ABSTRACT
Most people reading this book will know about the threats facing the environment and so these are dealt with only in summary. Biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates; most recent estimates place a million species at serious risk. Other ecosystem services are also declining, leading in turn to loss of food and water security. Furthermore, public and political awareness of the role that these services play is often so low that problems are ignored until it is too late. Population increases, rising consumption and mounting levels of waste are creating natural resource shortages. High levels of land degradation, natural ecosystem loss and decline in freshwaters are being recorded; climate change is exacerbating many pressures and leading to some frightening new problems, including ocean acidification. Poaching has reached crisis levels in some countries. The concept of planetary boundaries is becoming better known, with scientists estimating the point at which use of particular resources, emission of pollutants or other ecological disruptors reach an unsustainable level and “exceed the boundary”. All of these issues have direct implications for human security, both today and in the future.
