations of this archetype are beneficial for biodiversity," the underlying report says.

In a kindred world, international institutions weaken, but regional ones pick up the slack toward the same ends.

Finally, the last two scenarios -- "business-as-usual" and "regional competition" -- plunge the planet into a nightmarish, downward spiral of conflict, growing inequality and continuing degradation of Nature.

Lost world: UN report shows Nature at death's door
Paris (AFP) May 3, 2019 - A landmark UN report on the state of Nature, obtained by AFP, makes for grim reading, showing how humanity has wreaked havoc with the environment.

The 1,800-page draft document, set to be finalised after a biodiversity summit in Paris this week, depicts a planet ravaged by rampant overconsumption and drowning in pollution, where hundreds of thousands of species risk extinction.

Here is a rundown of the report's key findings, which read like a charge sheet against history's most destructive creatures: ourselves.

- Pollution -

Earth's population has doubled in 50 years. Not only are we living longer than ever before, we are also consuming more. Today, humans extract around 60 billion tonnes of resources from Nature each year -- a rise of 80 percent in just a few decades.

And we are leaving our mark in other ways.

Since 1980, manmade greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, adding at least 0.7C to global temperatures.

We dump up to 400 million tonnes of heavy metals, toxic sludge and other waste into oceans and rivers each year.

The report, compiled from more than 15,000 academic papers and research publications, estimates that 75 percent of land, 40 percent of oceans and 50 percent of rivers "manifest severe impacts of degradation" from human activity.

- Inequality -

The document, the first of its kind in 15 years, paints a picture of rife inequality, with richer nations consuming vastly more per capita than poorer ones battling to retain their natural resources.

Indeed, per capita demand for materials is four times more in high- than in low-income economies.

In Europe and North America, humans now consume several times the recommended intake of meat, sugar and fat for optimal health, while 40 percent of the world's people lack access even to clean drinking water.

The inequality gap is huge and widening: GDP per head is already 50 times larger in wealthy nations than in poor ones.

- Agribusiness threat -

Industrial fishing is destroying our oceans, according to the report. It found that 70,000 industrial fishing vessels operate in at least 55 percent of the world's high seas.

Nearly three quarters of major marine fish stocks are depleted or exploited to the limit of sustainability, despite efforts from the fishing community to implement quotas and drive down overfishing.

On land, the situation looks even bleaker.

A third of all land is now given over to agriculture and 75 percent of freshwater resources is dedicated to food production. In all, at least a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from land clearing, crop production and fertilisation, the vast majority of which comes from animal-based food production.

Agribusiness expansion has also led to the disappearance of vast swathes of CO2-absorbing forests: Earth has lost 290 million hectares -- around six percent -- of its forests since 1990.

Fertiliser use, which degrades the soil's ability to grow plants and suck in greenhouse gases, has risen four-fold in just 13 years in Asia and doubled worldwide in the same period.

- Extinction -

Scientists estimate there to be roughly eight million species of plants and animals on Earth, though only a fraction of them have so far been identified.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) "Red List" catalogues some 100,000 species, around a quarter of which are classed as in danger of extinction.

An IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) report goes much further, however, projecting that between 500,000 and one million species could face oblivion due to pollution and habitat degradation.

Its authors stress that whatever losses humans inflict on Nature will in turn be inflicted upon us.

More than two billion people still rely on wood as their main energy source, and up to half of all medicines come from plants and animals.

What's more, the world's oceans and forests absorb more than half of our greenhouse gas emissions, which are still climbing year on year.

"At current trends, we risk drastic degradation, with drops in contributions critical for societies and uneven distribution of losses," the report states.

"Basic needs and luxuries depend on Nature."

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Saving Nature key to human wellbeing: UN biodiversity chief
Paris (AFP) May 1, 2019
The degradation of Nature threatens mankind just as much as climate change, Robert Watson, outgoing head of the UN science panel for biodiversity, has warned ahead of a stark assessment of the state of our planet. The former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Watson has a unique perspective on how global warming and biodiversity loss - two of the most pressing problems humanity faces - overlap and exacerbate each other. He spoke to AFP ahead of the unveiling Monday of a UN ... read more