Scientists issue second warning to humanity

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Around 1500 scientists have issued a second warning of possible doom for the world if corrective measures are not implemented. The warning comes 25 years after the first similar declaration issued in 1992.

The recent warning has been published in the journal Bioscience. Scientists from 184 countries claimed that almost all the significant threats mentioned in the first warning have grown more severe.

Growing population has been cited as a major threat because the world has seen 35 percent increase in global population leading to the addition of two billion people.

“Humanity is now being given a second notice, as illustrated by these alarming trends,” said the letter.

In 1992 “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” authored by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and signed by 1,700 scientists included a large number of living Nobel laureates in the field of sciences.

The second notice to humanity mentions that since 1992, except for stabilizing the stratospheric ozone layer, humanity has failed to make sufficient progress in generally solving these foreseen environmental challenges, and alarmingly, most of them are getting far worse.

Scientists have raised their concern on the current trajectory of potentially catastrophic climate change due to rising Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and agricultural production – mainly from farming ruminants for meat consumption.

One of the alarming issue raised is the world’s marching headlong into a mass extinction – the sixth such event in 540 million years.

Photo taken on August 22, 2006, shows several Saiga antelopes running in Gansu Endangered Animal Research Center in Wuwei, a city of northwest China's Gansu Province. /Xinhua Photo

More action needed

Scientists have also underlined the positive actions that have been taken to prevent the catastrophe. They pointed out that advancements have been made to reduce extreme poverty and hunger.

Other notable progress includes the rapid decline in fertility rates in many regions attributable to investments in girls’ and women's education, decline in the rate of deforestation in some areas, and the rapid growth in the renewable-energy sector.

“We have learned much since 1992, but the advancement of urgently needed changes in environmental policy, human behavior, and global inequities is still far from sufficient,” letter stated.

The letter also provides a 13-point solution to slow down the trajectory to doom. As a part of the solution, population control has been given a prominence and urges governments to make contraception widely available. The solution also includes switching over to the plant-based diet and phasing out subsidies for fossil fuels.