Designing the Human Capacity to Sustain Earth’s Major Ecosystems
Jane Elder (with contributions from Dave Dempsey and Cynthia Sampson)
Forum on Nature and Democracy May, 2008
Context
Over the last several years many of us have become increasingly concerned about the gap between stresses on the Earth’s ecosystems and the human capacity to respond to the scale of the challenges we face in the early 21st Century. Global warming/climate change and the rapid loss of biodiversity are at the top of that list of stresses, but we also need to consider the impacts of globalization and a human population that will surge well past 6 billion by mid-century.
My recent work on the Presidential Climate Action Plan (www.climateactionplan.com), especially in the areas of natural resources and oceans, has helped me realize that our environmental agencies haven’t been given the resources or the mandate to build the capacity to respond to the changes we are likely to see in the next several decades. Moreover, as the need to respond to natural systems on their own terms increases, we find governance and management systems constrained by historic legal frameworks and institutional silos that carve the management of living systems into often-disconnected pieces.
In 2005, scientists described the
The challenges of grappling with complex jurisdictions, political will, funding, institutional accountability, scientific capacity and meaningful public involvement are not new in ecosystem management, and they certainly aren’t unique to the
Our nation needs a new road map to protect biodiversity and sustain ecosystem health in the global warming era. Even the most aggressive low-carbon energy strategy will not mitigate the need for new thinking and new practice in ecosystem protection, given the warming trend already upon us and the spectrum of other environmental stresses we already face.
A Forum on Nature and Democracy
Over the last year I’ve been talking with many colleagues about these challenges, and have proposed that we organize a working group to provide a forum for wider discussion and collaborative work. We see the need for some serious thought and discussion as to how we link these challenges in governance and literacy to the growing body of scientific knowledge that continues to warn us of the fragile state of Earth’s ecological resilience. The outcome of such a dialogue (at least an initial outcome) could be to craft specific recommendations for new strategies in ecosystem governance and management, starting in the
We’re suggesting that a U.S./Canada Forum on Nature and Democracy could serve as a base and a catalyst for a dialogue on these and other challenging questions.
While we will need expertise from diverse fields to explore solutions, we also need the grist of input from experienced people in the broad fields of resource management, as well as elected officials, community leaders, business leaders, etc., because we all have a stake in shaping strategies for how we live on Earth. There’s a wealth of experience in what has worked on the ground, and what hasn’t, that should be part of this consideration. Turning this experience and foresight into tangible reforms that can make a measurable impact on the health of major ecosystems like the
Those of us engaged in these discussions so far recognize this is ambitious, but the actions we take in the next 5-7 years will be among the most important in environmental history, so I’m game for a little wild imagination and bold thinking.
We've posted three short background pieces.
1. The State of
2. Key questions for 21st Century Ecosystem Management
3. Barriers to Better Ecosystem Management: Observations from the
We invite your feedback.
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