The Associated Press / H. Josef Hebert
WASHINGTON -- A United Nations-sponsored report by the World Resources Institute, a private environmental think tank, concluded Sunday that despite greater environmental awareness, growing demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health more than ever and humans eventually will pay the price.
The study was quoted as saying that the broad decline of the world's ecosystems -- the interaction of organisms with their physical environment -- must be reversed or there "could be devastating implications" for human development. ... For too long in both rich and poor nations, development priorities have focused on how much humanity can take from our ecosystems, with little attention to the impact of our actions."
The story says the report reflects the findings of 197 scientists.
Among the findings is that two-thirds of the world's agricultural lands have suffered from significant soil degradation over the last 50 years, and a third of the world's original forests have been converted to agriculture.
James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, was quoted as saying in a statement that, "Governments and businesses must rethink some basic assumptions about how we measure and plan economic growth.":
