-This explosive population growth reached a peak of 2.1% growth rate in the late 1960s, the most significant demographic process since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

-The world population is expected to reach 9.1 billion in 2050 and to be increasing by about 33 million persons annually at that time.

-The population growth of the 49 least developed countries is still the fastest growing in the world, at 2.3% per year.

-During 2010-2050, nine countries are expected to account for half of the world’s projected population increase: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, China andBangladesh, listed according to the size of their contribution to global population growth.

-Globally, life expectancy at birth is projected to rise from 68 years in 2005-2010 to 76 years in 2045-2050.

-In terms of annual averages, the major net receivers of international migrants during 2010-2050 are projected to be the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia and France.

-The number of cities of one million or larger was 76 in 1950, 522 in 1975, 1,122 in 2000, and is set to exceed 1,600 by 2015. Using current population projections to 2050, most of the forthcoming growth in population will be in cities, with poor countries having “to build the equivalent of a city of one million people each week for the next 45 years” (Cohen, 2005).

References:
United Nations – Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Cohen, J.E. 2005. Human Population Grows Up. Scientific American Sept 2005: 48-55.
McNeely, J.A. and Mainka, S.A. 2009. Conservation for a New Era. IUCN, Gland,  Switzerland. 220 pp.

-1.5 billion animals moved across US border by importers from 2000-2006

-That equals 5 pets per person in the US

-90% came from wild populations where disease testing is not mandated

-More than 67% came from Southeast Asia

-52% were only identified by Class

-13.6% were classified by Species

-11.9% were identified by Family

-11.1% were labeled only by Genus

-3.9% were identified by Order

-7.5% of animal imports were labeled as unknown

Data: Conservation Magazine July/Sept 2009

Here is a breakdown of the amount of water needed to produce the fuels needed to quench our energy needs (Liters per Megawatt hour):

Oil refining: 80-150

Oil Shale: 170-681

Natural Gas Combined Cycle power plants: 230-30,300

Coal: ~900

Nuclear, closed loop cooling: ~950

Geothermal, closed loop cooling: 1,900-4,200

Enhanced Oil Recovery: ~7,600

Natural Gas Combined Cycle power plants, open loop cooling: 28,400-75,700

Nuclear, open loop cooling: 94,600-227,100

Corn ethanol irrigation: 2,270,000-8,670,000

Soybean biodiesel irrigation: 13,900,000-27,900,000

Data: Conservation Magazine July/Sept 2009

Basking sharks filter up to 1,500 gallons of water per hour

The smallest is a lantern shark, averaging just 8 inches

The largest fish in the world is the whale shark and can reach lengths of over 40 to 60 feet

The fastest shark is the Mako, which has reached speeds of more than 45 miles per hour

Blue sharks have been tracked swimming more than 10,000 miles

Sharks may hear a fish a mile away

Sharks can smell blood in the water from 1/3 of a mile away

The Spiny dogfish has a gestation period close to 2 years, which makes it one of the longest of any animals

Spiny dogfish females are thought to reach breeding age at 35 years

Dusky shark females reach breeding age at 20 years

The smalltooth sawfish population has declined by 99%

The IUCN estimates that 20% of sharks are in danger of extinction

Worldwide shark takes have tripled since 1985

Tens of millions of sharks are accidentally caught as bycatch in commercial fisheries each year

According to Oceana, “estimates of the total number of sharks killed each year for their fins range from 26 to 73 million per year.”

Data: Ocean Conservancy and Oceana

Estimates indicate “it would take between 75 and 93 years for the carbon emissions saved through use of biofuel to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion, depending on how the forest was cleared.”

“If the original habitat was peatland, carbon balance would take more than 600 years.”

“Conversely, planting oil palms on degraded grassland would lead to a net removal of carbon within 10 years.”

“Tropical forests also store around 46% of the world’s living terrestrial carbon, and 25% of total net global carbon emissions may stem from deforestation.”

“In 2006, 85% of the global palm-oil crop was produced in Indonesia (43%) and Malaysia (42%)”

“According to latest estimates, between the years 2000 and 2005, the net forest loss was 7.3 million hectares per year or 20,000 hectares per day.”

“Since l998, over 100 million hectares of primary forests have been converted into industrial tree plantations.”

