Bermuda's population has already far exceeded the Island's carrying capacity, according to the recently released Bermuda Biodiversity Country Study.

And the entire community must be involved in addressing that and other conservation issues, said the authors of the report.

"By any reasonable measure, Bermuda's standard of living is not sustainable," stated the 100-page report.

"We have exceeded our carrying capacity for food production alone, by a factor of more than 4.5. In other words, we would have to reduce our population from approximately 62,000 to less than 14,000 in order to feed ourselves without imports."

The report strongly hints that the Country may need to develop an "integrated economic plan" with clearly defined target population levels.

Principal curator of the Bermuda Zoological Society Jack Ward was a co-author of the report and said the sustainability estimates are highly conservative.

"Basically, what this comes to is that Bermuda must maintain enduring value to the rest of the world," he told The Royal Gazette.

"The rest of the world is really valuable for Bermuda to exist. That's the crux of the matter."

But he said the "big picture view" was to develop a strategic plan for the Island, focusing on conserving the Island's natural resources.

"We are looking to engage the community to develop a plan for the long term health of Bermuda's natural community. We know the conservationists can come up with a plan pretty quickly but without engaging the community nobody would have any interest - it just won't happen."

But the report also points out that Bermuda residents are not particularly aware of environmental issues.

"Perhaps the biggest threat...is a lack of environmental awareness," the report stated.

"In the 2000 Bermuda Omnibus Survey, only two out of 400 people surveyed considered the environment to be the single most important issue facing Bermuda today!"

The report also noted the results of another survey conducted last year. Of more than 2,000 local students aged five to 14, 33 percent said the environment was what they would most like to change about the world.

But while 80 percent of the students said people were to blame for environmental problems, only 56 percent felt that people could help solve them and a mere seven percent said that they themselves could do something.

The report points to the need to conduct more surveys to determine the connections between race, income and educational levels on environmental attitudes.

On setting a population target, Mr. Ward said : "I am not sure if anybody has the gumption to address that issue. Failing to address population growth will lead to environmental degradation."

But Mr. Ward said Government's efforts to integrate policy through the newly formed Central Policy Unit was a step in the right direction.