Loss of Nature Will Damage Economies (11th May, 2010)

We are causing so much damage to our planet that it will soon affect the global economy. This bleak warning is according to a new United Nations report called the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO). The paper says there are many important ecosystems on our planet that are in danger. These “tipping points” in our natural world are where man’s negative impact on nature will start costing national economies. Examples of these are the deaths of coral reefs, the destruction of huge areas of forest, or major pollution of rivers. UN spokesman Ahmed Djoglaf said: "The news is not good. We continue to lose biodiversity at a rate never before seen in history - extinction rates may be up to 1,000 times higher than the historical…rate."

Scientists are worried that governments will not do enough to try to reduce the damage to the tipping points. World leaders will soon meet in Nairobi to discuss measures to tackle global biodiversity loss. They hope they can then create an international framework that will be adopted at a convention on biological diversity in October in Japan. The GBO report outlines how serious the threat is. It says huge numbers of species are facing extinction if we continue to pollute the environment. Over a quarter of corals may soon disappear. This will have a huge impact on marine life and many fish species will also disappear. Countries will be fighting over much smaller stocks of fish. This problem will be made worse with the increasing pollution of the world’s rivers.

 

bleak warning [bli:k ΄wo:niŋ] – суворе попередження

negative impact [ ΄impækt] on nature – негативний вплив на природу

at a rate – зі швидкістю, з темпом

extinction rates [ik ΄stiŋk∫n]– темпи вимирання

tipping points – переважаючі моменти

international framework – міжнародна угода

a huge impact – гігантський вплив

on marine life – на морське життя

increasing pollution – зростаюче забруднення

WHILE READING / LISTENING

1. GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:

continue rate impact bleak deaths causing historical danger adopted huge reduce extinction worried outlines worse measures

We are ____________ so much damage to our planet that it will soon affect the global economy. This ____________ warning is according to a new United Nations report called the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO). The paper says there are many important ecosystems on our planet that are in ____________. These “tipping points” in our natural world are where man’s negative ____________ on nature will start costing national economies. Examples of these are the ____________ of coral reefs, the destruction of huge areas of forest, or major pollution of rivers. UN spokesman Ahmed Djoglaf said: "The news is not good. We ____________ to lose biodiversity at a ____________ never before seen in history - extinction rates may be up to 1,000 times higher than the ____________ …rate."

Scientists are ____________ that governments will not do enough to try to ____________ the damage to the tipping points. World leaders will soon meet in Nairobi to discuss ____________ to tackle global biodiversity loss. They hope they can then create an international framework that will be ____________ at a convention on biological diversity in October in Japan. The GBO report ____________ how serious the threat is. It says huge numbers of species are facing ____________ if we continue to pollute the environment. Over a quarter of corals may soon disappear. This will have a ____________ impact on marine life and many fish species will also disappear. Countries will be fighting over much smaller stocks of fish. This problem will be made ____________ with the increasing pollution of the world’s rivers.

2. Listen and fill in the gaps:

We _____________________ damage to our planet that it will soon affect the global economy. This bleak warning _____________________ United Nations report called the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO). The paper says there are many important ecosystems on our planet that are in danger. These “tipping points” in our natural world are where _____________________ on nature will start costing national economies. Examples of these are the deaths of coral reefs, _____________________ areas of forest, or major pollution of rivers. UN spokesman Ahmed Djoglaf said: "The news is not good. We _____________________ at a rate never before seen in history - extinction rates may be up to 1,000 times higher _____________________."

Scientists are worried that governments will not do _____________________ the damage to the tipping points. World leaders will soon meet in Nairobi to discuss _____________________ global biodiversity loss. They hope they can then create an international framework that will be adopted at a convention _____________________ in October in Japan. The GBO report outlines how serious the threat is. It says huge numbers _____________________ extinction if we continue to pollute the environment. Over a quarter of corals may soon disappear. This will have a _____________________ marine life and many fish species will also disappear. Countries will be fighting over much smaller stocks of fish. This problem will be made worse with the _____________________ the world’s rivers.

5. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article;

1.	causing	a.	gloomy
	bleak	b.	coming up against
3.	impact	c.	cut
4.	huge	d.	supplies
5.	extinction	e.	effect
6.	reduce	f.	chosen
7.	tackle	g.	dying out
8.	adopted	h.	address
9.	facing	i.	creating
10.	stocks	j.	enormous

6. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	We are causing so much	a.	global biodiversity loss
	This bleak	b.	impact on nature
3.	there are many important	c.	seen in history
4.	man’s negative	d.	facing extinction
5.	a rate never before	e.	damage to our planet
6.	do enough to try to	f.	on biological diversity
7.	discuss measures to tackle	g.	reduce the damage
8.	adopted at a convention	h.	warning
9.	huge numbers of species are	i.	made worse
10.	This problem will be	j.	ecosystems on our planet

AFTER READING / LISTENING

7. WORD SEARCH: Find other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘ global ’ and ‘ economy ’:

global

economy

8. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. Try to recall how they were used in the text:

· causing · bleak · negative · huge · lose · 1,000

· reduce · tackle · adopted · serious · facing · worse

 

9. NATURE DISCUSSION:

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B):

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘nature’?
c)	How important is nature to you?
d)	What do you think of man’s destruction of nature?
e)	Have you noticed any negative impact of humans on the environment?
f)	Do you take notice of these reports that environmental agencies bring out?
g)	Are you more worried about the destruction of coral reefs, forests or rivers?
h)	What do you think of the extinction rate given in the article?
i)	Do you think we can reverse the damage?
j)	What do you think of reintroducing species using their DNA?

 

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A):

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Is your government doing enough to protect your environment?
c)	How much of a “green” are you?
d)	What will it take for governments to get serious about biodiversity loss?
e)	Which are the worst countries for harming nature?
f)	Would you like to get back to nature?
g)	What measures should countries put in their international framework on biodiversity?
h)	Do you think there will be fish wars one day?
i)	What would you say to world leaders if you were a creature threatened with extinction?
j)	What questions would you like to ask the author of the U.N. report?

10. LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Fill in the gaps:

We are causing so much damage to our planet that it will soon (1) ____ the global economy. This bleak warning is according to a new United Nations report called the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO). The paper says there are many important ecosystems on our planet that are (2) ____ danger. These “tipping points” in our natural world are where man’s negative (3) ____ on nature will start costing national economies. Examples of these are the (4) ____ of coral reefs, the destruction of huge areas of forest, or major pollution of rivers. UN spokesman Ahmed Djoglaf said: "The news is not good. We continue to lose biodiversity (5) ____ a rate never before seen in (6) ____ - extinction rates may be up to 1,000 times higher than the historical…rate."

Scientists are worried that governments will not do enough to try to reduce the damage to the tipping points. World leaders will soon meet in Nairobi to discuss (7) ____ to tackle global biodiversity loss. They hope they can then create an international (8) ____ that will be adopted at a convention on biological diversity in October in Japan. The GBO report outlines how serious the threat is. It says huge numbers of species are (9) ____ extinction if we continue to pollute the environment. Over a quarter of corals may soon disappear. This will have a huge impact on (10) ____ life and many fish species will also disappear. (11) ____ will be fighting over much smaller stocks of fish. This problem will be made worse (12) ____ the increasing pollution of the world’s rivers.