Crop production has surged 300% since 1970, meaning one-third of all land is now used to make food -- an industry that uses 75% of all fresh water on Earth.
PARIS, France - A landmark UN report on the state of Nature released on Monday shows how humanity has wreaked havoc on the environment, undercutting Earth's essential life-support systems.
As our population swells, so does mankind's consumption. The report depicts a world ravaged by an insatiable demand for resources. In total, we extract around 60 billion tonnes of natural resources from the Earth every year -- a rise of 80% in a matter of decades.We dump up to 400 million tonnes of heavy metals, toxic sludge and other waste into oceans and rivers each year.
Our plastic production has increased 10-fold since 1990 and the use of fertilisers -- which poison ecosystems and wreck soil's CO2-absorption rates -- has doubled in just 13 years.The report's story of Earth is also one of rife inequality, with richer nations consuming vastly more per capita than poorer ones battling to retain their natural resources.
More than two billion people still rely on wood as their main energy source, and up to half of all medicines come from plants and animals.
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