Key Challenges
- Peak Oil; power down from 9 barrels pp/y in 2009 to (possibly) 1 barrel per person by 2030
- Climate Change: keeping the lid on global temperature rise, getting carbon below 350ppm
- Carbon sequestration: removing some carbon from the atmosphere
- Stabilising Population growth to around 7 billion and reducing thereafter
- Increasing renewable energy supplies to meet 50% of current energy demand
- Reducing consumption and waste to zero
- Repairing biodiversity
- Maintaining adequate clean water supplies with less energy inputs
- Society making an inner transition and taking responsibility
Key challenges (© Richard Hodgson)
Our latest report finds that despite significant steps towards reducing waste, water consumption and emissions from road travel, Government departments are still not on course to meet their own target for reducing carbon emissions by 12.5%, and far more remains to be done if they are to make a real contribution towards meeting UK-wide targets for 80% emissions reductions by 2050
Sustainable Development Commission 20091
At current growth rates the global population is expected to grow to between 8 and 10.8 billion by 20502. Increasing population poses an enormous challenge to all nations. Population stability requires the cooperation of both policy makers and people. In poorer countries, access to education and family planning reduces pregnancy rates. In many richer countries, while pregnancy rates have fallen below replacement level but we cannot afford to be complacent as we are likely to witness significant short-term population increase through ‘baby boomers’ still in their fertile years, increasing life expectancy and climate immigrants, people displaced through their homelands becoming uninhabitable. In 2005 population projections were made that South Hams could expect a population increase of 3% by 2011 rising to 19% by 20313. A comparison of estimated population data4 from 2006 to 2008 indicates a rise of 4%, i.e. greater than the predicted rise in the first 2 years. A rise of 19% would bring the total population of T&D from 23,863 in 2008 to 28,397 by 2031.
Footnotes
- Front page of Sustainable Development Commission website June 2009 : sd-commission.org.uk [↩]
- PLAN B 3.0 Mobilizing to save civilization. Lester R. Brown 2008. p136 [↩]
- Data source: Base – Registrar General – Projections – Devon County Council [↩]
- Data source; Devon PCT. Devon County Council website [↩]
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