GEOG 3075 Environmental Resource Management Lecture Notes PDF

GEOG 3075 Environmental Resource Management Lecture 2.1 Ecosystem Resilience vs. Change and Conflict 1  From Last Week and Continuing on Today Humans, the environment and all systems in between have periods of relative stability and period...

GEOG 3075 Environmental Resource Management Lecture 2.1 Ecosystem Resilience vs. Change and Conflict 1  From Last Week and Continuing on Today Humans, the environment and all systems in between have periods of relative stability and periods of change. When ecosystems that we rely on change, this could result in a change in the ecosystem services that we depend on. Thinking about ‘change’ makes people fearful because this may impact well-being, economics, politics… However, the ability to identify what causes change allows us to address these challenges to ensure that ecosystems, ecosystem services and the natural resources we depend on (as well as financial and economic institutions) are resilient for future generations 2  Ecosystems have ‘value’ depending on the services they provide Constanza et al. (2014) estimated global value of Ecosystem services at $125 trillion/yr (in 2011, US$) Loss due to land cover change is $4.3-20.2 trillion/yr Global GDP = $33 Trillion But is it irrelevant? Can’t live without many of the services… Figure from Constanza et al. (1997), showing total value of ecosystem services in dollars per hectare per year (ranging from $40 /ha/yr to $20,000 /ha/yr) 3 Based on Table 3, which ecosystem(s) are economically and socially the most valuable? Which ecosystems impact us the most in terms of value and ecosystem services when they change? 4 What are the pros and cons of using the value of money to describe the value of an ecosystem? 5 Putting this together - Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go? (robertcostanza.com) - CICES is the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services 6 How do our personal and family values alter how we consider the environment? 7 How Ecosystem Services are Consumed Depends on our Value Systems 8  Anthropocentric vs. Ecocentric Views Your Values: Do you have an anthropocentric view to resources or a ecocentric/biocentric view? Parts of the environment only become resources when they have value to humans → Anthropocentric view OR Resources exist independently of our wants and needs → Ecocentric or biocentric view 5 minutes: Think about your values, write down 2 columns, reasons for Anthropocentric vs Ecocentric view – count them up to figure it out (but only 5 mins…) - Some believe that if part of the environment has value to people, then it becomes a resource. This is an anthropocentric view because the value of that part of the environment is defined according to our values, interests, wants, and needs. - Others believe that parts of the environment (e.g. temperate rain forests, grizzly bears, etc.) have value regardless of their immediate value. Therefore the environment is valued because these exist and have a right to exist. - While people have different attitudes to resources at any one time (e.g. urban areas competing with farmers for water; changing attitudes may result in the designation of a protected area) recognizing anthropocentric ad ecocentric/biocentric views helps to understand where different people and groups are coming from and the positions that they hold 9  The Value → Our willingness to pay 1. Avoided cost → Costs avoided by having ecosystem services 2. Replacement cost → Costs associated with building a system 3. Factor income → Services create income for people What is Valuation? Valuation assesses the trade-offs that occur when working towards achieving a goal. - All trade-offs include valuation. While ecosystem services are the benefits that people get from ecosystems, the value of the ecosystem service is regarded as the relative contribution of the ecosystem to the goals or benefits. In other words, it is a contribution to a goal (the benefit of the services to humans). - This needs to include benefits to individual people (because people have their own perceptions, biases and ideas of what is beneficial to them), communities and towards human sustainability. - E.g. people might have varying thoughts on the value of a wetland, but to understand the value of the wetland in terms of storm protection requires data on downstream flooding, historical damage, infrastructure location, sedimentation and contaminant transport, population distribution, etc. Much of the general public don’t understand these complex interactions, so the information that is required to make this decision must not be related to individual perceptions of the value of that wetland. - Also ecosystems provide no value to people where people don’t exist! - Avoided cost: Society avoids costs that would have been incurred in the absence of 10  services (e.g. waste treatment by wetland habitats avoids health costs) - Replacement cost: Cost of replacing services with man-made systems (e.g. watershed conservation costs less than the construction of a water purification plant) - Factor income: Services enhance / provide income (e.g. improved water quality increases the commercial take of a fishery, improves the income of fishers) 10  Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services 4. Travel cost → what people will pay for experience of service 5. Hedonic pricing → What people will pay for service 6. Contingent valuation → Value of service relative to others The challenge of Ecosystem Services Valuation is “…to assess the relative contribution of the natural capital stock in this interaction and to balance our assets to enhance sustainable human well-being” (Constanza et al. 2014) Travel costs: Some services require travel; costs reflect the implied value of the service (e.g. value of ecotourism experience = what a visitor is willing to pay to get there) Hedonic pricing: Service value reflected in the prices people will pay for associated goods (e.g. coastal housing prices exceed that of inland homes) Contingent valuation: Service value reflected in relative value of alternatives (e.g. visitors willing to pay for increased access to national parks) 11  Ecosystem Services at risk? The Earth as an efficient provider… Management of human impacts on the environment must maintain ecosystem services Common resource that must be maintained, as the cost of engineered services is prohibitive For Example: Crop pollination by bees Required for 15-30% of US food production → Most bees are imported Intensification of agricultural practices erode pollination services. Oak-woodland habitat within 1-2 km can stabilize/enhance pollination For example, pollination of Crops by bees 12 How do we sustainably develop the environment? 13  The Idea of Sustainable Development This means: Direction, transparency, adaptability, consideration of economic, environmental and social aspects But to do this: Requires a shift in values, policies, processes, and practices… Lots of enthusiasm and lots of frustration! When we use resources that meet the needs of the present without compromising the future, then this →Provides direction on the nature of future societies →Requires a system of governance and management with transparency →Recognizes that things change and we need to be flexible and adaptable →Ensures that economic, environmental and social aspects are considered The idea of sustainable developmet came about in the late 1980s out of the World Commission on Environment and Development. - It is both inter- and intra-generational - But while it sounds good, it is challenging because it requires us to re-examine and shift our current values, policies, processes and practices - Sustainable societies focus attention on meeting basic human needs, equity for current and future generations, and self empowerment - - emphasizes transparency, decentralization and accessibility. Also accepts indigenous knowledge and incorporation of science knowledge when developing strategies. It recognizes that things change 14  Management of Resources Ideally, effective environmental resource management is sustainable from ALL perspectives 1. Ecological 2. Social (ethical) 3. Economic Identify conflicts between resource use and protecting environment (and the resource itself!) Shift from world as component parts to a more holistic view Senge (1994) – growing awareness that current rates of resource use are unsustainable, as are pollution. This may lead to social disintegration and ungovernability, which pose significant threats to our future. - Profound changes are required such that there is a shift to move away from the idea that the world is created of a number of parts towards a holistic way of seeing the world and all if its interacting processes. - From an early age, we are taught to break up parts into component pieces (divide and conquer), so that complex problems are easier to solve. However, this causes people to not be able to see the connections, feedbacks and consequences of actions on the larger system. - Seeing things as a whole, with all biophysical, economic, technological, etc. parts is called “Systems Thinking”. In terms of the Earth system, we may call this “Earth System Science”. 15 Ecosystem Change And Conflict: How to determine when ecosystems (and therefore our resources) are shifting to new states… 16  Ecosystem Resilience to Change Important goal of environmental management “The ability of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function and structure” (Walker and Salt, 2006) Resilience of natural systems allows them to maintain ecosystem services despite human disruption and disturbance! In some cases, the ecosystem may even benefit from disturbance! 17 Conceptual model example to understand resilience Conceptual model of resilience of coastal wetland in Chesapeake Bay. Conceptual model to focus on relationships between system components Morris et al. 2018 From grey to green: Efficacy of eco-engineering solutions for nature-based coastal defence. Global Change Biology 18  Resilience Stability Quick recovery of ecosystem following disturbance Resiliency Holling (1973): natural systems persist despite disturbance Range of Possible Ecological Conditions Fire, wind, insects (natural) or deforestation or grazing (human) Cup-and-ball model of domain stability Resilience - the capacity of ecosystem to respond to disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly (return to equilibrium). Resilience allows the ball to stay in one place (the image at the top). There may be a little perturbation or forcing that would cause the ball to roll but then it will settle back to where it was, like harvesting a forest for wood, it would grow back again into the same ecosystem over time. Other models such as the three at the bottom or the white ball at the top can also occur. For example, if the change or perturbation is large enough or if there are more than one influencing factors (e.g. forest harvesting + climatic drying) then this could cause the forest to shift into a different type of ecosystem, represented by the ball going over the hump. What kind of system would represent a gradual change of an ecosystem represented by the movement of the ball downhill? 19  Resilience and Ecosystem Services Resilience of system can determine the degree to which it provides ecosystem services Assumes that ecosystems that exist in degraded environmental state Are they less effective at providing ecosystem services? In many cases, degraded ecosystems, though they may be stable, are less productive and/or have lower biodiversity Belief that sustaining an ideal state assumes that future changes to the system will be minor 20  Four aspects of Resilience 1. Resistance: the ease or difficulty change 2. Precariousness: nearness to a threshold 3. Latitude: Maximum change that can be experienced 4. Panarchy: Resistance is influenced by other forces (Walker et al. 2004) 1. Resistance: the ease or difficulty of changing the system; how “resistant” it is to being changed. 