Xinhua
Geneva, May 16 (Xinhua) Future generations will face hunger, thirst, disease and disaster if people carry on trashing the environment, the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned. The stark warning came as WWF launched its “2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge” report, which contained the latest Living Planet index - the internationally agreed way to measure progress toward the global target of reducing biodiversity loss by 2010.

The report revealed a continuing decline in biodiversity.

Food, clean water, medicines and protection from natural hazards are important ingredients in maintaining our security and quality of life, the Swiss-based organisation said in a statement Thursday.

If they are to be maintained, the species, natural habitats and ecosystems that support them need to be protected, it said.

In 2002 the world’s governments set themselves a target to achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national levels by 2010.

However, the report showed governments were not on track to meet the 2010 target and that environment ministries cannot reverse this trend without integrated support at the highest level.

According to WWF, the reason governments are failing to meet their biodiversity targets is because they haven’t provided adequate financial and technical resources and have failed to develop economic incentives and other measures to preserve biodiversity.

The organisation called on all the governments that signed the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002, to implement the Strategic Plan by establishing national targets and allocating sufficient financial, human and technical resources.
Xinhua