Natural Resource Management class: Pressnote

Below you can find a pressnote Silje and I wrote based on the WWF Living Planet Report. We wrote two considering different styles of writing and different audiences, so the one you will be reading now is in line with mass media directed at the general public (so a little bit of sensationalism) I hope you get the message!

NEWS: Americans need 4 times the biocapacity of everybody else!

Living on credit, but for how much longer?

Madrid, 26.01.2013

Silje G. Hassel & Julia Senninger

It’s been confirmed: If we all lived like the average American, a total of 4 earths would be necessary in order to regenerate what we demand from nature. Others, it seems, are less needy: Argentineans require ‘only’ 1.5 worlds, while the average Indonesian can make do with two-thirds of everybody else.

The evidence can be found in WWF’s latest report Living Planet. But this is not new, according to the WWF: “Since the 1970s, the ‘ecological overshoot’ has continued to grow over the years, reaching 50 per cent deficit in 2008.”

We are living on credit […]

covering ourselves with riches we don’t have,

to pursue wealth we don’t need.

We are overusing the world’s resources to such an extent, that it takes 1.5 years for the earth to rebuild the resources we take from her, every year.

“How can this be possible when there is only one Earth?” a distressed member from the WWF exclaims.

But are individuals the only ones responsible for this? Different countries have different footprints, but this is not only because of individual choices.

Governments and business are just as guilty. They are the ones who decide how much land is built-up, or how electricity is produced, or even our food.

That’s why they have the responsibility to reduce our individual footprints! The world’s population is growing, we consume more stuff and food, and so the biocapacity is in serious threat. If we cannot limit our impact on the world, and continue living on credit, we will soon face a crisis much bigger than the 2008 financial one.

For now, CO2 is the only waste product currently traced, but there are other factors, such as water use, (or the amount of dirty water) that influences the state of biocapacity, but which are not directly included in the Ecological Footprint calculations.

Too high amounts of Co2 lead to higher global temperatures, climate change and ocean level rise, to name just a few. But there are many other areas that need serious to be dealth with.

Comments Off on Natural Resource Management class: Pressnote / 28 Jan 2013 por Julia Senninger
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Natural Resources Management Class –> SLOGANS

Hi!

In order to sum up our 7 sessions of Environmental & Natural Resources Management class, Ms. Norway (aka Silje G. Hassel) and I have thought of some slogans that go with each class session!

Session 1 – Everything is connected

Session 2 – Small actions, BIG impacts

Session 3 – If you don’t know what you’re doing, then don’t do it

Session 4 – Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean  it isn’t there

Session 5 – Empower me to help you

Session 6 – Stick[er] to it!

Still missing one for today’s session! Will be thinking of one when running in the park tonight

Comments Off on Natural Resources Management Class –> SLOGANS / 28 Jan 2013 por Julia Senninger
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Food For Thought on Natural Resource Management

Some food for thought from our recent Natural Resource Management Classes.

Biodiversity is crucial for the world’s viability.

We must be more cautious and conscious in managing our natural resources.

We are the living “guinea pigs” – testing the body’s limits to chemical exposure.

When we look for solutions towards sustainable systems, we must approach the issue from all sides.

After all, we are just one specie in this world.

Comments Off on Food For Thought on Natural Resource Management / 28 Jan 2013 por Amy Blyth
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Rural Development: Food Security, Women & Education

‘We live in a world in which we produce more food than ever before, and in which the hungry have never been as many.’
(Olivier de Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food at the FAO Conference, November 2009)

The world population is growing fast and several constrictions like limited natural resources and climate change consequences are mining the world food security.
Food production should increase 70% by 2050 in order to meet a 9 Billion planet needs but scarcity, lack of productive land and natural resources management need to be considered while planning food production actions.

Agriculture plays an important role in this paper, especially in the developing countries where it represents 86% of rural population’s livelihoods.

And what is the role of women in agriculture?

According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) women in developing countries have a central role in food security and household livelihoods and are responsible of 43% of the agricultural labour force.

Unfortunately due to the lack of access to several resources, like education, land and money, they are less productive than men and the most vulnerable group when it comes to poverty and development. Their limited participation in the decision making processes, their low income and the unequal access to education push them more and more at the edge of the society and at the limit of a better life condition.

