Unsustainable World
Statistics
● 226,000,000 adolescents do not complete secondary education.
● 770,000,000 adults lack basic reading and writing skills.
● 1 out of 4 mammals run the risk of total depletion.
● Numerous small islands in the Pacific Ocean are only a few centimeters above sea level and are constantly threatened by floods caused by the rise in the sea level.
● The most vulnerable groups affected by climate change are the poor, the elderly and children, including those who live in developed countries.
● More than 30,000 plant species and 5,000 animal species currently face extinction.
● One of the most serious threats includes the loss of essential habitats, such as forests and coral reefs. Nearly half of the world’s forests have been depleted and a third of the coral reefs could be gone in the next 10-20 years.
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Unsustainable World
Statistics
● Estimates say that between 20 to 75 species go extinct each day. One very alarming statistic shows that 90% of our food comes from only 20 species of food crops, while 50,000 food crop species go extinct each year.
● More than 1,2 billion people do not have access to drinking water.
● 1 billion lack adequate housing.
● 840 million people are malnourished.
● 2 billion people suffer from anemia due to lack of iron in their diets.
● 880 million people do not have access to basic health services.
● 2 billion people lack access to essential medications.
● One-third of the illnesses found in children five years and younger are caused by environmental risks such as water and air pollution.
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Unsustainable World
Statistics
● Four million children (five years and younger) could be saved by preventing these environmental risks.
● Improved water and air treatment would avoid 40% of deaths caused by malaria, 41% of deaths by respiratory infections and 94% of deaths caused by diarrhea: the three main causes of infant mortality around the globe.
● Environmental risks are associated with 85 of the 102 categories of illnesses and traumas included in the World Health Report.
● The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by more than 30% since before the industrial revolution.
● In the last decade of the 20th Century, natural disasters related to meteorological conditions have caused approximately 600,000 deaths around the world; 95% of them in poor countries.
● It is estimated that asthma-related deaths will rise by approximately 20% in the next 10 years if no urgent measures are taken to stall climate change and prepare to face its effects.
● The world forest surface area is reduced by 13 million hectares per year due to deforestation.
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Unsustainable World
Estadísticas
● Up to 2008, 44,837 species have been evaluated and 38% have been classified as threatened.
● More than one-fourth (27%) of the 845 species found in coral reefs have been classified as threatened.
● Six out of seven marine turtle species are threatened.
● According to WWF’s Living Planet Report, between 1970 and 2005, about 30% of the world’s biodiversity was lost.
● 90% of the great fish, such as tuna and sharks have disappeared in the last century.
● Between 10,000 and 50,000 species are lost every year.
● CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere today exceed those present in the last 20 million years.
● Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could be reduced by 5% by 2050 if temperatures rise by more than 2°C.
● Between 9 and 52% of world species are threatened by climate change.
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Sources: WHO, FAO, UNEP and IUCN Red List