“In l997 it was estimated that oil palm plantations occupy 6.5 million hectares and produced 17.5 million tonnes of palm oil and 2.1 million tonnes of palm kernel oil.”

“By 2005, palm oil production reached 30 million tonnes and the area covered had already comprised 12 million hectares.”

“Indonesia is experiencing the biggest rate of increase in terms of forests converted into oil palm plantations. In a period of 30 years (1967-1997) oil palm plantations have increased 20 times with 12 percent average annual increases in crude palm oil (CPO) production.”

“From 106,000 hectares in 1960 this has increased to 6 million hectares in Indonesia although there were around 18 million hectares of forests cleared purportedly for oil palm in 2006.”

“In 2002 palm oil produced more than US$2.1 billion in export revenue for Indonesia and $3.8 billion for Malaysia.”

References:
Conservation Biology, Biofuel Plantations on Forested Lands: Double Jeopardy for Biodiversity and Climate, 2009
United Nations: Oil Palm and Other Commercial Tree Plantations, Monocropping: Impacts on Indigenous peoples’ Land Tenure and Resource Management Systems and Livelihoods. 2007

The global index (Living Planet Index) shows that vertebrate species populations declined by nearly 30% during the period 1970 to 2005.

Humanity’s Ecological Footprint- Human demand on the biosphere more than doubled during the period 1961 to 2005.

 Global Living Planet Index shows an average trend of -28% from 1970 to 2005 in 4,642 populations of 1,686 species.

Temperate Living Planet Index shows a +6% average trend between 1970 and 2005 in 3,309 opulations of 1,235 species.

Tropical Living Planet Index shows a -51% overall trend from 1970 to 2005 in 1,333 populations of 585 species.

Terrestrial Living Planet Index shows an average -33% trend between 1970 and 2005 in 2,007 populations of 887 terrestrial species.

Marine Living Planet Index shows an average -14 % trend over 35 years in 1,175 populations of 341 marine species.

Freshwater Living Planet Index shows an average -35% trend from 1970 to 2005 in 1,463 populations of 458 species.

Tropical Forest Living Planet shows an average -62% trend between 1970 and 2005 in 503 populations of 186 species.

Dryland Living Planet Index shows an average -44% trend between 1970 and 2005 in 476 populations of 149 species.

Grassland Living Planet Index shows an average -36% trend between 1970 and 2005 in 703 populations of 309 species.

Nearctic Living Planet Index shows no overall change in 1,117 populations of 588 Nearctic species.

Neotropical Living Planet Index shows an average -76% trend over 34 years in 202 populations of 144 Neotropical species.

Palearctic Living Planet Index shows an overall +30% trend over 35 years in 1,167 populations of 363 Palearctic species.

Afrotropical Living Planet Index shows an average -19% trend over 35 years in 552 populations of 201 Afrotropical species.

Indo-Pacific Living Planet Index includes the Indomalayan, Australasian and Oceanic realms, and shows an average -35% trend over 35 years in 441 populations of 155 species.

Bird Living Planet Index shows an average -20% trend between 1970 and 2005 in 2,185 populations of 895 species.

Mammal Living Planet Index shows an average -19% trend from 1970 to 2005 in 1,161 populations of 355 species.

Data: The Living Planet Report 2008, Published in October 2008 by WWF–World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund), Gland, Switzerland.

“In most individual bays and ecoregions there has been a >90% loss in oyster reef habitat. In some bays, losses are >99%”

“Globally, 85% of oyster reefs have been lost, making oyster reefs one of the most severely impacted marine ecosystem on the planet”

“In 1864 alone, 700 million European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) were consumed in London, employing up to 120,000 men in Britain to dredge oysters”

“Shell piles in the southwest of France contain over 1 trillion shells apiece”

“Chesapeake Bay reefs are closer to 1% remaining than 10% remaining”

“They [oyster reefs] are functionally extinct with less than 1% of prior abundances remaining in many bays (37% of bays) and ecoregions (28% of ecoregions), particularly in North America, Australia and Europe”

“Nearly half of the assessed shellfish populations were either moderately or highly threatened by overfishing and environmental degradation”

“Oyster reefs are at less than 10% of prior abundance in most bays (70%) and ecoregions (63%)”

“Most wild Ostrea edulis populations in Europe were removed between 100 and nearly 1000 years ago, but in just the past decade (1990s), a wild population in the Gulf of Thessaloniki (Greece) collapsed from more than 1000 tonnes of harvest annually to a point where it is now difficult to find just 60 individual oysters with a dredge”

General stats quoted from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s Final Report: An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century:

In 2001, 23 percent of the nation’s estuarine areas were considered impaired for swimming, fishing, or supporting marine species.

