Wildlife

60 per cent of ecosystems are degraded or used unsustainably

Freshwater vertebrates declined 50 per cent from 1987-2003

Food

Recycling is a waste of time

Rob Lyons: For all the fluffy talk of a caring, sharing future, environmentalists are ultimately more concerned about stuff than people

Sorting waste is a pain, but I'll do my bit

David Aaronovitch: Some people respond to any call for public spirited behaviour as if they are hungover teenagers

Insects eat 14 per cent of all crops annually

That consumption forecast to grow up to 350 per cent by 2050

By 2030 developing countries forecast to need 120 million hectares of agricultural land to feed themselves

Consumption

21.9 hectares are needed to supply each person today; Earth’s sustainable level is 15.7 hectares per person

Climate change

Carbon dioxide levels highest for the last 500,000 years

Average global temperature will rise by 1.8C – 4C this century

Air pollution

2 million people are killed each year by air pollution

Culture

90 per cent of 6,000 languages could be lost by 2100

Population

34 per cent higher than 20 years ago

Could reach 9.7 billion by 2050

Conflict

More than 8 million people have died directly or indirectly as a result of war in Africa since 1960

Water

Growing consumption means 10 per cent of major rivers fail to reach the sea for part of the year

3 million people die each year from water-borne disease

1.8 billion people will face serious shortages by 2025

Inequality

Annual income of the richest 1 billion people is almost 15 times that of 2.3 billion poorest

Urbanisation

2007 is first year in world history when majority of people live in towns and cities

Output

In 1987 1.8 tonnes of crops were yielded per hectare of farmland; today it is 2.5 tonnes

Trade is three times greater now than in 1987

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