The UN millennium ecosystem assessment: first report of session 2006-07 report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence
House of Commons papers 77 2006-07
- Corporate Author:
- Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee
- Author:
- Tim Yeo (chairman)
- Publisher:
- TSO (The Stationery Office)
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001, with its global assessment completed in March 2005. The MA is an international work plan designed to provide decision makers and the public with scientific information about the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. It focuses on the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, known as ecosystem services, such as food, timber, flood protection and biodiversity. It sought to identify how changes to ecosystem services have affected human well-being in the past, how changes might effect people in the future and what might we do at local, national and global scales to improve ecosystem management in order to promote human well-being and poverty alleviation. This report, prepared by the Environmental Audit Committee assesses the impact in the UK, and sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that a full engagement with the findings of Ecosystem Assessment at a local and international level is limited; that governments and development agencies have been slow to grasp the importance of this assessment; that the UK Government and other developed countries must seek to ensure, through a Millennium Ecosystem Fund, that all developing countries are equipped to incorporate the environment in their development strategies; policy-makers need to be made more aware of the direct benefits, primarily economic, but also social and environmental, of sustainable ecosystem service management and the adoption of the MA conceptual framework; the MA shows the degradation of ecosystem services, which will fundamentally impact on business, and that robust econometric models should be developed by the UK Government and the international community to understand the potential costs of the business' impact on the environment; more funds will have to be provided by the MA funding organizations, including DEFRA and DFID, so that greater awareness of the MA are known and understood; the Government must introduce an indicator of economic growth which incorporates the principles of sustainability and well-being as early as possible.
Extent | 57, Ev 68p. | ISBN | 9780215031822 |
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Size | N/A | Price | £15.50 |
Format | Paperback | Published | 03 Jan 2007 |
Availability |
Colour copy: 3 - 5 days
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