Healthy Ecosystems vital to global goals

Preserving healthy ecosystems is a critical component of alleviating global poverty and achieving sustainable development. That is the opinion of more than 1300 scientists from 95 countries who contributed to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). At the same time, the report identifies human activities such as agriculture and industrial development as drivers of change that threaten long-term availability of the very goods and services on which humans depend.

Use the following links to view news stories, editorials and background information.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

This extensive website provides full background information on the MA project and offers the opportunity to stay informed by signing up for e-mail updates. Click on ‘News Room’, then ‘MA in the News’, for more media coverage.

News

Healthy ecosystems ‘critical in the fight against poverty’
Ehsan Masood, SciDev.Net

Halting degradation of the planet's ecosystems is critical to ending world poverty and ensuring sustainable development in the global South, says a major study published yesterday [30 March 2005].
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Editorials

Apocalypse now?
David Dickson and Ehsan Masood, SciDev.Net

Last week's report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment provides a timely reminder of the plight facing the global environment. But its scare tactics could alienate those whose support is needed to reverse current trends.
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Global ecosystem audit should not be one-off
Harold Mooney, Angela Cropper and Walt Ried
Source: Nature

Leaders of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment argue that a periodic audit of the state of the world's ecosystems is essential to guide policies for sustainable development.
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