Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

Starving the Future Study 3
VI Conclusion
The International Botanical Congress 1999, the world’s largest gathering of plant scientists held in
August 1999 in St.Louis, documented the following grim perspectives: Half of the Earth’s land is
transformed, 50 dead zones expand in the world’s oceans, and before 2100 two thirds of all plant and
animal species could be lost. 53
“Scientists have documented five mass extinctions since complex life emerged on the planet. It is
generally accepted that each was caused by a catastrophic natural disaster. For example, the
disappearance of the dinosaurs was likely the result of a large meteorite crashing on Earth about 65
million years ago. Some scientists believe that we are in the midst of another mass extinction and that
we are the primary cause. In contrast to previous mass extinctions, the current rate of biodiversity
losses is higher than ever recorded. That is, we are losing more species per year than ever before.” 54
Given the dependence of human beings on biodiversity and their supportive web of ecosystems, one of
the species vanishing in this “catastrophic
natural disaster” could be the human species itself.
Nobody can say today that there is lack of scientific evidence of what is happening. There is also no
serious dispute about the looming water crisis. The question is a question of political response.
Obviously, political response has to address the causes for ecodestruction – which tend to be closely
linked to the causes for oppression. “We are the primary cause” holds mainly true for that part of
humanity which has the greatest impact on the planet’s ecosystems: Scientists have developped the
concept of “ecological footprint” to measure the ecological impact for nations, regions, individuals. The
ecological footprint is the size of the bioproductive area which would be necessary to run the economic
activities of the nation, region or individual in a sustainable way. The ecological footprint provides an
indicator for ecological impact : The larger the area, the bigger the impact. 55
In terms of nations, US citizens have the largest impact with an average footprint of 9.6 ha per person. 56
European citizens consume between 4 and 5 ha, whereas the Indians or Chinese take only 1.0 ha resp.
1.4 ha - well below the sustainable global average of 2.1 ha. 57 Population, of course, plays a role – but
what has to be counted is the footprints and not the heads: The US footprints add up to 25 billion km 2
(about 20% of total human impact) for a population of just 4.6% of the global population, whereas
China’s impact is 17.3 billion km 2 (13.7% of total global impact), but accomodating 21.4% of the world’s
population.
Total footprint has to be reduced very urgently – both in terms of unsustainable per capita footprint, as
well as in terms of population size – in particular in those nations showing unsustainable per capita
footprints, but elsewhere as well. The right of women to control the size of their families must be
implemented. In many countries it is the victims of the violations of the right to food who have at the
same time the least access to measures of reproductive health. Measures must be taken to stop
population growth well before the carrying capacity of a country has been reached. Biodiversity
concerns would also call for a policy of excluding a considerable portion of bioproductive area in each
country from human use as a reservation for biodiversity.
Ecodestruction is largely due to the economic activities under the current paradigm of “development”
measured basically by growth of GNP. GNP, however, does not measure wellbeing, but
ecodestruction. 58 The conclusion is obvious: A fundamental paradigm change is urgently necessary to
halt the tendencies indicated in this study. Measures taken will have to curtail the “liberty” of
corporations: Future regulation should be firmly based on human rights – not only to check powerful
state and intergovernmental authorities, but also to provide protection and fulfilment for today’s victims
of ecodestruction – the forerunners of future generations of victims: The indigenous peoples, the
peasants and fisherfolk.
FIAN International 140
June 2002