Eighteen years ago, on this day, March 30, 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment findings publicly launched at press conferences and seminars in London, Tokyo, Beijing, Delhi, Cairo, Paris, Nairobi, Washington DC, Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Rome and Lisbon.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably.
https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 382.4ppm. As of 2023 it is 419ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that biodiversity is often the poor cousin, the Cinderella, compared to climate. A cynic would argue that who really cares about charismatic megafauna and non charismatic megafauna. We can just eat Soylent Green, whereas if the climate goes chaotic, then it might affect rich people.
What I think we can learn from this
We need to remember that there is a shifting baseline. We need to remember that we keep making these promises about changing our ways that mysteriously we never quite do
What happened next
The sixth great extinction has continued, accelerated. My money is on it continuing to accelerate.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs