"Since the measurements took place, this day is getting closer to the beginning of the year. In 1997, we entered ecological debt as a global society towards the end of September, and this year as early as August 1st, which proves strong influence of human activities on nature and its goods,« came a warning from WWF Adria. For the current consumption of natural resources we would need 1.7 planets. If all the Earth inhabitants would consume natural resources like Slovenes, it would take as many as 2.75 planets, they added.
GFN data on the ecological footprint show that Slovenia is the worst in the region, since it is entering the ecological debt already on May 12th. The following are Croatia (June 19th), Montenegro (June 29th), Bosnia and Herzegovina (July 6th), Macedonia (July 19th) and Serbia (July 30th). Albania will enter the ecological debt as last, on October 14th.
Existence in ecological debt is possible for a very short time, as ecosystems begin to deteriorate and all together leads to collapse. The consequences of life beyond the boundaries of the planet can already be felt in the form of weather extremes, climate change and the sharp decline in global biodiversity, WWF Adria warns.
The ecological debt day is therefore a powerful reminder of the urgent measures that states must take to protect water resources, forests, oceans, the flora and fauna and thus contribute to sustainable development. As they added, the Council must take concrete measures to improve the situation by 2020.
How valuable natural resources really are will be discovered when we are left without them. With exponential growth in population and limited natural resources, such as water, food, wood, ore and oxygen, each year we consume more resources than nature is able to restore in a year. Consequently, due to the excessive population and the accelerated consumption of natural resources, each year we enter the period where we spend our annual resources earlier, causing our children to have less natural sources for their survival.
This includes deforestation, water consumption, leading to deserts and lack of drinking water, erosion of cultivated land, excessive fishing and destruction of animal species, mining and other natural resources. Oxygen consumption, thus accumulating our CO2 footprint in the atmosphere, which nature can not convert back into oxygen.
World organizations predict that by 2050 we will reach the number of 10 billion people on Earth, which represents half the population at the moment. This year, Europe is facing extreme heat and water scarcity, which will only intensify in the coming years. Natural resources will therefor become increasingly more valuable and fragmented in the future, but the most critical are the forecasts of "supplies" of aquatic and nutritional sources.
In the municipality of Postojna, we want to contribute to preserving nature, protecting water resources, forests, oceans, plants and animal life and by doing that, contribute to sustainable development. We are constantly trying to be environmentally friendly and encourage ourour friends, relatives and visitors to do the same. We take maximum account of the advice and solutions for the efficient management of natural resources and energy, as we are aware that effective and responsible behavior is beneficial not only for yours and for our common budget, but above all the environment that we owe our descendants in this condition or, if possible, even better than we got from our ancestors. In order to behave environmentally friendly, we do not have to give up the pleasures and the things we want to do.
Dear visitors, thank you for working together with us to preserve the environment, our natural resources and to handle them and electrical power with efficiency.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our descendants."