*****************August 19th is Earth Overshoot Day 2014, the approximate date humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what the Earth can renew this year. In less than 8 months, we have demanded an amount of ecological resources and services equivalent to what Earth can regenerate for all of 2014.
On Earth Overshoot Day, humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we are drawing down our ecological assets. Ecological deficit spending is made possible by depleting stocks of fish, trees and other resources, and accumulating waste such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and oceans. Currently, the carbon Footprint is the largest portion of humanity’s Footprint -- a result of emitting greenhouse gases faster than they can be absorbed by forests and oceans -- and contributes significantly to humanity’s ecological overspending.
According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, it would take more than 1.5 Earths to provide the biocapacity needed to support humanity’s current Ecological Footprint. Moderate population, energy and food projections suggest that humanity would require the biocapacity of three planets well before mid-century. This may be physically unfeasible.
Today, 86 percent of the world population lives in countries that demand more from nature than their own ecosystems can renew. These “ecological debtor” countries either deplete their own ecological resources or get them from elsewhere. Were Japan’s residents to consume ecological resources and services solely from within their country’s borders, they would demand 7 Japans. In other words, Japan’s Footprint is 7 times larger than its biocapacity. Similarly, it would take 4.3 Switzerlands to support Switzerland and 2.7 Egypts to support Egypt.
Not all countries demand more than their ecosystems can provide, but even the reserves of such “ecological creditor” nations like Brazil, Indonesia, and Sweden are shrinking over time. For these countries, the main challenge is to treat their natural assets as ever-more significant sources of wealth to be preserved and nurtured over the long term, as opposed to riches to be squandered for short-term profits.It is possible to turn the tide. Global Footprint Network and its partners are supporting governments, financial institutions, and other organizations around the globe in making decisions aligned with ecological reality.
Earth Overshoot Day is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness about humanity’s ecological resource overuse. Please help us promote Earth Overshoot Day on your website, in your newsletters, with friends, and on your social media channels, using the hashtag #oShoot and our Twitter han@EndOvershoot. You can show your support by changing your Facebook profile for one day to our Earth Overshoot hourglass included here and by following us on Facebook and our new Instagram account, GlobalFootprintNetwork.
We are excited about various activities that partner organizations around the world are hosting to commemorate Earth Overshoot Day. World Wildlife Fund-China is co-hosting an Earth Overshoot Day event called “The Green Millionaire” to engage young environmental leaders from top universities: Students answer questions and complete tasks to earn “green funds” to reduce the global Ecological Footprint.
Meanwhile, multiple events are being staged across Berlin. A German activist coalition is gathering at the World Clock in Alexanderplatz to call for politicians to consider planetary limits in their growth models. Later this month, performance artist Ellie Harrison will unveil a new performance in Berlin in honor of Earth Overshoot Day, using Segways to offer a comical critique of human ‘progress.’
Please share any plans you have to mark Earth Overshoot Day and let us know of any of any media coverage in the form of links to newspaper articles or broadcast reports. You can reach us at media@footprintnetwork.org.
Thank you for supporting Earth Overshoot Day!*********************Solomons town first in Pacific to relocate due to climate change
Date: 18-Aug-14
Country: Solomon Islands
Author: Megan Rowlinghttp://planetark.org/wen/72068
Under threat from rising sea levels and tsunamis, the authorities of a provincial capital in the Solomon Islands have decided to relocate from a small island in the first such case in the Pacific islands.Choiseul, a township of around 1,000 people on Taro Island, a coral atoll in Choiseul Bay, is less than two meters (6.6 feet) above sea level. Its vulnerability to storm surges and tsunamis caused by earthquakes is expected to be compounded in the future by rising seas.
Aware of these risks, communities in Choiseul Bay consulted a team of engineers, scientists and planners, funded by the Australian government, on how best to adapt to the impact of climate change.
It was decided they would take disaster prevention measures in the short term but also build a new town on an adjacent mainland where the population will be moved in stages.
"The project followed the ways of our traditions - talking with people, listening to people and reflecting the desires of the people," Jackson Kiloe, premier of Choiseul Province, said in a statement on Friday.
Philip Haines, project manager for BMT WBM, an international consultancy that worked on the strategy, said relocation was the only option that would keep the community safe but it would take "many decades" to complete.
Land to build a new, larger settlement catering for some 5,000 inhabitants has already been acquired, Haines said.
Essential infrastructure such as a hospital and secondary school will likely be built in the next five years, he said, adding that everything from roads to government buildings and a hydropower system must be constructed because the land is a greenfield site.
"Basically it's a town from absolute scratch," Haines told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Australia. "So we need to do it well and build it to last for many generations to come."
INTERNATIONAL FUNDING?
Haines declined to give a price tag for the project, but said it would run to many hundreds of millions of Australian dollars. The Solomon Islands government would be looking for climate change funding from international donors to finance the relocation, he added.
On a brief visit to the Solomon Islands this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Pacific Island nation stands to benefit from U.S. funding for programs to deal with the effects of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region.
The United States deployed troops and contributed $250,000 to help deal with the last big disaster in the Solomon Islands - Cyclone Ita which struck in April. The tropical storm caused widespread flooding, killed at least 23 people and affected another 50,000.
The groups behind the Choiseul adaptation plan said it is being hailed by the Solomon Islands national government as a model for other provinces across the nation and more broadly across the Pacific.
The threat posed by climate change has promoted other relocation initiatives in the region.
The Kiribati government, which sees relocation as an option of last resort, is pursuing a policy it calls "migration with dignity".
It plans to help establish expatriate communities that can absorb and support more Kiribati migrants in future, while
Elsewhere, some 2,000 people are being permanently resettled from the tiny, low-lying islet of Han in the Carteret Atoll of Papua New Guinea to mainland Bougainville, a three-hour ride on a wooden boat, due to salt intrusion and king tides eroding shores and making farming difficult.
But the Choiseul project is the first time that a provincial capital with all its services and facilities will be relocated in the Pacific Islands, the planners said.
Haines said locals are keen to move as quickly as possible due to the risks they face, noting they may be less attached to their home than other communities because the township on Taro Island only became well-established after World War Two.
(Reporting by Megan Rowling, Editing by Katie Nguyen)