In 2003, there were more than 18,000 days of closings and advisories at ocean and Great Lakes beaches, most due to the presence of bacteria associated with fecal contamination.

Across the globe, marine toxins afflict more than 90,000 people annually and are responsible for an  estimated 62 percent of all seafood related illnesses.

Experts estimate that 25 to 30 percent of the world’s major fish stocks are overexploited.

While coastal watershed counties comprise less than 25 percent of the land area in the United States, they are home to more than 52 percent of the total U.S. population.

On average, some 3,600 people a day are moving to coastal counties, suggesting that by 2015 coastal populations will reach a total of 165 million.

Approximately 80 percent of marine debris originates on land, either washed along in runoff, blown by winds, or intentionally dumped from shore, while 20 percent comes from offshore platforms and vessels, including fishing boats.

In 2000, the ocean economy contributed more than $117 billion to American prosperity and supported well over two million jobs.

Currently, about 30 percent of the nation’s oil supplies and 25 percent of its natural gas supplies are produced from offshore areas

1 million metric tons – The amount of bushmeat eaten each year in Central Africa and equal to approximately 4 million head of cattle (WWF).

The bushmeat menu spans insects (45% of take) , mammals (23% of take), birds (20% of take), reptiles, and amphibians (WSPA, 2006)

“27% of recorded mammals, 63% of birds, 61% of reptiles and 35% of amphibianshunted are listed by IUCN as endangered or vulnerable to extinction” (WSPA, 2006)

“At least 25% of meat in Nairobi butcheries is bushmeat, sold under the auspices of domestic meat, and a further 19% is a domestic-bushmeat mix, suggesting mixing and cross-contamination during storage or transit” (Born Free, 2004).

As of 2005, up to 30,000 tons of illegal meet was crossing the UK borders from non-European Union countries. And that does not include the shipments that went undetected. (Kümpel, 2005)
The most prevalent form of village hunting is snaring, which accounts for 84% of collections (WCS, 1996)

15% of West and Central African market carcasses are primates, of which 1% is comprised of great apes. Unfortunately, this 1% is detrimental to their survival and represents a significant number of their biomass (Stein et al, 2002b).

Endangered Species International estimates that the bushmeat trade is responsible for the illegal slaughter of 300 gorillas per year in the city of Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo alone.

According to the WWF in 2003, approximately 3,000 to 6,000 great apes are harvested annually

World Totals in live animals per year

Primates (38,500 total)
USA – 51%
Japan – 16%
France – 9%
UK – 6%
Canada – 3%
Belgium – 3%
Netherlands – 2%
Germany – 2%
Other – 9%

Lizards (1,157,000 total)
USA – 67%
Spain – 6%
Germany – 4%
South Korea – 4%
Japan – 3%
Italy – 3%
Canada – 2%
Mexico – 2%
France – 2%
Other – 7%

Snakes (372,400 total)
USA – 68%
Italy – 5%
Germany  -5%
China – 4%
Hong Kong – 3%
France – 3%
Taiwan – 2%
Spain – 2%
Japan – 2%
Canada – 2%
Other – 4%

Parrots (385,600 total)
Italy – 13%
Spain – 9%
Singapore – 8%
France – 8%
USA – 8%
Japan – 5%
UK – 5%
Portugal – 5%
Thailand – 4%
Indonesia – 4%
Greece – 4%
Israel – 3%
Taiwan – 3%
Mexico – 3%
Saudi Arabia – 2%
Other – 17%

Tortoises (26,200 total)
Japan – 29%
Taiwan – 9%
Germany – 7%
India – 7%
Spain – 6%
France – 6%
Hong Kong – 6%
UK – 6%
Italy – 5%
Netherlands – 5%
South Korea – 5%
Madagascar – 3%
Mexico – 2%
Other – 4%