Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used up nature’s annual resources. In 2020, Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 22, three weeks later than 2019’s date of July 29 as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, meaning that humanity consumed less resources than last year.

According to research conducted by Global Footprint Network, an international research organization, COVID-19- related lockdowns resulted in a 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with the same period last year.

However, we would still need 1.6 Earths to keep up with our current use of ecological resources.

While Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network, called this year’s data “encouraging,” he called for further progress to be made “by design, not by disaster.”

CEO of Global Footprint Network Laurel Hanscom adds, “Sustainability requires that both ecological balance and people’s well-being be ensured over the long-term, therefore this year’s sudden Ecological Footprint reduction cannot be mistaken for progress.”

According to the research, Australia used up its resources in the first half year during its 2019/ 2020 forest fire season.

Wackernagel says, “We’re using up the future to pay for the present. We’ve only got one planet and that’s not going to change.”

The research organization says that sustainability of a society depends on the sound management of ecological resources. To do this, we need to change the way we produce our food, we move around, how many children we have and how much land we protect for wildlife. Reducing our overall carbon footprint by 50% would push the date back 93 days, cutting food waste in half, 13 days. And if we push the date back by 5 days each year, humanity would be using less than one planet before 2050.

There are more than 7 billion people on Earth. Imagine what will happen if each of us decides to do one thing — no matter how small — to protect wildlife every day. Even little actions can have a major influence when we all do something. 【小题1】.

Raise an animal

From wild animals to wild places, there’s a choice for everyone. 【小题2】. It is a small and easy action but of great importance.

Do some volunteer work

【小题3】, you can offer your time. Many organizations and zoos have volunteer programs. You can help clean beaches, rescue wild animals or teach visitors. Zoos, national parks and wildlife protection areas are all home to wild animals. Learn more about our planet’s species from experts. See Earth’s most amazing creatures up close.

Speak up and join

Share your concern for wildlife protection with your family. Tell your friends how they can help. Ask everyone you know to do what they can to stop wildlife trafficking (非法交易). 【小题4】, find the organization and take part. Become a member. Actively support the organization of your choice.

【小题5】

Find new ways to use things you already own. If you can’t reuse them, recycle. The Minnesota Zoo encourages customers to recycle mobile phones to cut down a need for the mineral coltan (钶钽铁矿), which is mined from lowland gorillas’ living places.

Protected areas have mixed success in protecting wildlife, according to the largest study on the effects of reserves (保护区).

A team led by researchers from the U. K. examined water bird data from 1,506 protected areas and analyzed more than 27,000 bird populations across the world. The authors write that their study, published in Nature, is the first robust (强有力的), global assessment of protected area influence on bird populations. The scientists found that protected areas with management of water birds and their habitats were more likely to benefit those populations.

“Our study shows that, while many protected areas are working well, many others are failing to have positive effect,” lead author Hannah Wauchope of the University of Exeter says in a statement. Rather than focusing only on the total global area protected, we need more focus on ensuring areas are well-managed to benefit biodiversity (生物多样性). “The study compared water bird populations before and after the establishment of protected areas and also compared trends of similar populations within and outside of protected areas. Water birds respond quickly to changes in site quality, making them a good group to look at when studying the impact of protected areas.

“In the majority of places we looked at, wildlife populations were still stable or were increasing, but they weren’t doing any better than in unprotected areas,” Wauchope says. “That’s disillusionary, but not surprising. There seems to be this disconnect between people talking about how much land is protected and whether those areas are actually doing anything positive.”

This research comes ahead of a United Nations meeting in China to discuss biodiversity goals for the next decade. Several countries have already devoted to protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030, yet researchers say protection alone does not necessarily ensure positive outcomes for species.

“Efforts to reach a certain area-based goal such as 30 percent by 2030 — without a focus on improving the condition of existing protected areas will achieve little,” says co-author Julia Jones from Bangor University. “When world leaders gather in China later this year to set goals for the next decade, I really hope to see a focus on effectiveness of protected areas, rather than simply how much surface area is devoted to them.”

“We are not saying protected areas don’t work,” Wauchope concludes in the statement. “The key point is that their effects vary hugely, and the biggest thing this depends on is whether they are managed with species in mind — we can’t just expect protected areas to work without effective management.”