Fears for planet's welfare

A serious strain is being put on the Earth's resources

By John Duce of BBC Science

More floods, famines, water shortages and other natural and man-made disasters are likely in the next few decades if world leaders fail to tackle serious ecological problems, a new report claims.

In its annual State of the World report, the Worldwatch Institute says the planet is at a crossroads and certain huge issues can no longer be ignored.

Global climage change is a serious concern

Worldwatch says population growth, increased pressure on food and water supplies, the destruction of forests and farmland, and climate change, among other problems, are putting serious strain on the Earth's resources.

The United Nations predicts the world's population will increase from about six billion to nearly nine billion people in the next 50 years.

Flood fears

This new report warns the environment must be better protected now if we are to be able to adequately feed, house and care for these numbers in the future.

The Arctic ice cap is thinning

The institute's president, Christopher Flavin, says one of the most pressing problems is climate change.

The Arctic ice cap is already thinning, and thermal expansion of the oceans could threaten low-lying countries, such as Bangladesh and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, with flooding in the coming decades, Flavin believes.

"This is an accelerating problem and the longer we go on without addressing it, the worse the situation will become," Flavin said.

"So there really is an urgency to act right away before we see the full evidence of this kind of damage."

Hard decisions

The report says the failure of the climate change talks in the Hague last year highlights politicians' inability to firmly address these huge ecological problems.

It says greenhouse gas emissions should be cut, farmland and forests protected from development, and renewable forms of energy developed.

Worldwatch says the international community's ability to solve global environmental problems has been highlighted by the initiative to ban the chemicals that caused a hole to appear in the protective ozone layer over the Antarctic.

But the report says political leaders must be much more willing to take hard political and economic decisions now to ensure the future welfare of the planet.