According to the
 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the last food-price crisis (2010) have pushed a further 44 million people into poverty and the 60% of the people living in extreme poverty conditions are women.

Food security and women empowerment programs, therefore, should go hand in hand in order to get towards a more sustainable development.

FAO (2003) describes very well the interconnection between food security and gender considerations: “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for a healthy and active life”.

So, despite the measures aimed to improve food production and food availability, how is it possible to improve the conditions of the most vulnerable group, the  women?

Rajasthan, India, December 2011

Gender considerations should be at the center of the development programs and the aspects related to gender inequities like social, health, cultural limitations, should be also addressed in order to reduce women vulnerability and have a positive impact on the family livelihood.

Education represents an important instrument to achieve these objectives.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, yields could grow by 20-30% and almost 150 million people could get out of hunger if women would have the same access to education and resources as men.

In addition, “investing in girls put them in control of their own destiny ” and education can have a positive impact in terms of reduction of population growth and in terms of a better future income. An example: 1 single year of education for a girl in a developing country represents a 10-20% of wages increase and as a consequence better economic opportunities for the future generation and better condition for the family.

Empowering women in terms of access to education and in terms of being part of the decision making processes could represent a way of improving the lives of the whole family, increasing food production and reducing poverty, as final goal. For these reasons investments in food security without a complementary investment in women empowerment would represent just a short sight development strategy.

Source: Global Citizen

Comments Off on Rural Development: Food Security, Women & Education / 28 Jan 2013 por Veronica Recanati
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ENMR/ The emergence of the fourth sector: a key driver to sustain WWF’s One Planet perspective.

The current economic model has imposed a life’s threatening challenge on the society, the environment and the planet. Its failure has exposed its ineffectiveness to attain economic growth, while reducing its impact on the environment. The “Iron Triangle” (cost, time & scope), the three constrains used to manage businesses, is effectively killing the “Green Circle”; Our Planet. Thinking back to these three constrains, we know that the cost of using natural resources is too high, the time to act is now and the scope have to go beyond economic growth shifting toward a sustainability economic model.

There is a fundamental need to rethink and redesign economy by introducing the WWF’s One Planet Perspective in the equation. Under this perspective the scope is clear: the need to manage, use and share natural resources within One Planet limitations, ensuring food, energy security and water by redirecting financial flows and introducing equitable resource governance as the essential enabling factors; social enterprises are starting to do so.

The emergence of Social Enterprises (The Fourth Sector) is contributing to create an entirely new organizational sector that integrates social purposes with business methods. Instead of defining its business in terms of profits (for-profit vs. non-profit), they are define in terms of benefits (for-benefit) to its stakeholders.

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“The emerging fourth sector is fundamentally comprised of organizations that pursue social purposes while engaging in business activities. these characteristics necessarily establish the archetype`s primary attributes:

Social purpose: the organization has a core commitment to social purpose embedded in its organization structure.

Business method: the organization can conduct any lawful business activity that is consistent with its social purpose and stakeholders responsibilities.

Besides these two main characteristics the For-benefit organizations include inclusive ownership, stakeholder governance, fair compensation, reasonable returns, transparency, and social and environmental responsibility”

The Emerging fourth Sector, Executive Summary. The Aspen Institute & The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.2009, Page 5.

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In 2011, Ban Ki-moon (The UN Secretary Genral) said at the World Economic Forum that “an economic revolution is needed”, he sent a call for action to the panel by stating that “all political and business leaders need to embrace economic innovation in order to save the planet”. It is clear that he is shifting his focus from climate change to sustainability

WWF state in its Living Planet 2012 report that “in order to reverse the declining Living Planet Index, bring the Ecological Footprint down to within planetary limits, avoid dangerous climate change and achieve sustainable development, a fundamental reality must be embedded as the basis of economies, business models and lifestyles: The Earth’s natural capital – biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services – is limited”.

Social (Enterpreneurs) enterprises will be a key player in the creation of a sustainable economic model, the urgent economic, social and environmental challenges requires its stablishment, however; there are counter-forces standing in the way blocking its development. Its time to act united, “Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno”

Comments Off on ENMR/ The emergence of the fourth sector: a key driver to sustain WWF’s One Planet perspective. / 28 Jan 2013 por Juan Machado Sanchez
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Where Did All The Fish Go?

