News from the CEPA e-mail list

Living Planet Report from WWF (12/01/07)

Good morning everyone:

The Living Planet Report, WWF's periodic update on the state of the world's ecosystems, was launched last month in no less than six languages. The first report was produced in 1998 and it has been produced every two years since then. The WWF web site notes that the report “describes the changing state of global biodiversity and the pressure on the biosphere arising from human consumption of natural resources.

It is built around two indicators:

the Living Planet Index, which reflects the health of the planet’s 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 three scenarios explore what might lie ahead.”

The scenarios help decision-makers, scientists, and the general public, make choices that might lead to sustainable lifestyles that maintain healthy ecosystems - or lead to the collapse of the ecosystems upon which we all depend.

This highly successful biennial report can be downloaded in PDF format at http://www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/index.cfm

At the bottom of this page you can link to http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/at_home/index.cfm which tells you how you can help the environment in your daily life by reducing your ecological footprint.

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0176; Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: hails@ramsar.org
Web Site: http://ramsar.org
CEPA mini-Web site: http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm

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