Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

The foundations of a strategy for action
K 1
Scope for action for a global biosphere
policy
The Council’s strategy for a global ‘biosphere policy’
reaches beyond traditional biodiversity policy in the
light of its links to climate and soil conservation. It is
first and foremost oriented to those developments in
the biosphere that should be avoided at all costs
(Section I 1). To this end, biological imperatives,
guard rails and guidelines are defined above. Given
the large number of uncertainties and knowledge
gaps it is still not possible to give exact guard rails for
the biosphere in the sense of precise, quantifiable
limits. This is why biological imperatives were first
developed that are intended to communicate principles
with which the values of the biosphere may be
preserved and used sustainably for today’s and
future generations. These imperatives are to
1. preserve the integrity of bioregions,
2. safeguard existing biological resources,
3. maintain biopotential for the future,
4. preserve the global natural heritage,
5. preserve the regulatory functions of the biosphere.
These biological imperatives are the result of the
studies on guard rails for the conservation and management
of ecosystems and landscapes in Section
E 3.9 (Imperative 1), the situation of genetic diversity
and species diversity in Chapter D (Imperatives 2, 3
and 4), ecosystem and landscape diversity in Chapter
E (Imperatives 1 and 4) and global biogeochemical
cycles in Chapter F (Imperative 5).
Guard rails are by contrast specific, numerically
defined damage thresholds that, if exceeded now or
in the future, will have intolerable consequences.The
application of the guard rail concept to the biosphere
occurs at both regional (Section I 1.1) and global levels
(Sections I 1.2–I 1.6). On the global scale, additional
interactions can be recognized that are not visible
from the regional perspective. Attaching a
numerically precise definition of that kind of limit to
human action is, however, particularly difficult on a
global scale in connection with the biosphere
because of the many uncertainties that persist. However,
one numerical statement in the form of one
guard rail is given because the danger to the biosphere
constitutes a serious risk associated with
global transformation. But the scientific derivation of
a guard rail in the form of a precise area for protection
is not yet satisfactory. If a value is given, then it
is a rough estimate. Despite this limitation the Council
recommends designating globally an area for
nature conservation of 10–20 per cent (of the land
area) (Sections E 3.3.2 and I 1.4). Of course, as a
result of regional differentiation, this proportion will
vary greatly from place to place.
At regional level the guard rail strategy may
specifically be translated into the designation of protected
areas (‘conservation before use’) in which
ecosystem services that are important for the bioregion
are provided and which, for that reason, must
remain closed to economic use (Sections E 3.9 and
I 1.1). Furthermore, guidelines are drawn up (Box
I 1.1-1) for the other two types of land use (‘conservation
through use’ and ‘conservation despite use’).
Guidelines are management rules for concrete action
such as, for example, preservation and restoration of
various regulative functions (habitat, use, cultural
and social functions). Designating a guard rail, ie concrete
numerical limits beyond which for example an
erosion rate or an application of nutrients is no
longer considered sustainable, is a research task and
no sufficiently concrete policy formulation can take
place here. Since for most areas of the biosphere no
guard rails can as yet be defined, the Council bases its
recommendations on all three of these strategic elements:
biological imperatives, guard rails and guidelines.Together
they define the scope for action of the
global biosphere policy outlined here.
Biosphere policy as a process with a high
degree of institutional and player diversity
Biosphere policy is not seen here as exclusively the
task of governments and government institutions, but
rather as a result of a many layered process that is
also shaped by local networks, international organizations,
associations and in particular multinational
companies, in addition to national decision-makers.
This diversity of institutions and players is also one of