Earth's systems in rapid decline. Overpopulation is causing huge losses in biodiversity, and 'protected areas' such as national parks aren't working.

The Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 conference in Nagoya, Japan agreed to put 17 per cent of land and 10 per cent of oceans on Earth under protection by 2020, but this may not stop the decline in biodiversity [EPA]

By Stephen Leahy

Protecting bits of nature here and there will not prevent humanity from losing our life support system. Even if areas dedicated to conserving plants, animals, and other species that provide Earth's life support system increased tenfold, it would not be enough without dealing with the big issues of the 21st century: population, overconsumption and inefficient resource use.

Without dealing with those big issues, humanity will need 27 planet Earths by 2050, a new study estimates. 

The size and number of protected areas on land and sea has increased dramatically since the 1980s, now totaling over 100,000 in number and covering 17 million square kilometres of land and two million square kilometres of oceans, a new study reported Thursday.

Dealing with failure

But impressive as those numbers look, all indicators reveal species going extinct faster than ever before, despite all the additions of new parks, reserves and other conservation measures, according to the study published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. 

For full article:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/20118383214222938.html

Unemployment in Africa: What is the way forward?

By Mike Mukula, Daily Monitor

The African continent is day by day sliding into unemployment and poverty, especially of the youth. If leaders do not make long-term strategic plans, Africa will certainly be plunged into another cycle of subjugation and violence. The high fertility rate among our females and population growth in most countries, speaks volumes! This is because 50 per cent of people in most countries are below the age of 30. The spiralling rate of urbanisation exacerbates this threat. And yet, the said rate is not in consonance with job-creation!

Worth pondering is also the fact that the number of youth dropping out of school is increasing. Reasons range from poor societal norms, especially in the countryside, to non-affordability of tuition fees and requisite scholastic materials, especially for the boys. Girls drop out mainly due to puberty-related stress factors, being forced into early marriage, being defiled by errant teachers or relatives, or getting unwanted pregnancies.

Why is Africa likely to suffer severe unemployment and related repercussions? In my view, one of the root causes is education. Lamentably, most African countries have never changed colonial-time curricula! While other countries, especially in the northern hemisphere, have been moving in tandem with the times - technology and job market imperatives - we in Africa have not.

For full article:

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/1210936/-/12sr961z/-/

Capt. Mukula is chairman of the Pan-African Movement, Uganda Chapter 
captmukula@yahoo.co.uk

Unplanned pregnancies in states reach 4 in 10 - USA Today by Sharon Jayson

At least 4 in 10 pregnancies in every state were unwanted or mistimed, according to the first-ever state-level analysis of unintended pregnancies.

According to the analysis released today, more than half of pregnancies in 29 states and the District of Columbia were unintended; 38% to 50% were unintended in the remaining states.

Using another measure that calculates frequency of unintended pregnancies, the analysis by the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute found the highest rates of unintended pregnancy were in the South, Southwest and in states with large urban populations. Highest was Mississippi with 69 per 1,000 women ages 15-44; lowest was New Hampshire, with 36 per 1,000.

"There are many, many reasons why people don't plan ahead, even when it's such a crucial decision," says Claire Brindis, director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California-San Francisco, who was not involved in the analysis.

For full article:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/pregnancy/story/2011/05/40-of-pregnancies-across-USA-unplanned-study-finds/47316772/1.