New report calls on countries to combine environmental and development goals

New report calls on countries to combine environmental and development goals

“Degradation of the natural world is undermining efforts to reduce poverty,” scientists warn in a new article published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

A farmer in the Lobesa valley of Bhutan, which pledges to be the first 100% organic country. (Photo: 10b Travelling via Flickr)The only way we can achieve a “thriving global society” and mitigate the combined effects of environmental destruction and global poverty, the authors write in Policy: Sustainable Development Goals for People and Planet, is for international policymakers to adopt new targets that combine the need for planetary stability with poverty alleviation goals.

“Humans are transforming the planet in ways that could undermine any development gains,” says lead author Professor David Griggs of Australia’s Monash University.