Environmental crisis - We cannot ignore the warnings

AS we batten down the hatches for Tuesday’s emergency budget it is disconcerting to learn that our financial problems are in the ha’penny place compared with our environmental excesses.

An EU-commissioned study has put a price tag on the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion (€1.5tn) and $5tn (€3.7tn). The figure comes from adding the value of the services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide. Various calculations put the cost of the banking collapse at between $1tn (€0.74tn) and $1.5tn (€1.1tn).

The situation is so urgent that even in these extraordinary times we cannot plead catastrophe overload and turn away from this set of truly huge challenges.

Not only is the environmental loss greater but it is continuous. It’s been happening every year, year after year, and as technology becomes more efficient — or, depending on your perspective, destructive — the impact accelerates.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity review was initiated by Germany under its recent EU presidency, with the European Commission providing funding. That sort of authority means we cannot fob off the findings. We must take action on its conclusions.

The report is seen as a new way of persuading policymakers to fund the protection of the world we live in rather than allowing the decline in ecosystems and species, highlighted in the release just last Monday of the Red List of Threatened Species.

From an Irish point of view these arguments were given even more weight earlier this week with the publication the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) four-year report on the state of our environment. The agency was refreshingly unambiguous. It described our environment as “an asset under threat”.

The EPA was rightly critical of our half-hearted attempts to curb the threat we pose to our air, water, habitats and climate. The report prioritised four areas: limiting and adapting to climate change; reversing environmental degradation, particularly in relation to water pollution and the conservation status of habitats; “mainstreaming” environmental considerations across all sectors of the economy and complying with environmental legislation and agreements.

Our track record tells us that we don’t have a corncrake’s chance in a silage field of realising these targets without a radical shift in our mindset and an acceptance that each of us has an obligation to change our ways.

EPA director general Dr Mary Kelly pointed out that important EU legislation will come into force over the next few years and that we cannot ignore the problems any longer.

The EU Water Framework Directive, for example, requires that all rivers and lakes must be of at least “good” status by 2015. Today official figures say that almost 30% of our rivers are polluted, though anyone who regularly uses our rivers and lakes would regard that rating as extremely optimistic.

Just as, in our heart of hearts, we knew that those we trusted to run our financial systems were acting more like croupiers than bankers over the past number of years, we know that we have to change our attitude to the environment we exploit so recklessly.

We face a financial crisis because we turned a blind eye to excess, we cannot afford to do it a second time; we must not repeat that mistake with the environment.