Welcome to Ecosystem Guide
Ecosystem Degradation Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Sustainable Ecosystem Change: Is It Possible?
from:Much of the information found on the internet and indeed, even taught in schools today indicates that human activity is to blame for a whole variety of planetary ills, including climate change, depletion of irreplaceable natural resources, and animal and plant species decimation. Oftentimes the paradigm for these articles is that there is a "natural" environment, which has been offset or otherwise ruined by human involvement. However, if we consider the idea that mankind is ultimately a part of his ecosystem as much as anything else, then the question becomes this: is sustainable ecosystem change possible? And if so, what does it look like?
The question begs a bit of explanation. "Ecosystem change" is the term broadly applied to all the changes that have been observed as taking place over the time recorded in human history. For example, there is no dispute to the fact that glaciers have melted and generally shrunk over the past 100-200 years. Photographs show it; recorded data prove it. The debate begins when the question becomes: How much of this is due to human influence, and how much would have taken place in an imaginary world with no humans?
The idea that humans are not "outside" the natural ecosystem, but rather a part of it, means that some amount of ecosystem change may be unavoidable and even desirable. After all, what is there in nature that is not constantly in flux? Trees grow new leaves every season; animals give birth to young and raise them. Anything that is not changing, is dead. So then perhaps some amount of ecosystem change, whereby one ecosystem is converted to another type of ecosystem, is actually a healthy part of nature's course. The difference between humans and everything else is that a salmon doesn't worry when he defecates how it will affect his ecosystem; humans do.
Not to say that there hasn't been a vast amount of human abuse of their ecosystem, wreaking havoc on the animal and plant life forms within those systems; there has. But the question for the 21st century scientist ought to be: does human existence have to include self-destructive ecosystem change? Or could a society exist with a reasonable of comfort, safety, etc., and yet not become a major force for change within their ecosystem?
For future generations, it could be more than just an academic question; it may be the question on which their very survival depends. For if the rate of current ecosystem change cannot be slowed, by almost any account, human existence will surely be wiped out or severely curtailed.
Ecosystem Degradation Specific links
Ecosystem Degradation News
Recovery of Coral Reef Ecosystems after Degradation by Humans - CO2 Science Magazine
Recovery of Coral Reef Ecosystems after Degradation by Humans CO2 Science Magazine In contrast, they write that "recovery periods reveal that human societies have interacted sustainably with coral reef environments over long time periods, and that degraded ecosystems may still retain the adaptive capacity and resilience to recover ... |
Re-introducing the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, Version 2.0 - World Resources Institute
 World Resources Institute | Re-introducing the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, Version 2.0 World Resources Institute Companies depend on and impact the services that healthy ecosystems provide such as freshwater, wood, water purification, carbon sequestration, pollination and natural hazard protection. Degradation of these “ecosystem services,” therefore, ... |
Its high time businesses invested in mountain ecosystem management - www.reviewnepal.com
Its high time businesses invested in mountain ecosystem management www.reviewnepal.com The speakers emphasised the scope for achieving goals of both business and ecological sustainability through mechanisms such as value chains, payment for ecosystem services, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), ... |
How to design a REDD+ project - Reuters AlertNet (blog)
How to design a REDD+ project Reuters AlertNet (blog) By Essam Mohammed | 7 minutes(s) ago | Comments ( 0 ) By Essam Mohammed REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) aims to reward or compensate tropical developing countries for keeping their forests intact or for reducing the ... |
Marine ecology: Attack of the blobs - Nature.com
 Nature.com | Marine ecology: Attack of the blobs Nature.com That matched predictions made by ocean scientists, who had warned that as humans degrade the oceans they are shifting ecosystems, reducing numbers of larger fish and promoting populations of organisms from lower down the food chain 3, 4 . |