A LECTURE POWERED BY HON. (BARR) KINGSLEY O. CHINDA (HON COMMISSIONER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, RIVERS STATE) AT THE 2010 WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY CELEBRATION ON THE THEME “BIODIVERSITY, ECO- SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMY” WITH “MANY SPECIES. ONE PLANET” ONE FUTURE AS THE SUB-THEME.
This is celebrating WED in accordance with the United Nations General Assembly resolution 2997 of 10th December 1972. In the same manner, Nigeria and in particular Rivers State Government through the Ministry of environment has planned a series of activities in which today has been chosen to mark WED.
The global them of this year WED celebration is “Biodiversity- ¨Ecosystem Management and Green Economy”. While the Subtheme is “Many species, one planet and one future”.
This paper illustrates how living creatur.es have had major effects on their ecosystems.
The record of life for the past 600 million years is extraordinarily rich, especially for animals and plants which had been preserved so if we consider the chances involved in the burial, physical and chemical modification and over such a vast period of time.
Sylvester- Bradley (1972) discusses the origin of organic matter and life, and describes primitive life forms over 3000 million years old. Metazoans and metaphytes have been present for only one-fifth of this period, and have been exerting an influence on Earth’s environments which can to-day be most clearly seen in Man’s activities. At the present time, the extent to which man is rapidly changing the natural environments on the surface of the Earth is all too familiar. We can state with some certainty that that Man’s activities over the past few hundred years, stemming from his advanced state of psychological evolution, mark the beginnings of a major revolution in the pattern and type of environments present of the Earth’s surface. However, many of the major events in the evolution of life during the past 3500 million years have triggered off revolutionary changes ill Earth’s environments just as important; so that the Earth’s natural environments may be considered as having evolved, though not at the rate of the present revolution.
The acquisition of photosynthetic ability was probably the most important event after that of the actual appearance of life, since all animals are ultimately dependent on plants. It seems likely that most of the free oxygen was gradually acquired as a direct result of photosynthesis. When the atmospheric6xygen reached 1% of its present level, aerobic respiration became possible, and the 10% level has been shown by Rhoads and Morse to correspond to the level of dissolved oxygen at which calcareous skeletons can be secreted and retained. This must have occurred close to the Cambrian Precambrian boundary about 600 million years ago.
Before discussing further the effect which organisms have on their environment it may be useful to look briefly at some of the early life communities. Evidence of procaryote and eucaryote life in the Precambrain IS mainly from primary silicified stromatolites. Stromatolities are as frequent and are as much as feature of Precambrian (3,500 million year) rocks as they are of younger rocks. Over half the algal taxa recognised are similar at, the generic or specific level to modem algal. Indeed, the overall organization and. species composition is comparable to modern laminated algal communities. We can conclude that these cyanophytes had reached a peak of diversity by Bitter Springs time and have subsequently remained evolutionarily conservative.
Apart from some rather doubtful structures, one of the earliest pieces of evidence for a definite metazoan is a short track in sediments 2000 m below the top of the Precambrian in South Australia. The bilaterally symmetric~ ridged track suggests that a molluscan-like animal was responsible. At this stage in Earth history, trace fossile are more likely to, be preserved than body fossils; though in sediments of such age there is often considerable difficulty in establishing an organic origin at all. Indeed, it is not surprising that so many pseudofossils has been described from Precambrain rocks. Abundance, chemical analysis and symmetry cannot be used to establish an organic origin for a structure, the general form of which may be strongly suggestive of a metazoan. The best procedure at present is to show that the structure cannot reasonably be interpreted as having an inorganic origin. For this, the whole ‘fossil’ must be collected – part and counterpart. (For instance, sectioning the jellyfish-like Aspidella terranomca from the Precambrian at St. John’s, Newfoundland, generally shows it to be a water-or gas-escape structure).
The first body fossil metazoans occur at no great distance beneath Cambrian rocks. At Ediacara in South Australia and at several sections in the adjoining Flinders Ranges, a rich fauna of 34 species (including the trace fossils) has been found. The semi-desert climate, low dips and extensive outcrop have aided exploitation of the locality, now a Reserve. Elements of the same fauna have been found in South Africa, England, the Ukranic and Siberia and, except for the english locality, are at a similar stratigraphic level. The fauna is entirely unmineralized except for spicies in the pennatulids (sea- pens).
