WIREDGOV

It’s taken just eight months for humanity to use the resources that nature provides in a year, according to a global think-tank.

Today (Tuesday 19th August) marks Earth Overshoot Day – the date when our ecological footprint (use of natural resources) in a given year exceeds what our planet can regenerate in that year, according to data from the Global Footprint Network.

WWF Cymru hopes the report reminds Welsh Government Ministers of the huge increase in humanity’s use of the world’s resources during their lifetime. It says that they need to change the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill to address this challenge, to tackle issues ranging from poverty and loss of wildlife to climate change.

Since the turn of the century, this ‘overshoot’ has grown, part of a longer term trend:

•    In 1961, the year construction began on the first Severn Bridge,humanity used about three-quarters of the capacity the Earth had available that year for generating food, fibre, timber, fish stocks and absorbing greenhouse gases

•    By the early 1970s, around the time Llanelli beat the All Blacks in Stradey Park, humanity’s footprint had grown beyond what the planet could renewably produce.

•    In 2000, the year the National Botanic Garden opened in Llanarthne,and the previous time the National Eisteddfod was held in Llanelli, Overshoot Day fell on October 1st… 

•    …This year it’s on August 19th and we are using 1.5 planets’ worth of natural resources. If everyone lived as we do in Wales, we’d need over 2 planets to support us.

Anne Meikle, Head of WWF Cymru, said:

“It’s alarming to see Overshoot Day move earlier and earlier in the calendar. It’s a timely reminder for us in Wales – as we need to see changes to the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill to address the problems highlighted by Overshoot Day, such as climate change. 

“When the Minister responsible for the Bill – Jeff Cuthbert – was still at school, the world lived within its means. Around the time Carwyn Jones was starting his education, humanity crossed a line and began to outstrip what nature could provide. 

“They now have the chance to put Wales on the path to only using a fair share of the Earth’s resources and get us to a point where we can live within our means. We believe they need to strengthen this Bill to ensure their own children and grandchildren live in a world with less poverty, which still has huge forests and seas full of wildlife.

“We are pleased with what Jeff Cuthbert has said about reducing Wales’ negative impacts on the world. So let’s ensure we show our concern for our world and ensure this Bill helps to make that happen.”

WWF Cymru is now asking people in Wales to share a photo ‘wish’ for the future as part of its Welsh Wish campaign for a sustainable future: wwf.org.uk/welshwish

You can also calculate your own personal environmental impact using WWF’s footprint calculator: wwf.org.uk/calculator

1.    To learn more about Earth Overshoot Day and how it is calculated, go to: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

2.    Global Footprint Network is an international sustainability think tank working to make ecological limits central to decision-making by advancing the Ecological Footprint, a resource management tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use and who uses what.  

3.    Follow the conversation on social media: #oshoot 

4.    WWF Cymru is part of the Sustainable Development Alliance – a group of more than 20 Welsh organisations campaigning for a strong sustainability law. For more information, visit the Alliance website:www.shapingfuturewales.org

5.    WWF is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, creating solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature thrive.  Find out more about our work, past and present at wwf.org.uk.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Nosworthy, tel: 029 20454972 / 07920 211 534, email:rnosworthy@wwf.org.uk