Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

‘Overexploitation’ as a syndrome of global change
G 1
Syndrome analysis (WBGU, 1995a–1998a) has
already been mentioned at various points in the
report. In this chapter, we provide a detailed analysis
of a typical pattern of unsustainable use of the biosphere.
The essential characteristic of this research
method is the analysis of linkages between natural
and social factors. We have selected the Overexploitation
Syndrome.
G 1.1
Characterization
The Overexploitation Syndrome describes the rapid
overuse – to the point of destruction or elimination –
of renewable resources and the degradation or
destruction of ecosystems on the basis of short-term
use interests. Irreversible losses of biological diversity
are the result. The losses to humankind manifest
themselves sometimes directly, sometimes with a certain
time lag and in a diffuse manner. The global forest
ecosystems with the last remaining primary
forests in the tropical and boreal regions are affected
above all by this syndrome. The overgrazing of
steppes and savannahs and the extinction of individual
plant and animal species or the overfishing of the
world’s seas are other examples of unsustainable use
of nature that follows the typical pattern of the Overexploitation
Syndrome (WBGU, 1997, 1998a; QUES-
TIONS, 1996, 1998; Cassel-Gintz, 1997).
G 1.2
Manifestation
Both historical and present-day examples from various
regions and environmental media describe the
full range of anthropogenic natural destruction.They
all have one thing in common: in what are at first
glance very different cases the interaction of
humankind and nature always follows at its core the
typical pattern of the Overexploitation Syndrome.
Historical examples
The Overexploitation Syndrome emerges very early
on in the history of human civilization development.
Back in ancient times it was observed that a swift use
of renewable resources beyond the resource’s capacity
to regenerate resulted in a whole range of negative
consequences for nature and civilization. An
early example is the deforestation of the Mediterranean
in antiquity because wood was needed for
shipbuilding and settlement construction. Plato, in
his dialogue Critias (circa 350 BC), reports on the
deforestation of the Attic slopes which left the soil
unprotected and prone to water erosion and writes
that of the once blooming and ‘fat’ landscape just a
‘bare skeleton’ remained. In the middle of the 19th
century authors such as Carl Fraas or Georg Perkins
Marsh drew attention to the exploitation of forest
resources and the negative consequences of this
(Schramm, 1984; Brüggemeier, 1998).
The almost complete eradication of the North
American bison for its hide in the last centuries is an
example in another form of the Overexploitation
Syndrome. In this instance the stocks of an animal
species were reduced to a minimum on the basis of
short-term economic interests. In a similar fashion,
industrial whaling in the first half of the 20th century
led to the almost complete annihilation of certain
species.
These examples already indicate the change of
scale in the issue of the Overexploitation Syndrome.
Whereas the consequences in earlier times were limited
to smaller natural areas and were primarily
regional in nature, today often large regions or even
– as in the case of deforestation with feedback to the
global climate – the entire Earth System is affected.
Even if one does not take into account the losses for
future generations, therefore, a great deal more
people are confronted by the consequences of overexploitation
today.
Regional examples
The Overexploitation Syndrome can in the present
day be seen in, for example, Malaysia in various
medial manifestations.With regard to the destruction