UN Releases Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

"If major changes are not made in the way humans consume natural resources, there will be widespread famine, severe shortages of clean water and huge impacts from natural disasters such as hurricanes."

"This grim scenario, however, can be avoided through policy decisions that emphasize environmental technology, poverty reduction and investments in education and health, the report's authors said."

One way to improve the future of both the planet and its residents, Walter Reid (a professor at Stanford University's Institute for the Environment and director of the Assessment) said, is through "green" technology, such as the construction of energy-efficient homes and offices.

"There's an unbreakable link between human well-being and the health of the planet," Reid said at a news briefing in Washington to release the report.

Countries also need to start curtailing the use of fossil fuels to limit the effects of climate change, which could raise temperatures by 3.5 degrees by 2050 and increase sea levels by several inches, the report says.