Comments Off on Where Did All The Fish Go? / 27 Jan 2013 por Daniel Salter
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ENRM: The key factor in climate change: CO2 emissions

According to the WWF Living Planet Report 2012 CO2 emissions related to the use of fossil fuels has reached its highest level ever.

In recent years, we have been listening with great concern a wide range of efforts, being made around the world on the fight against climate change impacts; a phenomenon that already shows its effect on the planet earth. That is why the big debate right now is ¿how we can stop climate change effects?

According to the Living Planet Report 2012 prepared by WWF, one chapter take into account one subject that is extremely uncertain, ¿what does the future hold? This chapter deals with various theories about the effects of climate change may affect the planet and, the current weather conditions, events related to the potential increase in global temperatures, rising oceans by the melting glaciers areas and long droughts are events that we will face and deal with in the coming years.

The chapter also explores a topic that is perceived as the most critical element for the successful management of climate change, and is related to C02 emissions derived from fossil fuels (oil and coal), they have achieved its highest level in recent years, and there is still great uncertainty about how to handle the dilemma between energy generation against the emission of CO2 from fossil fuels, this is certainly one of the most traditional ways in the history of mankind as a source of energy for life, because it is brutally complex, that we could maintain the level of energy consumption if we could not have these resources, since the perspective of the writer here could be the key to climate change.

Under current conditions, looks to the deterioration of weather conditions could be managed in the years to come, this based on what they tell us the history tellers and the speakers; however you do not believe it is necessary to have alternatives from now? We have been talking the last 20 years on these issues, but still do not have conclusive answers to these situations.  It is essential to note that the time spent is not recovered, and to understand that the management of CO2 emissions is a key factor in climate change management.

For more more information please check: http://wwf.panda.org

4 comentarios / 27 Jan 2013 por Carlos Omar Garcia Pascual
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ENRM: The Environmentalist’s Quick-Guide on Viable Alternatives

The following entry is a press note based on WWF’s Living Planet Report 2012: Biodiversity, Biocapacity, and Better Choices, which outlines the current state of our planet’s environmental and natural resources, the anthropogenic activity that has negatively affected biocapacity, and the recommended choices we can make as citizens, societies, businesses, and governments to build a better planet. This press note is directed at the NGO and scientific community.

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THE ENVIRONMENTALIST’S QUICK-GUIDE ON VIABLE ALTERNATIVES

27 January 2013

When it comes to advocating for climate change mitigation and natural resources management, many environmental activists, ecologists, and scientists often find themselves up against some heavy-handed dissenters of environmental protectionism (such as major corporations, governments, and general business-as-usual supporters). If you’ve ever wanted a comprehensive list of the viable alternatives to the current situation, the World Wildlife Foundation’s 2012 Living Planet Report on Biodiversity, Biocapacity, and Better Choices is for you!

The Report outlines the historical trends and modern realities of our earth’s most precious environmental and natural resources (which you likely already know about, being an environmental activist). The Report then uses these realities as a platform to propose 16 “better choices” for improving the condition of our planet. The image below organizes these 16 strategies in a coherent plan for reconceptualizing the use of our environmental and natural resources and will be extremely useful the next time you come up against an environmental dissenter:

[click to enlarge]

The central approach to this scheme is the WWF’s recommendation to adopt a “natural capital approach” (which will likely speak to your capital-oriented opponents). This approach calls for the management, governance, and sharing of natural capital within the Earth’s ecological boundaries, supported by the redirection of financial flows and resource governance as well as an improved system of production and consumption. So, the next time a dissenter asks you how you’d fix the environmental crisis, you can whip out this easy, quick list and respond with 16 diverse, complementary, and implementable solutions, organized across five main areas. Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been looking for? Here they are:

Preserve Natural Capital

1. Significantly expand the global protected areas network | protect 20 percent of the land, freshwater, and marine areas critical to ecological processes for biodiversity, food, water, energy security, and climate change resilience and adaptation
2. Halt loss of priority habitats | achieve and maintain zero net deforestation and degradation by 2020
3. Restore damaged ecosystems | prioritize those necessary for food, water, energy security, and climate change resilience

