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FACTBOX-UAE, U.S. top list of pressures on nature-WWF

24 Oct 2006 12:11:24 GMT
Source: Reuters

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Following is a ranking issued by the WWF conservation group on Tuesday of the 10 nations whose inhabitants place most demands per capita on the world's natural resources.

It said in a report that humans were stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and would need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends.

Nations with the biggest per capita "ecological footprints" were: 1. United Arab Emirates 2. United States 3. Finland 4. Canada 5. Kuwait 6. Australia 7. Estonia 8. Sweden 9. New Zealand 10. Norway

People in the United Arab Emirates, for instance, needed the equivalent of almost 12 hectares (29.65 acres) per person of productive land or seas in 2003 to provide natural resources they used and to re-absorb their waste.

The global average demand was 2.2 hectares, far above the available supply of 1.8 hectares per person.

The "ecological footprints", calculated by the WWF, comprise use of fossil fuels, nuclear power, cropland, grazing land, built-up land, fishing grounds, forests. For the top nations, emissions from using fossil fuels were the main component.

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Last updated:Tue Oct 24 12:14:06 2006