Deeper Luxury Report - WWF UK

WWF works towards a future in which humans live in
harmony with nature. This is one of the most important
and urgent challenges facing humanity, yet we are
failing to meet it. The Living Planet Index, published
every two years by WWF, uses average trends in
populations of terrestrial, freshwater and marine
species worldwide as indicators of the health of our
planet. This index declined by around 30% between
1970 and 2003 (Figure 1). It is so well supported by
scientific evidence that, in 2004, it moved Nature
magazine to warn that we could lose a quarter of
all living species by 2050. 10
The ultimate cause of this decline is over-consumption
of irreplaceable natural resources by humans. Global
consumption levels are five times what they were just
50 years ago, and the natural world is buckling under
the weight of demand. Symptoms include pressure
on ecosystems (already leading to complete collapse
in some instances), soil loss and degradation, ground
water depletion, loss of productive land and the
accumulation of toxins. 11
We must reduce overall levels
of consumption.
Figure 1: Living Planet Index 1970-2003
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 03
The Ecological Footprint is WWF’s measure of how
we are depleting stocks of renewable natural resources.
In Figure 2, it is expressed in the number of planets,
where one planet equals the total biologically productive
capacity of the Earth in any one year. In 2001, humanity’s
footprint exceeded the Earth’s biological capacity by
approximately 20%. This overshoot depletes the Earth’s
natural capital and is therefore possible only for a
limited time. 12
If everyone were to live like the average European,
three planets would be needed to provide adequate
quantities of natural resources – for the average North
American, five planets would be required. 13
It would be
physically impossible for all the world’s poor to achieve
greater wellbeing in the same ways that Europeans and
North Americans have managed so far. Such wasteful
development is possible only for a minority, and for a
limited time. This is neither morally nor environmentally
sustainable. Our challenge is to find ways to improve
human wellbeing within natural limits; to stop living as
though we had another planet to go to.
Figure 2: Humanity’s ecological footprint 1961-2003
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 03
Deeper Luxury
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