Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Figure 11-24 Endangered natural capital: twenty-five hot spots identified by ecologists as important butendangered centers of biodiversity that contain a large number of endemic plant and animal species foundnowhere else. Research is adding new hot spots to this list. (Data from the Center for Applied BiodiversityScience at Conservation International)means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures,a part of the geography of hope.Some critics oppose protecting wilderness for itsscenic and recreational value for a small number ofpeople. They believe this is an outmoded concept thatkeeps some areas of the planet from being economicallyuseful to humans.Most biologists disagree. To them the most importantreasons for protecting wilderness and other areasfrom exploitation and degradation are to preserve theirbiodiversity as a vital part of the earth’s natural capitaland to protect them as centers for evolution in response tomostly unpredictable changes in environmental conditions.In other words, wilderness is a biodiversity savingsaccount and an eco-insurance policy.Some analysts also believe wilderness should bepreserved because the wild species it contains have aright to exist (or struggle to exist) and play their rolesin the earth’s ongoing saga of biological evolution andecological processes, without human interference.Case Study: How Much Wilderness Has BeenProtected in the United States? Fightingfor Crumbs and LosingOnly a small percentage of the land area of theUnited States has been set aside as wilderness.In the United States, preservationists have been tryingto save wild areas from development since 1900. Overall,they have fought a losing battle. Not until 1964 didCongress pass the Wilderness Act. It allowed the governmentto protect undeveloped tracts of public landfrom development as part of the National WildernessPreservation System.The area of protected wilderness in the UnitedStates increased tenfold between 1970 and 2000. Still,only about 4.6% of U.S. land is protected as wilderness—almostthree-fourths of it in Alaska. Only 1.8%of the land area of the lower 48 states is protected,most of it in the West. In other words, Americans havereserved 98% of the continental United States to beused as they see fit and have protected only about 2%as wilderness. According to a 1999 study by the WorldConservation Union (IUCN), the United States ranks42nd among nations in terms of terrestrial area protectedas wilderness, and Canada is in 36th place.In addition, only 4 of the 413 wilderness areas inthe lower 48 states are larger than 4,000 square kilometers(1,500 square miles). Also, the system includesonly 81 of the country’s 233 distinct ecosystems. Mostwilderness areas in the lower 48 states are threatenedhabitat islands in a sea of development.Almost 400,000 square kilometers (150,000 squaremiles) in scattered blocks of public lands could qualifyhttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller14219