23 August 2018
ECLAC Executive Secretary Highlights Crossing of Four Ecological Boundaries
UN Photo/Eva Fendiaspara
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Barcena said atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have already reached 400 parts per million (ppm) and 84% of species in Africa are extinct.

In addition, the established amounts for worldwide use of phosphorus and nitrogen per year exceeded; and only 62% of original forests remain.

Bárcena warned that the current development model is “tapped out” and stressed the worrisome level of global inequality.

20 August 2018: Humanity has exceeded four of the planet’s nine ecological boundaries, according to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). These relate to atmospheric concentrations of CO2, phosphorous and nitrogen in ecosystems, deforestation, and species extinction.

Barcena was speaking in Mexico City, Mexico, at a colloquium ‘University and Sustainability in Mexico’ held at the Ibero-American University, on 20 August 2018. She said: atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have reached 400 parts per million (ppm), while they should not have surpassed 350 ppm; 84% of species in Africa are extinct; phosphorous and nitrogen have been added to crops and ecosystems, with the established amounts for worldwide use per year exceeded; and only 62% of original forests remain, while the figure should not have gone below 75%.

According to the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the nine planetary boundaries are: stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss and extinctions), chemical pollution and the release of novel entities, climate change, ocean acidification, freshwater consumption and the global hydrological cycle, land system change, nitrogen and phosphorus flows to the biosphere and oceans, and atmospheric aerosol loading.

Barcena also highlighted shortcomings of the current approach to development, which she called “tapped out,” noting decreasing rates for GDP and trade, income inequality and climate change. On inequality, she said the world’s poorest 50% – 3.5 billion people – have wealth equivalent to that of only 62 individuals, eight of whom belong to the big technological companies. She said such inequality is “what most worries us” at ECLAC. She called for the LAC region to consider a “new equation” between governments, the market, and society. Barcena also said rentism and extractivism impede the ability to manage natural resources with governance. [ECLAC Press Release]

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