Biodiversity and Ecological Economics

Participatory Approaches to Resource Management

Luca Tacconi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351573696
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

It is vital that we adopt interdisciplinary approaches such as ecological economics to gain an understanding of the values that determine human interaction with, and use and abuse of, the environment. This book is a model of applied ecological economics. It presents an accessible introduction to the subject while at the same time broadening its theoretical basis by introducing a post-positivist, participatory method. The theoretical framework is applied to case studies in biodiversity conservation, drawn from around the world and a range of different ecosystems. The book is a suitable textbook for students of ecological economics and an ideal introduction for scientists and environmentalists needing to understand the role of economics in ecology and conservation.

Part One
Methodology, Paradigms, Ethics and Participation

1
Introduction and Background

____________________________

The tree which moves some to tears of joy
is in the eyes of others only a green thing
which stands in the way
(William Blake, written in 1799)

Introduction

The world-view we hold influences how we construe reality. Values shape our views and actions. They affect conceptions of nature, influence how people interact with other people and with the environment, impinge on the study of these interactions and the actions undertaken to address environmental issues. This book seeks to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity by developing an improved ecological economics framework – which takes into account present and future people’s values, how they may be researched and addressed, and the problems encountered in doing this – and by presenting case studies that show how specific aspects of the theoretical framework are, or may be, put into practice, thus providing ideas for the improvement of biodiversity conservation activities.

Ecological economics is a relatively new field of study addressing the relationships between ecosystems and economic systems (Costanza et al, 1991) and has initially focused on bringing together the economics and ecology disciplines. Neo-classical economics, as noted by Hausman (1992), encounters many problems that of course can also affect ecological economics unless they are addressed:

‘economics has not been very successful and has not made much empirical progress … its empirical difficulties are legion, and, if the speculative thoughts of these pages are correct, it will never conquer them. So the case of economics might seem hopeless. But there are better ways forward … I would urge economists to be more eclectic, more opportunistic … and more willing to collaborate with other social scientists.’ (Hausman, 1992, pp279–80)

Ecological economics needs to heed this message too, and increase the attention it pays to social (science) issues. As noted by Barry and Proops (1999), environmental policy-making involves three steps:

1the identification of the problem;

2the analysis of potentially effective policy responses to the problem; and

3the implementation of these policies.

They stress that ecological economics has been rather good at the first two steps but the third has received relatively little attention in the literature. The processes involved in policy implementation receive detailed attention in the book, as well as step processes for the definition of problems and the analysis of policy responses. Social (science) issues are certainly important factors in all three steps. Because of the limited attention they have received in the past, greater consideration is devoted to social (science) issues – including research methodology and institutional aspects – than to economic instruments, which may be used to achieve biodiversity conservation. These instruments have been the focus of several studies (eg Barbier et al, 1994; Perrings et al, 1995).

This chapter sets the scene by providing background information about the physical and social nature of the problem. It begins with a description of the current understanding of the functions and status of biodiversity, and a brief sketch of the global situation in forest and marine ecosystems. The proximate and underlying causes of biodiversity loss are considered before addressing the functions of protected areas (PAs), and the problems associated with their establishment and management. The chapter concludes with an outline of the book.

Biodiversity: Its Functions and Status

The term biodiversity refers to the diversity of life at all levels and it embodies the linkages between these different levels of the biological hierarchy (Wilson, 1992a). This is the meaning of biodiversity adopted in the Convention on Biodiversity ratified in June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 1993). The term biodiversity has also been used with the all-encompassing meaning of the ‘totality of biological resources’ (eg McNeely et al, 1990). Problems may arise in analysing biodiversity issues if this dual meaning is not recognized (Chapter 4).

Biodiversity is commonly considered at the genetic, species and ecosystems levels.¹ Genetic diversity may be considered at different levels (eg population) and it provides the basis for speciation. The productivity and resilience of populations may be related to their genetic composition. Species diversity refers to the number of species within a specific area. The existence of populations of a species in geographically and environmentally distinct areas is considered important in order to maintain diversity in the gene pool and to protect the species as a whole against events such as isolated epidemics of disease and predators that could exterminate entire populations (Norton, 1987). Ecosystem diversity refers to the variety of biotic communities and habitats, and to the diversity within ecosystems. Ecosystem diversity is normally considered at the landscape and regional level. At the landscape level, diversity includes a variety of ecosystems and is important due to the biogeographical characteristics (eg patterns, juxtapositions and interconnectedness) that allow for the free movement of individuals and for the maintenance of the shifting patterns of ecosystems (Noss and Harris, 1986).

Ecological research has greatly furthered knowledge of the complex aspects of biodiversity, such as ecosystem changes, habitat patchiness, and the role of natural and human-induced disturbances on biota (eg Reid and Miller, 1989). However, many fundamental questions about several aspects regarding the specific levels – and their linkage – at which biodiversity may be considered remain unanswered. The impacts of habitat fragmentation on genetic diversity and how biodiversity influences the ability of ecosystems to withstand stress are poorly known; so are the impacts of landscape fragmentation on the functioning of ecosystems, population viability and the functions and activities of many individual species (Ehrlich and Daily, 1993; Meyer, 1993; Perrings et al, 1992; Solbrig, 1991).

