Humans living beyond Earth's means, warns UN report[fr][de] 

Among the issues that remain unresolved are climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing population, which all, according to the report , "put humanity at risk". 

In addition to these persistent "harder-to-manage issues", new ones are emerging, warns the report. These include the rapid rise of oxygen 'dead zones' in the oceans and the resurgence of new and old diseases partly linked to environmental degradation. 

The UN report therefore aims to issue a serious warning. "We are living far beyond our means," it states. The human population is now so large that "the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available". According to the 2005 Footprint of Nations report, humanity's footprint is 21.9 ha/person, while the Earth's biological capacity is, on average, only 15.7 ha/person, thus resulting in net environmental degradation and loss. 

The report concludes that "while governments are expected to take the lead, other stakeholders are just as important to ensure success in achieving sustainable development. Fundamental changes in social and economic structures, including lifestyle changes, are crucial if rapid progress is to be achieved". 

Regarding Europe, the report stresses that the continent's "greater prosperity and growing number of individual households are contributing to unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, higher energy use, poor urban air quality, and transport problems driven by demands for increased mobility". 

However, it argues that growing public awareness underpinned by rising energy prices has given new political momentum to addressing these issues. It refers to the EU's good governance and advanced cooperation on environmental matters as a major asset to European countries to apply "lessons learned".

The outlook is referred to as the most comprehensive UN report on the environment, prepared by 390 experts and reviewed by more than 1,000 others throughout the world. It assesses the current state of the global atmosphere, land, water and biodiversity, describes the changes since 1987 and identifies priorities for action.

The first review of the EU's renewed Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), published the day before, also urges for action to be significantly stepped up "to turn around persistent unsustainable trends". According to Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the EU concerns are most evident in "energy consumption, transport, bio-diversity and health" (see EurActiv 25/10/2007).