One of the world's premier economic forums, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has openly identified environmental degradation as the greatest threat we face. While this is hardly news to those of us who've long been aware of the grave damage we've been inflicting on the planet in recent decades, for a mainstream economic organisation such as OECD it represents a fairly seismic change in thinking.
The key theme of its new report, 'Environmental Outlook to 2030', is that tackling climate change, pollution and other environmental hazards is urgently necessary to avoid irreversible damage.
"Climate change is mankind's most important long-term challenge," acknowledged OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. "Solutions are available, they are achievable and they are affordable. The consequences and costs of inaction ... would be much higher." But he warned that "if we want to avoid irreversible damage to our environment ... we'd better start working right away."
Economic-environmental projections show that, without new policies to restrict their growth, world greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase by 37 per cent to 2030 and by 52 per cent to 2050. By 2030 we will also need an estimated 10 per cent more agricultural land to meet increasing demands for food and biofuels; 1 billion more people will be living in areas of severe water stress; and premature deaths caused by ground-level ozone worldwide will have quadrupled.
The report combines economic and environmental projections to make predictions about what sort of changes will have to be made to address today's key environmental problems. It identifies four priority areas where urgent action is needed: climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and the impact on human health of pollution and toxic chemicals; and concludes that solutions are "available, achievable and affordable" if we move quickly.
"Countries will need to shift the structure of their economies in order to move towards a low carbon, greener and more sustainable future. The costs of this restructuring are affordable, but the transition will need to be managed carefully to address social and competitiveness impacts, and to take advantage of new opportunities", Secretary-General Gurria said.
The priority should be the overhauling of industries that cause most damage - energy, transport, agriculture and fisheries. An important first step would be the removal of environmentally harmful subsidies, particularly for fossil fuels and agricultural production.
"We must be aware that getting it right in the field of the environment is not only about what to do and how to do it. We also need to address the question of who will pay for what. The global cost of action will be much lower if all countries work together," Mr. Gurria conlcuded.
While it would be foolish to read too much into one document, the scope and tone of the report suggest that the message is finally getting through at the highest levels and that, to paraphrase Bill Clinton's famous winning line from 1992: "It's the environment, stupid." Let's sincerely hope so - because all the economic growth in the world isn't going to help us when we don't have enough land to grow food on, and our houses are under water.
