Plundering of earth’s resources ‘will lead to ecological debt’

PEOPLE are plundering the world’s resources at a pace that outstrips the planet’s capacity to sustain life, the environmental group, World Wide Fund for Nature, said yesterday.

In its regular Living Planet Report, the WWF said humans currently consume 20% more natural resources than the earth can produce.

Consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil increased by almost 700% between 1961 and 2001, it said. But the planet is unable to move as fast to absorb the resulting carbon-dioxide emissions that degrade the earth’s protective ozone layer.