by Susanne Posel
June 9, 2012
from OccupyCorporatism Website

David Anderson

UNEP Governing Council President

The UN is issuing a warning to humanity that the state of our environment is unsustainable because of deforestation, declining fish populations, and a disregard for action against climate change.

The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) reports that only 4 out of the 90 goals for environmental change have been met. Climate change alarmists are decrying the earth is reaching an irreversible “tipping point”.

Through the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) governments have agreed to specific treaties to facilitate international mandates of change. The UN is upset that negotiations prior to the UN Earth Summit (UNES) conference currently being held in Rio de Janeiro were unsuccessful as governments are not regulating their contributions to global warming.

At the UNES topics discussed will be:

• Eliminating subsides on fossil fuels

• Regulating fishing on open waters

• Forcing corporations to curb their environmental footprint

Achim Steiner, executive director for the UNEP, urges:

“GEO-5 reminds world leaders and nations meeting at Rio+20 why a decisive and defining transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient, job-generating ‘green economy’ is urgently needed.

 

If current trends continue, if current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources prevail and cannot be reversed, then governments will preside over unprecedented levels of damage and degradation.”

The GEO-5 is an international mandate for the world’s governments as outlined by the UN.

The agency declares that lead-free gas, ozone depletion, access to clean water and research into marine pollution must be established to protect the biodiversity of plants and animals on our planet.

More than 700 international agreements have been signed, yet the UN is unimpressed with the continuation of decline as outlined in the Millennium Development Goals.

According to the GEO-5:

• In and outdoor air pollution must be controlled

• Greenhouse gas emissions will raise the earth’s temperature by 3 degrees Celsius by 2100

• Drinking water is below World Health Organization (WHO) standards

• Only 1.6% of the world’s oceans are protected

Coinciding with the GEO-5, Nature published “evidence” that the biosphere is in danger (Approaching a State Shift in Earth’s Biosphere) and biodiversity should be the focus of protection against irreversible climate change.

Anthony Barnofsky, co-author and professor from the University of California at Berkeley combined various computer models provided by the UN to surmise that 40% of the earth’s land is utilized for human necessities (i.e. cities, farms) and population growth threatens the biodiversity of the planet.

Barnofsky admonishes the use of “resource-expensive foods” such as livestock that will assist in population growth exploding by another 2 billion by 2050.

At the UNES, the UN calls western countries unsustainable consumption of resources is environmentally destructive which requires urgency to stop.

The World Bank assessed that uncontrolled fishing practices, supported by government subside, have depleted stocks and cost society $50 billion annually in resources lost.

UNEP wants to see the formation of internationally agreed sustainable development goals (SDGs) that are drawn up by the UN and forced upon sovereign nations under penalty of international law.

SDGs draw attention to imposing global taxation on air polluters and re-disbursement of crop yields under the UN’s governance.

In the end, Steiner demands that the world must,

“acknowledge the facts and face up to the common humanity that unites all peoples” under the aspirations of the UN’s sustainable development implementation as a “path to progress and prosperity.”