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| Canadian Living Planet Report 2007 |
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The Living Planet Report (LPR) is WWF's periodic update on the state of the world's ecosystems. It describes the changing state of global biodiversity and the pressure on the biosphere arising from human consumption of natural resources. This new, The Canadian Living Planet Report focuses on Canada’s part of the global picture.
The LPR is built around two indicators:
- the Living Planet Index, which reflects the health of ecosystems; and
- the Ecological Footprint, which shows the extent of human demand on these ecosystems.
These measures are tracked over several decades to reveal past trends, then explore what might lie ahead. The bottom line is that, unless something significant changes, our average global Ecological Footprint will use up the resources of two whole Earths by 2020.
Since we only have one Earth, it’s clear that something has to give.
Measuring the health of our planet
Between 1970 and 2003, the global Living Planet Index fell by about 30 percent. The health of biodiversity in Canada is not much rosier. While we have a large country with a relatively small population, between 1995 and 2003, the Canadian Living Planet Index shows a decline of almost 25 percent.
To learn more about the Living Planet Index and its findings, click here to read the full report.
Ecological Footprint
As Canadians, we have the fourth highest Ecological Footprint per person in the world - more than ten times higher than that of low-income countries such as Bangladesh. What makes our footprint so big? Mainly our insatiable appetite for oil and gas. The carbon component of our Footprint alone grew from about 17 percent in 1961, to more than 50 percent in 2003.
In other words, if everyone on the planet consumed resources the way we do as Canadians, humanity would use the resources of 4.3 Earths by 2020.
To learn more about Ecological Footprint and what goes into making our footprint, click here to read the full report.
Canada Can Lead the Way Forward
The opportunity in all of this is sustainability - striking a balance between the health of nature and our impact on it. There is still time to turn things around.
In August 2007, a poll was released that said 8 out of 10 Canadians were changing their lives to lessen their impact on the environment. The willingness to do better is there, but our Footprint shows that more work is needed.
As Canadians we can and should be leaders in innovation in the following areas:
- Carbon emissions reduction to fight climate change
- Green energy that allows us to rely less and less on oil and gas
- Conservation leadership in sustainable resource use such as fisheries management
- Green infrastructure that makes our urban centres healthier and more livable
- Conservation first - planning for conservation in advance of major industrial development
Read the full report to learn more about what Canada (and Canadians) can do to make a difference.
Acknowledgements
The Canadian Living Planet Report 2007 is the result of the collaboration of three organizations: WWF-Canada, The Global Footprint Network (who prepares the Ecological Footprint component of the report), and the Zoological Society of London (who prepares the Living Planet Index component of the report). WWF-Canada would like to acknowledge its partners in this effort and thank them for their contribution and commitment.
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