By Cristina Fernandez Pereda
Guaranteeing environmental sustainability is one of the Millennium Objectives that 189 countries have agreed to reach before 2015. Until now, the agreement of the countries consisted in promoting social and political awareness to better the environment.
The current problem is rooted in the depletion of natural resources. Moreover, soil renewal and the CO2 absorption in the forests have decreased. The earth is no longer able to assimilate our wastes or repair the destruction of its biodiversity.
According to the Live Planet Index, presented by ecological association, World Wide Found, since 1970 the Earth has lost one third of its natural wealth. The main causes of this loss is human actions, especially in industrialized countries where less than 20% of the population consumes more than 80% of the resources.
The less developed countries are more vulnerable to the consequences of the environmental crisis which are manifested in changes in ecological processes, reduction of agricultural productivity, the displacement of populations living in areas with high risk of natural catastrophes and increase in transmission of disease such as malaria.
The changes that man has introduced into the environment are determined by the demographic increase and the utilization of artificial compounds. Urbanization and industrialization increase vapor pressure over the oceans and coastal areas. The emission of gases destroys the ozone layer. As a consequence, plant and animal life suffer and global warming worsens because the earth receives more energy.
The destruction of biodiversity also brings about the depletion of natural resources such as food, medicine or energy. The communities, 1,600 million people, who depend on these resources lose their way of live and their incomes.
There is a reciprocal relationship between poverty and the degradation of the environment. Of the 1,2000 million people who live on less than one dollar per day, about 70% live in rural areas and depend on natural resources to survive. The depletion of natural resources is one of the causes of poverty. Achieving environmental sustainability is one of the ways we can fight against poverty given that the poorest population is the most dependent on the well-being of the ecosystems.
To avoid these consequences and the sufferings of millions of people in the world, the agreement of these countries has three objectives: the development of specific environmental policies, the integration of these measures in production sectors that do the most damage to the environment, and finally, agreement from the international community to create a framework for national measures or the so-called National Strategies for Sustainable Development.
These strategies would help bring clean water to 1,2000 million people. Unfortunately, in 2025, when the Millennium Objectives should be met, more than 3,500 million people will be living without clean water.
This challenge does not only require the reduction of actions that contribute the destruction of environmental resources or the creation of measures that promote respect for nature. At the same time, the agreement should better the living conditions of millions of people—conditions that have worsened due to human action.
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