Below the Cambrian (570 million years) one of the most common fossils, Dickinsonia, a flatfish-like polychaete of which four species are known. This anelid had extensive fusion of the anterior body segments like the modem Spinther. Some specimens show evidence of partial decay with edges that had become frayed before final burial. As Professor Glaessner and Dr. Mary Wade have shown, it is absolutely essential with all these fossils to understand fully the preservation before making any palaeobiological analysis. The integument of Dickinsonia and the other annelid Spriggina were relatively strong, and most specimens are represented by external moulds. In contrast, the much less resistant Jellyfish show a great variety of preservation, particularly as casts and composite moulds. Jellyfish dominate the fossilised fauna, and include floating forms and mobile forms like Kimberella, which shows some resemblance to the living, voracious sea-wasps. Others like Eoporpita had adopted a sessile mode of life at the water-air interface, aided by a chondrophore- type float. This is a niche which we would expect to have been occupied early in metazoan history, since the shallow surface waters would have been better oxygenated. In contrast, the stress of the intertidal zone would have made this habitat relatively difficult to occupy. Two species of arthropod and a possible echinoderm have also been recognised. Sponges, a group which would be expected because of their simple organisation, are only doubtfully noted. Six types of trace fossil are known, none of which can be attributed to any of the body fossils. Their mode of behaviour is of a relatively simple’ type, though one shows a grazing pattern. Most of the body fossils are not in a life position (whereas the trace fossils of course are) but they were obviously not transported far and were probably introduced and smothered by thin sand layers deposited during storms.
The first metazoans marked the real beginning of food webs and it is not unreasonable to attempts to reconstruct a food web for the Ediacara fauna. What is remarkable,: and so different from modern systems, is that virtually all the fauna were primary consumers: either substrate feeders, or suspension feeders on a microplankton that must have been overwhelmingly phytoplankton. There is no evidence for an intermediate zooplankton. It seems unlikely that predatos were limited to some of the medusae, and it is reasonable to suggest that animals such as nemerteans were also present (phantom fossils).
The Ediacara fauna scarcely affected the chemical balance of the Earth, and only slightly modified the look of some sediments. Infaunal animals often rework (bioturbate) the sediment, and finer grains may be re-suspended or brought to the substrate surface during excremental processes. Some Phanerozoic sediments should look quite different from those deposited in Precambrian times (3500 to 570m yrs) in a similar situation and under the same physical conditions.
The major control exercised by organisms on the Earth’s environments is clearly chemical. Beside the release of oxygen into the atmosphere (above) the volume of free carbon dioxide, has varied over biological time. The prolific increase in land plants during the Carboniferous (some 280-345 million years ago) and the formation of major coal deposits must have led to an immense removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The increase in oceanic alkalinity that followed may have contributed to the major faunal extinctions about 225 million years ago.
There are three other ways in which organisms significantly affect sedimentary environments.
First, during the Phanerozoic (570-65 million years), organisms contributed a vast bulk of skeletal material to sedimentary rocks. This has varied with time according to the type of organisms present. The Chalk of north-west Europe is often 990/0 calcium carbonate of organic origin. In the Isle of Wight it is 600m thick. The equivalent amount of sediment in Ordovician (500 million years) times, before the evolution of the minute calcareous plants whose skeletons make up so much of the Chalk, would have been only a few decimeters of claystone. In the Lower Cambrian, fossil archacocyathids with a stout calcitic skeleton account for considerable thicknesses of limestones in Australia and Siberia. Their porous skeletons probly functioned like those of sponges. The group had become extinct by the Middle Cambrian, and their ecological niche does not appear to have been immediately filled.
Second, organisms influence the erosion rate, as is all too obvious when the vegetative covering to the soil is removed. In pre-grass times (pre-Tertiary) the bad-land effect must have been much more widespread, with erosion proceeding at a a greater rate than at present. Conversely, some of the boring organisms, notably certain molluses and the sponge Clione, are effective erosional agents.
Third, organisms disturb the normal distribution of sediments by diverting and retaining materials. Lagoons are an interesting feature of tropical coastlines, but they owe their presence to the organically constructed reef. Coral reefs of modern type are a relatively recent evolutionary invention, and it is doubtful whether organic bioherms of the Palaeozoic rose above wave base. Also, the salf- tolerant mangroves have probably changed the whole appearance of posttMesozoic tropical deltas, by trapping sediment between their propproots and thus controlling the movement of tidal water. At all latitudes various organisms, particularly algae and polychaete worms, are able to create sediment baffles leading to the deposition and stabilization of sediment, which would otherwise be hydrodynamically mobile.
All these effects must act very slowly and with many fluctuations, so that only by careful analysis of each factor involved in a particular situation can it be possible to forecast large-scale environmental changes. In predicting for the future it is wise to take a backward glance at the evolution of environments over the past 1000′ or so million years, and to analyse the environmental effects of past biological revolutions.
The apparent permanence of our natural surrounding is relative. