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1.4 Sustainability, NOT FINISHED - Coggle Diagram
1.4 Sustainability
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) is a United Nations project designed to assess the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being. The objective of the multiyear exercise was to both assess the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being, and to establish a scientific basis for action to conserve the sustainable use of ecosystems and their contribution to human well-being.
- These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems.
- The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly worse during the first half of this century and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
- The changes that have been made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people.
- The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystem while meeting increasing demands for services can be partially met under some scenarios considered by the MA, but will involve significant changes in policies, institutions and practices that are not currently under way. Many options exist to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce negative trade-offs or that provide positive synergies with other ecosystem services.
- Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.
Sustainable Development
There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one which first appeared in 1987:
"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
What's the problem?
Increasing population & technology has resulted in raw materials (esp. non-renewable):
- rapidly being used up
- producing more waste
- more pollution (unless waste handled correctly)
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Intrinsic Value
“The idea that organisms have value in their own right, irrespective of economic value.”
Organisms or ecosystems that are valued on aesthetic or intrinsic grounds may not provide commodities identifiable as either goods or services and so remain unpriced or undervalued from an economic viewpoint
Organisms or ecosystems regarded as having intrinsic value, for instance from an ethical, spiritual, or philosophical perspective, are valued regardless of their potential use to humans. Therefore diverse perspectives may underlie the evaluation of natural capital.
Sustainability is the use and management of resources that allows full natural replacement of the resources exploited and full recovery of the ecosystems affected by their extraction and use.
Unsustainable technology
- Uses resources that cannot be replaced
- Produces wastes that cannot be broken down
- Steals from the future to feed the present
Sustainable technology
- Uses resources that are replaced regularly
- Produces wastes that break down harmlessly
- Protects the future
The stock of an ecosystem that can yield a supply of valuable goods and services (natural income).
- Natural capital is a term used for natural resources that can produce a sustainable natural income of goods or services
- Natural income is the yield obtained from natural resources
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) incorporate baseline studies before a development project is undertaken. They assess the environmental , social and economic impacts of a project, predicting and evaluating possible impacts and suggesting mitigation strategies for the project. They are usually followed by an audit and continued monitoring. Each country or region has different guidance on the use of EIAs.
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