Source: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme
URL: N/A
Date: 30/09/2014
Event: Extreme weather and "too many demands on the planet"
Credit: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme
People:
Charles Carroll: Researchers say that wildlife numbers around the world more than halved between 1970 and 2010. The Zoological Society of London, working with the World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF, has published the "Living Planet" report. Scientists say the alarming findings are due to humans killing unsustainable numbers of animals for food, as well as pollution and climate change. Heather Sohl, who is the Chief Advisor on Species for WWF, told us that there were too many demands on the planet.
Heather Sohl: We're not producing this for shock value, we're producing this in order to say, you know: our wildlife, our biodiversity is at threat. But the other part of this is looking what is causing that, and we're finding that it is humanity's demand on natural resources which is rising unsustainably and causing these declines in the biodiversity.
Charles Carroll: This September was the driest across the UK since records began in 1910. The Met Office says mean temperatures were significantly above the monthly average. Here's our Environment Analyst, Roger Harrabin.
Roger Harrabin: If your petunias have withered in their pots, this month, you're not alone. September has brought exceptionally low rainfall in most parts of the UK. The Met Office say the UK received just 19.4 millimetres of rain - that's only a fifth of what we'd normally expect, and 4 millimetres less than the previous record low. Temperatures have been high, too, probably in the top five Septembers on record. It's the latest in a succession of extreme weather events this year. August was the eighth wettest on record, and the period of January to August the wettest on record. The recent dry conditions have been caused by continued high pressure, which blocks rain from the Atlantic.