Produce Better

1. Significantly reduce inputs and waste in production systems | increase total food supply-chain efficiency, maximize recycling, minimize greenhouse gas emissions
2. Manage resources sustainably | eliminate over-fishing, secure water quality, minimize habitat conversion
3. Scale up renewable energy production | increase the proportion of sustainable energies in the global energy mix

Consume More Wisely

1. Change energy consumption patterns | decrease energy demand, increase proportion of renewable energies for electricity, provide sustainable energy in “off-grid” areas
2. Promote healthy consumption patterns | balance protein intake, minimize retailer and consumer food waste
3. Achieve low-footprint lifestyles | minimize resource consumption and waste, maximize market share of certified sustainable products, transition urban areas to smart” cities

Redirect Financial Flows

1. Value nature | implement an inclusive system for measuring natural capital, fully integrate it into mainstream economic development policy and decision-making
2. Account for environmental and social costs | integrate social and environmental costs of production and consumption, ensure that they are reflected in the market price of all products
3. Support and reward conservation, sustainable resource management, and innovation| eliminate all subsidies that undermine sustainable resource use and conservation, develop new financial mechanisms that redirect public and private investment to support sustainable practices, improve policy for increased investments and innovations

Equitable Resource Governance

1. Share available resources | implement natural resource governance with broad participation, minimize the footprint of high-income populations, promote the transition toward sustainable, resource-efficient cities
2. Make fair and ecologically informed choices | implement policies and tools for analyzing, resolving, and managing land use and water use
3. Measure success “beyond GDP” | include social and environmental indices in national indicators, implement economic policies to monitor the impact of economic governance on natural capital and human well-being
4. Sustainable population | integrate population dynamics and per capita consumption trends into national planning, ensure universal access to gender-sensitive reproductive health services, reduce child mortality, support the empowerment of women and girls through higher education and employment
   

The Report features key examples and case studies for each of these solution strategies, which will be critically important the next time you find yourself rightfully defending the health of the planet and of our human family. Have faith in the potential of viable alternatives to reverse these trends and build a better planet — and keep fighting the good fight!

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World Wildlife Foundation 2012, Living Planet Report 2012: Biodiversity, Biocapacity, and Better Choices.

Comments Off on ENRM: The Environmentalist’s Quick-Guide on Viable Alternatives / 27 Jan 2013 por Kelly Elizabeth Behrend
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Global Rate of Consumption Reaches 1.5 Planets; America Reaches 4.

The rate at which Americans use natural resources is strikingly unsustainable; yet, they are not alone. Fortunately, the WWF has come up with some ways to fix it.

The planet is suffering from man’s demand for food, water, ipads, and airplanes. Not only are we over consuming our natural resources at an unsustainable rate, but the amount of biodiversity in many parts of the world is dramatically declining. In order to combat this problem, the WWF, one of the world’s largest conservation organizations, has laid out a global plan.

According to the recent WWF Living Planet Report, the rate of resources we consume globally in one year requires 1.5 years time for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources used, and absorb the CO2 waste produced. Think about that stress on our Earth’s resources, year after year, without time to recuperate and replenish.

Although this statistic may seem high, consumption is expected to increase during the next decades. One main factor will be the increase in population and economic growth in countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa – often called the “BRIICS” for their recent economic success. As developing countries grow, they are going to demand lifestyles and consumption rates similar to those seen in fellow “rich” countries. If they attempt to attain lifestyles similar to Americans, we’ll need 4 planets worth of resources to meet these demands.

Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2012

So, what are we supposed to do? In the Living Planet Report, the WWF has defined 5 areas in which our current global system needs to focus their efforts:

Preserve Natural Capital by focusing on significantly expanding the “global protected areas network”; stopping further loss of what the WWF calls “priority habitats”; and restoring already damaged ecosystems and ecosystem services.

Produce Better by working to work to reduce inputs and waste creation in our current production systems –making them more efficient.

Consume More Wisely with a specific focus on shrinking the Ecological Footprint of “richer” populations and on helping emerging economies toward sustainable consumption levels and renewable energy sources.

