By Vivian Tyson
SUN Associate Editors
If governments do not play their part in streamlining development, and putting policies in place to reduce activities which impact adversely on the environment, Earth could become almost uninhabitable in as little as ten years.
This damning picture was painted by environmental scientist Dr. David Suzuki of the David Suzuki Foundation, while addressing the opening of the 10 th Annual Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, held at Beaches Resort and Spa between April 28 and May 1.
Responding to a research document done on the earth and signed by Nobel Prize-winning scientists, on the study of what level of impact human activities will have on the earth if quick and decisive action is not taken, Dr. Suzuki urged Governments to take the threats on the environment more seriously.
“No more than one or two decades remain before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost, and the prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished. A great change in our stewardship of the earth is required if vast human misery is to be avoided, and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably liberated,” Dr. Suzuki said.
According to Dr. Suzuki, practically all the elements which give nature its equilibrium were being disturbed as a result of man's quest for economic gain. He said the fish stocks around the world were depleting, trees were being cut down to satisfy the various industry demands, and that streams were being polluted as a result of poisonous substances being released into them. He said, too, that some species were on the brink of extinction as a result of the ecosystem's disturbance for development purposes.
He noted that for more than forty years, the leading scientists around the world have warned that based on the current trend in our environment, we were heading down a destructive path, but noted that those warnings have been ignored by governments and capitalist proponents.
“Human beings in the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreparable damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices could have serious risk. The future we wish for human society and the world would be unable to sustain life in the manner that we have known,” Dr. Suzuki said.
Added Dr. Suzuki: “Fundamental changes are important if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about. And then we list the areas of collision: the atmosphere, water resources, ocean, soil, force, species extinction and over population.”
