Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

Impact loops in the biosphere-centred network of interrelations C 1.3
19
larger, closed impact loop. Such impact loops identify
specific degradation patterns and the key problems
in the biosphere. Obviously, an impact loop cannot
reveal all causes and effects, that would only be possible
with a complete syndrome analysis in which the
individual sequences or chains of action of the impact
loop are assigned to one or more syndrome(s) (eg
Overexploitation Syndrome; Chapter G). Nevertheless,
the impact loops clearly show the anchoring of
biosphere damage in the dynamics of global change.
In the following, seven of these typical impact loops
that have a major influence on the worldwide degradation
of the biosphere will be presented as an example.
C 1.3.1
Threat to genetic and species diversity
Two globally relevant examples were chosen for the
description of impact loops in which the effects of the
trend genetic and species loss are most important;
these examples are typical of the function of biodiversity
as ‘survival insurance’ (Fig. C 1.3-1):
1. Threat to food security through the loss of genetic
and species diversity.
2. Threat to the acquisition of natural products and
active substances through the loss of genetic and
species diversity.
Threat to food security
The extent to which food security and the requisite
genetic and species diversity are influenced by global
change has already been shown repeatedly by the
Council (WBGU, 1998a, b) and is enlarged upon in
this report (Section D 3.4). The global significance of
this subject became clear in 1997 when it was discussed
at the United Nations World Food Summit
and the FAO Conference on Plant Genetic
Resources (BML and ZADI, 1997).
Two trends lead directly to genetic and species
loss: the intensification of agriculture and the decline
in traditional agriculture. Both trends mean that traditional
crop varieties and rare livestock breeds are
suppressed by high yielding varieties or breeds. The
traditional varieties form a valuable genetic reservoir
that is being used to adapt important crops to
changed environmental conditions or new pathogens
by means of breeding or genetic transfer in order to
feed the world (Sections D 3.4 and I 1.2). In this way,
genetic and species losses can block or slow down
progress in biotechnology and genetic engineering
and, ultimately, hamper the increase in food production.
As a consequence, the compulsion to extend or
intensify the agricultural area may increase, which
closes the self-reinforcing effect cycle. This impact
loop motivates one of the Council’s biosphere imperatives:
preserve resources for food security (Section
I 1.2).
The loss of natural products and active
substances
Genetic and species loss hampers the development
of new active substances, product substitution,
advances in medicine and in biological and genetic
engineering by reducing the stock of specimen biological
material. Cases have already been brought to
light in which a species that demonstrated valuable
properties in laboratory tests could no longer be
found in renewed field research as a result of ecosystem
conversion.This development is amplified by the
fact that the loss of traditional social structures and
lifestyles is also associated with the loss of the traditional
knowledge of the people, with its shamans and
medicine men and women, about the various species,
their characteristics and possible uses (eg traditional
medicinal plants or crops; Sections D 3.3 and E 3.5).
Medical and technological progress is losing a living
and valuable body of knowledge here. The following
is a positive feedback loop: pharmaceuticals groups
or other companies dependent on natural products
have an interest in protecting genetic and species
diversity in the ecosystems that they use so that they
can also use these sources in the future. One example
of this connection is the contract between INBio,
Costa Rica and Merck (WBGU, 1996; Section D 3.3)
that can be interpreted as an increase in environmentally
sound ways of doing business.
C 1.3.2
Misappropriations in natural and cultivated
landscapes
The destruction of natural ecosystems
The insistence of many developing countries upon
rapid economic development, which is often associated
with neglecting the long-term consequences, is
one of the main driving forces for the conversion of
natural ecosystems (Fig. C 1.3-2). This mainly – but
not only – concerns harvesting primary forests (Section
E 2.2) and earning foreign currency from the
sale of timber or products manufactured from it in
the country, for example. The increasing consumption
of energy and raw materials and the ‘downstream’
trends of industrialization, globalization and
the increase of world trade are indirect driving forces
here. International indebtedness can also contribute
to conversion because it heightens the need for foreign
currency. Conversion runs in parallel to the
expansion of transport routes because they are the
prerequisite for removing the timber and open up the