Redirect Financial Flows toward investments, policies and products that “support and reward conservation, sustainable resource management and innovation”. To help this process, WWF suggests implementation of a globally accepted system for measuring the value of natural capital in financial analysis and integrating of the social and environmental costs of production into accounting statements.

Equitable Resource Management which involves promoting the transition to resource-efficient cities; implementing policies to analyze and manage competing land and water use claims; and measuring success “beyond GDP”, by including environmental measures and human well-being.

Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2012

According to the WWF, “implementing such a paradigm shift will be a tremendous challenge. We all face uncomfortable choices and trade-offs, but only by taking brave, informed decisions can healthy, sustainable and equitable human societies be ensured, now and into the future.”

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For more information, you can visit the WWF Living Planet Report at www.panda.org/lpr

Comments Off on Global Rate of Consumption Reaches 1.5 Planets; America Reaches 4. / 27 Jan 2013 por Amy Blyth
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ENRM: Why Environmental Degradation is Bad for Business

The following entry is a press note based on WWF’s Living Planet Report 2012: Biodiversity, Biocapacity, and Better Choices, which outlines the current state of our planet’s environmental and natural resources, the anthropogenic activity that has negatively affected biocapacity, and the recommended choices we can make as citizens, societies, businesses, and governments to build a better planet. This press note is directed at the private sector.

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WHY ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IS BAD FOR BUSINESS

27 January 2013

Today’s global corporations operate under a predominately free-market approach, asserting that business is better suited without state intervention (i.e. free markets); therefore bolstering the economy, which in turn is good for the people. This trickle-down theory functions by rolling back state powers and liberating markets by removing controls on trade, corporate investment and international finance. The private sector often uses a Darwinist view of the world to justify this approach — a seemingly strong argument that is based in some of the most basic understandings of our environment. This hands-off approach, however, also means that today’s corporations are under-regulated by the recommendations of international institutions as the United Nations, World Wildlife Foundation, and others that monitor the effects of private sector activity on environmental and natural resources. Is this under-regulation good or bad for your business? You may be surprised to hear that if the environment is in danger, so are our businesses.

If it is indeed the case that the private sector argument is heavily based on Darwinism and presumably the “survival of the fittest” doctrine, then we would assume that the argument is also coherent with Darwin’s critical, fundamental conclusion about our planet’s most precious environmental processes. Darwin’s assertion about the survival of the fittest actual boils down to one undeniable fact: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.” Is your brand heading for extinction or adapting and innovating in time for a sustainable future?

If we proceed down the path of “business as usual”, we will require the equivalent of 2.9 planets by 2050 (p. 100). Moreover, because businesses determine the majority of built-up land usage (which is then divided across a per capita indicator to determine individual ecological footprint), businesses have a direct and pivotal role in reducing a key element of the ecological footprint of all global citizens.

Businesses can and should take responsibility — not only because of the environmental imperative, but also in terms of economic viability and longevity. As the WWF Report states, “our wealth, health, and well-being are dependent on ecosystem services” (p. 12). Businesses with a true long-term approach should embrace this as an opportunity to be truly viable in the long term and building a businesses with the triple bottom line in mind. As the Report highlights, “many areas of high biodiversity provide important ecosystem services such as carbon storage, fuel wood, freshwater flow and fish stocks. Human activities are affecting the continued provision of these services” (p. 12). A lack of these particular resources will profoundly affect businesses within the agricultural, energy, consumer goods, and food industries, with major indirect effects on virtually all other industries.

What can businesses do to embrace this critically important approach to long-term environmental and economic security? As the Report states, there are plenty of  “forward thinking governments and businesses [that] have begun making efforts to mitigate these risks, for example by promoting renewable energy, resource efficiency, more environmentally friendly production and more socially inclusive development” (10). Investors are projecting that Green Stock investments are on the rise and may outperform their more conventional competitors, thereby surpassing those who are less concerned with the inevitable environmental imperative.

With this in mind, will your business thrive in the long term?

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World Wildlife Foundation 2012, Living Planet Report 2012: Biodiversity, Biocapacity, and Better Choices.

Comments Off on ENRM: Why Environmental Degradation is Bad for Business / 27 Jan 2013 por Kelly Elizabeth Behrend
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