Ecuador is one of the “overdrawn” countries. International organization urges governments to change the way they boost economies.
May 5, 2021 – 06h00
72% of the world’s population, including Ecuadorians, live in countries that face a deficit of biological resources (where demand exceeds natural regeneration) and generate incomes below the world average. This is the conclusion of the report “ The importance of resource security for the eradication of poverty ”, produced by the international organization Global Footprint Network (GFN).
These nations are exposed to insecurities of food, water, shelter, clothing and energy. Humanity already demands from more nature each year than the planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. As resource depletion worsens, competition for those resources will become fiercer, specialists warn.
Rapid depletion is already taking its toll, as evidenced by a slowdown in environmental challenges that include a slow reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, loss of biodiversity, freshwater scarcity and deforestation, the study indicates.
Furthermore, it is asserted that the economic development strategies adopted by nations fail to adequately address this challenge: “The widespread view on economic development and resource use is still rooted in a colonialist mentality of extraction or exploitation.”
He cites as an example that the World Bank continues to support policies driven largely by GDP, that Germany continues to push to complete a new natural gas pipeline from Russia by directing investment toward fossil fuel infrastructure, and the United Kingdom wants to open a coal mine in Cumbria, at the same time as organizing COP26.
In 2019, Ecuador exhausted its natural resources on December 14 and in 2018 on October 28 . Ecuador is one of the “overdrawn” nations. One of the new concerns of environmental groups is that the president-elect Guillermo Lasso has placed as one of his mainstays to lift the ailing economy the increase in oil production, when , according to GFN, governments should focus on sustainable alternatives.
The international NGO affirms that the solution to this problem is, on the supply side, to invest in the resilience and productivity of biological capital. And in terms of demand, it requires finding ways to meet human needs through much less demanding options.
Taking care of the oceans and the species that inhabit them are also part of the solution. It is estimated that every year 100 million sharks die in the world as a result of fishing or accidental deaths caused by humans and other populations of species important to the marine ecosystem have been decimated .
In addition, overfishing would be compromising the food sovereignty of the poorest countries. If this reality continues, the future is not promising. On May 3, a team of fifteen scientists embarked on an expedition to protect the marine migration route between the islands of Coco and Galapagos, within the framework of joint work between the Marine Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific and the governments of the Coast Rica and Ecuador.
The mission is to gather more scientific evidence to urge the authorities to take decisive action on the level of protection necessary to save one of the most important “marine migration highways” on the planet.
The expedition will pass through Cocos Island and will arrive in San Cristóbal, Galapagos, on May 12. From there, you will continue your journey and return to Quepos, where it will end on May 23. MigraMar scientists explained that the expedition will stop at six defined locations where it will carry out satellite and acoustic marking of fish and marine mammals, underwater video sampling, measuring biodiversity through sightings and taking of DNA samples.
Alex Hearn, scientific leader of the expedition, explains that the research will provide more important scientific evidence on the migration between marine protected areas by species such as sharks, whales and billfish and tuna.
To maintain progress and eradicate poverty, countries need sufficient natural resources within their country to equal their ecological footprint, or money to buy competitively what they need in foreign markets.
“When none of these conditions are met, countries can end up in an ecological poverty trap, a situation in which the country’s natural resources are insufficient to provide enough food, fibers, construction materials, and CO2 sequestration, among others. factors ”, indicates GFN. (I)
Read the original coverage from El Universo at https://www.eluniverso.com/larevista/ecologia/el-72-de-la-poblacion-vive-en-naciones-con-un-deficit-de-sus-recursos-biologicos-nota/
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