Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Monitorand assessattainmentDevelopor reviseecologicalgoalsDevelopor reviseecologicalmodelan emergency action strategy that identifies and quicklyprotects biodiversity hot spots. These “ecological arks”are areas especially rich in plant and animal speciesthat are found nowhere else and are in great danger ofextinction or serious ecological disruption.Figure 11-24 shows 25 hot spots. They contain almosttwo-thirds of the earth’s terrestrial biodiversityand are the only locations for more than one-third ofthe planet’s known terrestrial plant and animal species.According to Norman Myers : “I can think of no otherbiodiversity initiative that could achieve so much at acomparatively small cost, as the hot spots strategy.”Implementor modifystrategiesDevelopor revisea planFigure 11-23 Solutions: the adaptive ecosystem managementprocess.economic, and political factors. In addition, their size,shape, and biological makeup often are determined bypolitical, legal, and economic factors that depend onland ownership and conflicting public demands ratherthan by ecological principles and considerations.One way to deal with these uncertainties and conflictsis through adaptive ecosystem management. It isbased on using four principles. First, integrate ecological,economic, and social principles to help maintainand restore the sustainability and biological diversityof reserves while supporting sustainable economiesand communities. Second, seek ways to get governmentagencies, private conservation organizations, scientists,business interests, and private landowners toreach a consensus on how to achieve common conservationobjectives.Third, view all decisions and strategies as scientificand social experiments and use failures as opportunitiesfor learning and improvement. Fourth, emphasizecontinual information gathering, monitoring, reassessment,flexibility, adaptation, and innovation in the faceof uncertainty and usually unpredictable change. Figure11-23 summarizes the adaptive ecosystem managementprocess.What Areas Should Receive Top Priorityfor Establishing Reserves? Hot SpotsWe can prevent or slow down losses of biodiversity byconcentrating efforts on protecting hot spots wheresignificant biodiversity is under immediate threat.In reality, few countries are physically, politically, orfinancially able to set aside and protect large biodiversityreserves. To protect as much of the earth’s remainingbiodiversity as possible conservation biologists useWhat Is Wilderness and Why Is It Important?Land Protected from UsWilderness is land legally set aside in a large enougharea to prevent or minimize harm from humanactivities.One way to protect undeveloped lands from humanexploitation is by legally setting them aside as wilderness.According to the U.S. Wilderness Act of 1964,wilderness consists of areas “of undeveloped landaffected primarily by the forces of nature, where manis a visitor who does not remain.” U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt summarized what we shoulddo with wilderness: “Leave it as it is. You cannot improveit.”The U.S. Wilderness Society estimates that awilderness area should contain at least 4,000 squarekilometers (1,500 square miles); otherwise it can be affectedby air, water, and noise pollution from nearbyhuman activities.Wilderness supporters cite several reasons for preservingwild places. One is that they are areas wherepeople can experience the beauty of nature and observenatural biological diversity. Such areas can alsoenhance the mental and physical health of visitors byallowing them to get away from noise, stress, development,and large numbers of people. Wilderness preservationistJohn Muir advised us,Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine intothe trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you,and the storms their energy, while cares will drop offlike autumn leaves.Even those who never use wilderness areas maywant to know they are there, a feeling expressed bynovelist Wallace Stegner:Save a piece of country... and it does not matter inthe slightest that only a few people every year will gointo it. This is precisely its value.... We simply needthat wild country available to us, even if we never domore than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a218 CHAPTER 11 Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity: Managing and Protecting Ecosystems