2. Precariousness: how close the current state of the system is to a limit or “threshold.” 3. Latitude: the maximum amount a system can be changed before losing its ability to recover (before crossing a threshold which, if breached, makes recovery difficult or impossible). 4. Panarchy: How resistance of an ecosystem at one scale is influenced by processes at other scales (smaller or larger); e.g. political decisions, climate change, degree of habitat continuity, etc. 21  Sustaining the Ideal State Best Practices: Focus on taking particular goods and services from a system, need to control others e.g. increase crop production by using herbicides or pesticides Goal: Move a system to an ideal state and keep it there! Retain features with immediate value Assumptions: Future changes will be minor, incremental, linear Reality: Systems can change quickly, non-linearly = drastic reduction in resilience - What is interesting here is that even during ‘best practices’, resource management focuses on getting certain goods or services from a natural system. This often means that they are taking some parts and controlling others. - But in ensuring efficiency in being able to get what we want out of the environment, we also remove any redundancy or parts that are not needed. This causes the environment to become more sensitive to outside influences. Sometimes the system changes very quickly or changes non-linearly and in ways we don’t expect, thereby making the system much less resilient. We want to improve the resilience of these systems by making them more sustainable. 22 “ The more you optimize elements of a complex system of humans and nature for some specific goal, the more you diminish that system’s resilience. A drive for an efficient optimal state outcome has the effect of making the total system more vulnerable to shocks and disturbances … The bottom line for sustainability is that any proposal for sustainable development that does not explicitly acknowledge a system’s resilience is simply not going to keep delivering goods (or services). The key to sustainability lies in enhancing the resilience of social-ecological systems, not in optimizing isolated components of the system”. (Walker and Salt, 2006) 23 Uncertainty Uncertainty = “a situation of imperfect and/or unknown information” Uncertainty = “when something is not firmly established, is in doubt” If we don’t understand the behaviour of a system, prediction of future events is difficult Uncertainty can exist in (and thus stem from) measurements that have been made Uncertainty can persist even when we spend millions of dollars to understand a system… 24  Uncertainty We cannot predict the behaviour of ecological, social, or economic systems! Too complex! Drivers: Combination of constant, random, and monotonically (e.g. something that may not increase, but must not decrease) Interactions among systems increases uncertainty Effective management systems MUST deal with uncertainty! Use a Systems Perspective - Because governments & public are interested in “sustainable” practices, then we must take on a “systems perspective”, which makes the connections even more complex among all of the natural and human systems, across local to global boundaries, and over the past, present and future time periods (!!) - Further, as knowledge expands, so does our understanding of uncertainty, especially as many systems are unpredictable (stochastic), thereby further heightening the possibility for conflict. 25 …is not the same as Risk! Risk = potential for gaining or losing something of value; not the same as hazard Risk is a consequence of moving forward in the face of uncertainty, BUT may also have some idea of the probability of success Behaviour of system may be known (e.g. flood risk) Also not the same as Ignorance, which is a state of being uninformed (don’t know what you should know) 26 Managing Resources to Reduce Conflict and Uncertainty 27  Change causes Uncertainty, Conflict Conflicts occur for many reasons: Why might people have conflicts and disputes? Conflict can be good in some ways Clarification of information Can be constructive, problems can be solved Conflict can also be negative: Can cause mistrust, misunderstanding, reinforced biases; ignored (= later escalation of problem) Often in the news Conflicts and disputes may arise because of different values, interests, needs, or actions. They can occur because of big issues such as project development; multiple uses of resources in an area; policies, legislation, and regulations; ownership and jurisdiction of resources; who should be involved in decision-making - 28  Clayoquote Sound Conflict What were the indicators of mistrust? How did this create conflict? What did the two sides want? And how did the environmental movement begin? -Watch this ~3 minute video: https://youtu.be/c15GuEFwTuA 29 Summary from Today Over time, we have recognised that our actions have impacted ecosystems and the services we rely on. This created changing philosophical ideas about our environment and how we protect it, starting with conservation to now where we work with our environment such that our use of resources are sustainable. Sustainable use of resources allows ecosystems to remain (generally) resilient to change – they ‘bounce back’, however, there are other uncertainties that could cause ecosystems to change. By understanding the various components of the Earth System, we are then able to predict the ‘uncertainty’ in these systems Understanding the resilience of our natural resources depends on science and fact- based knowledge, as well as the ability of scientists and researchers to disseminate information. While this should reduce conflict, it often doesn’t…However, applying an effective Adaptive Management Strategy (next class) ensures sustainable management and reduces uncertainty and conflict. 30