Despite this lack of knowledge about various aspects of biodiversity, ecologists tend to stress that a major function of biodiversity is the maintenance of ecosystem resilience² (eg Jørgensen, 1990). Thus, a challenge for biodiversity conservation is the maintenance of those ecosystem functions that generate ecological services and make ecosystems resilient to change. These ecosystem functions and services support life on Earth and contribute to the betterment of human welfare.

Economic aspects of biodiversity will be considered in Chapter 4. Here, it is sufficient to remark that the maintenance of biodiversity provides important economic benefits such as the maintenance of genetic material used for pharmaceutical purposes and plant breeding.³

The approximate state of biodiversity at the biosphere level may be understood by considering the trends affecting species diversity. The number of existing species is thought to be between 5 and 100 million, with a suggested conservative estimate of 12.5 million (World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC), 1992). The human-induced extinction rate is thought to be between 100 to 1000 times the non-human-induced rate (Reid and Miller, 1989). If current trends in biodiversity loss continue, the resulting extinction rates have been estimated to range between 10 per cent and 50 per cent of all species over the next 50–100 years (Bawa et al, 1991; Panel of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development, 1992; Reid, 1992; UNEP, 1992).⁴

Forests

Forests may initially be divided into the two major groupings of temperate forests and tropical forests. The latter category may be subdivided into tropical moist forests⁵ and tropical dry forests. Tropical moist forests are then further subdivided into rainforests, deciduous forests and mangroves; rainforests account for about 50 per cent of all tropical forests and are the most diverse (Collins et al, 1991; Sayer et al, 1992; Sharma et al, 1992; Vanclay, 1993). The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, 1995) reports that:

• the global area covered by forests in 1990 was estimated at about 3.4 billion hectares;

• tropical forests covered about 1.715 billion hectares;

• rainforests accounted for 656 million hectares;

• deciduous forests covered 626 million hectares;

• during the 1980s, tropical forests decreased at a rate of 16.9 million hectares per year – a rate of 0.9 per cent per year.

Forests have a variety of ecological functions and provide a multitude of materials and services to human beings. They harbour a large genetic pool, they have positive effects on hydrological cycles, and they contribute to the regulation of the climate (Brown, 1998). Forests are a source of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs).⁶ They are objects with religious value, cultural value and aesthetic value. Forests are also a medium for research and education (Jacobs, 1988).

Tropical moist forests are particularly important from a biodiversity conservation point of view. They are thought to harbour 50–90 per cent of all existing species (Reid and Miller, 1989; Wilson, 1988). The role of forests in climate stabilization is evidenced by the fact that tropical forests store more than 50 per cent of the Earth’s organic carbon stock (Rowe et al, 1992). They report that between 1–3 billion tonnes of carbon are released annually into the atmosphere as a result of tropical forest burning, compared to 5.6 billion tonnes released from the use of fossil fuels. The other important function of forests noted above has to do with the regulation of the hydrological cycle. Brooks et al (1992) note that forests in their natural state tend to yield the highest quality water of any ecosystem, produce the lowest erosion and sedimentation rates and generate a more uniform streamflow in a watershed than any other vegetation cover. Calder (1998) reviews several myths about land use (particularly forests) and hydrology. Among other issues, the study finds that plantations may increase soil erosion and that there is little scientific evidence that deforestation causes increased flooding.

Marine Systems

The sea covers about 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface; about 51 per cent of the surface is covered by ocean deeper than 3000 metres (WCMC, 1992). From an ecological point of view, marine ecosystems may be classified as benthic and pelagic,⁷ but from a management perspective they are more appropriately defined as coastal and oceanic (Thorne-Miller and Catena, 1991). These authors provide the following summary of ecosystems.

Coastal ecosystems may be categorized as:

• coastal benthic ecosystems are found where the land meets the sea, and include rocky intertidal and subtidal shores, sandy shores and mud flats, estuaries and wetlands, coral reefs, subtidal coastal shelf;

• coastal pelagic ecosystems include coastal shelf waters with maximum depths of around 1000 metres;

• coastal basins are enclosed or semi-enclosed sea such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea.

Oceanic biomes are defined by depth and major permanent currents; they may be subdivided into deep-sea benthic (below 1000 metres), and open-ocean pelagic.

The following ecosystems were accorded high priority status for conservation in Agenda 21: coral reefs, estuaries, temperate and tropical wetlands including mangroves, seagrass beds and other spawning and nursery areas (Kelleher et al, 1995). They also note that two gradients of species diversity appear to exist. Diversity increases from the poles to the equators, and from the west side to the east side of the oceans. At the species level, terrestrial ecosystems appear to be more diverse, as some 80 per cent of known species are terrestrial (Thorne-Miller and Catena, 1991). But at higher taxonomic levels, marine ecosystems are more diverse, for example, 28 animal phyla are found in the marine environment and only 11 on land (Kelleher et al, 1995). An important difference between land and marine biodiversity is that terrestrial organisms, as a result of large environmental variability, have developed physical or physiological mechanisms to cope with short-term variability (Thorne-Miller and Catena, 1991). Therefore, they note, marine ecosystems may be more vulnerable than terrestrial ones to large-scale environmental changes such as pollution and climate change. A detailed analysis of goods and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures, tables and boxes
• The contributors
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• Part I Methodology, Paradigms, Ethics and Participation
• Part II Case Studies
• References
• Index