The five main Spanish NGOs ask to make human activities compatible with the protection of nature
- 2010
Press release • 05/6/10 • In the Sustainable Development Category
Water, seas, forests, agriculture and species are the themes chosen this year by Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO / BirdLife and WWF to celebrate World Environment Day.
2010 has been declared by the UN International Year of Biological Diversity and for this reason the demands of these organizations revolve around the great impacts that are causing the current loss of biodiversity.
It is estimated that every year between 18, 000 and 55, 000 species are lost on the planet, in a phenomenon comparable to what happened at the time the dinosaurs disappeared and that scientists have named the Sixth Extinction. In fact, the extinction rate of species is between 100 and 1, 000 times higher than what can be considered natural, and this is caused by the impact of human activities.
Among all of them, NGOs highlight industrial agriculture, unsustainable fishing, degradation and pollution of our waterways, logging of tropical forests and forest fires as the most important problems, without forget other impacts derived from transport, infrastructure construction and urbanization of the territory.
With regard to water and seas, the lack of purification and excessive consumption of water resources, especially in industrial agriculture and urbanizations, stand out. Also the overexploitation of fisheries and marine pollution that can make species like red tuna disappear. They demand a small-scale agriculture free of toxics and transgenics, which respects the planet's habitats. They also call for a more sustainable management of forests and greater investments in the fight against forest fires, and an extension of the protected area, especially at sea.
In summary, they call for an economy that is more respectful of biodiversity, and for that they demand the urgent approval of a State Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity that limits the impact on it of the productive sectors and strengthen management and recovery of protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network and endangered species.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org
