UNEP Report - 45,000 Square Miles Of Forest Destroyed Annually - Times Of India

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NEW DELHI: A report of United Nations Environment Programme, Global Environment Outlook-4, has warned that the consumption levels are fast depleting world resources.

According to the report, 45,000 square miles of forest are being lost across the world each year, 60% of the world's major rivers have been dammed or diverted and the fresh fish populations have declined by 50% in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, the biodiversity register of the planet is becoming thinner by the day.

Some 30% amphibians, 23% of mammals and 12% of birds are under threat of extinction due to human activity, while one in 10 of the world's large rivers is running dry every year before reaching its natural end - the sea.

And yet, there is no stopping energy guzzlers. The ecological overshoot is much higher at present in the developed countries than in poorer ones, but developing countries, such as China and now India, are adding to the crisis as they grow at a clipping rate.

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