Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Richard T. Wright

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Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable
Future Richard T. Wright
Chapter 11

• Ecosystem Capital Use and Restoration
• PPT by Clark E. Adams

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Ecosystem Capital Use and Restoration

• Global perspective on biological systems
• Conservation, preservation, restoration
• Biomes and ecosystems under pressure
• Public and private lands in the United States

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What We Need to Know about Ecosystems

• How they sustain human life and economies
• Positive and negative effects of ecosystem
  conversions
• Sustainable approaches to ecosystem management

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Natural Ecosystems on Earths Surface Table 11-1

• Total land area 57.6 million square miles
• Total ocean area 172.6 million square miles
  mostly open ocean

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Services of Natural Ecosystems (see Table 3-2)

• Modification of climate
• Maintenance of hydrological cycle
• Erosion control and soil building

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Services of Natural Ecosystems (see Table 3-2)

• Maintenance of oxygen and nitrogen cycles
• Waste treatment
• Pest management
• Carbon storage and maintenance of carbon cycle

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Wetland Services

• Valued at 100,000 per acre per year
• Water purification and fish propagation

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Conservation, Preservation, Restoration

• Conservation versus preservation
• Patterns of use of natural ecosystems
• Restoration

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Conservation versus Preservation

• Conservation managing or regulating use so that
  it does not exceed the capacity of the species or
  system to renew itself
• Preservation ensure species or ecosystem
  continuity regardless of their potential utility

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Patterns of Use of Natural Ecosystems
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Patterns of Human Use of Natural Resources (True
or False)

• Greed
• Ignorance
• Desperation
• Sustainability
• Mining the resource
• Managing the resource
• Unregulated access to resource

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Tragedy of the Commons

• Begins with unregulated access to a resource
  owned by no one. Examples?
• Harvest based on largest amount over the shortest
  period of time.
• No thought given to sustainable harvests.
• Usually ends with no resource for anyone.

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Preventing a Tragedy of the Commons

• Private ownership
• Regulated access
• Sustained benefits
• Fairness in access rights
• Common consent of the regulated

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Principles Incorporated into Public Policies to
Protect Natural Resources (Table 11-2)

• Natural resources cannot be treated as an open
  commons.
• Sound science needed to assess health and level
  of resource use.
• Precautionary principle should be used in setting
  limits for exploitation.

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Principles Incorporated into Public Policies to
Protect Natural Resources (Table 11-2)

• Regulations should be enforced.
• Economic incentives that encourage the violation
  of regulations should be eliminated.
• Subsidies that support exploitation should be
  removed.

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Principles Incorporated into Public Policies to
Protect Natural Resources (Table 11-2)

• Suitable habitats for the resource should be
  preserved and protected from pollution.
• The sustenance needs of people living close to
  the resource should be met.

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Restoration

• The intent of ecosystem restoration is to repair
  the damage to specific land and waters so that
  normal ecosystem integrity, resilience, and
  productivity returns.

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Biomes and Ecosystems under Pressure

• Forest biomes
• Ocean ecosystems
• Coral reefs and mangroves

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Forest Biomes

• Conserve biodiversity
• Moderate regional climates
• Prevent erosion
• Store carbon and nutrients
• Provide recreational opportunities
• Provide a number of vital goods

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World Forest Biomes
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Causes of Deforestation

• Conversion into pastures and agricultural lands
• Consequences? (next slide)

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Consequences of Deforestation
Productivity Nutrient recycling Biodiversity Soil
erosion Transpiration Air pollution
More
Deforestation
or
Less
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Silviculture Forest Management with Harvest Goals

• Even-aged management
• Clear-cutting no tree left behind
• Uneven-aged management
• Selective cutting

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Causes of the Loss of Tropical Rain Forests

• Colonization consolidation of agricultural lands
• Huge national debts
• Fast food chains and cheap hamburger

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Conserving Tropical Rain Forests

• Ecotourism
• Extractive reserves
• Management by indigenous people
• Rubber plantations
• Sustainable logging

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Sustainable Forest Management

• Manage for sustainable outcomes
• Teach others
• Protect the health of the forest
• Recognize and protect unique forest ecosystems
• Strive to be better forest managers

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Ocean Ecosystems
75 of the Earths surface
An international commons?
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Global Fish Harvests
139 million metric tons by 2001
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Fisheries in Distress Cod Landings from Georges
Bank, 19822000
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Fisheries Problems Bottom Trawling
Too many boats High technology Too few fish
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The Magnuson Conservation Act of 1976

• Gave federal government authority to manage
  fisheries
• Claimed the area between 3 and 200 miles offshore
  as the Exclusive Economic Zone

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The Magnuson Conservation Act of 1976

• Designed to eliminate foreign fishing
• Designed to restore and conserve fish

http//images.fws.gov/
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Sustainable Fisheries Act

• The 1996 reauthorization of the Magnuson Act
• Mandates that fish stocks be rebuilt
• Management plans and yields be based on
  scientific data
• Steps be taken to minimize bycatch

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Factors That Restored Whale Populations (True or
False)

• International Whaling Commission
• The Red Data Book
• Whale watching
• Japans scientific research
• Stellwagen bank

http//www.photolib.noaa.gov/animals/
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Mangroves

• Protects coasts from storm damage and erosion
• Forms rich refuge and nursery for marine fish

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Coral Reefs

• Important food sources for local people
• Wave erosion control
• Great diversity of marine vertebrates and
  invertebrates

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Sources of Damage to Coral Reefs

• Warm water
• Eutrophication
• Islander poverty
• Logging
• Shrimp aquaculture
• Coastal development

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Public and Private Lands in the United States

• National parks and national wildlife refuges
• National forests
• Protecting nonfederal lands
• Conclusion

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Federal Lands (40) in the U.S.
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The Greater Yellowstone Coalition
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Wilderness Act of 1964

• Provides for permanent protection of undeveloped
  and unexploited areas so that natural ecological
  processes can operate freely
• 5 of land area in U.S.
• Preservation, not conservation

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National Forests

• Only 5 of the original U.S. forests are left
• Most U.S. forests are second growth

http//www.fs.fed.us/r5/lassen/fire/gallery/
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Environmental Concerns
Reagan
Clinton
Post WW II Housing Boom
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New Forestry Ecosystem Management

• Cut trees less frequently
• Leave wider buffer zones along waterways
• Leave dead logs and debris
• Protect broader landscapes
• Build no new roads until damage to old ones is
  addressed

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Protecting Nonfederal Lands

• Land Trust Alliance
• Nature Conservancy
• Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts

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Conclusions?

• We are plundering our childrens heritage to pay
  for our present unsustainable practices.
• We need a new ethic of stewardship.
• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan

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End of Chapter 11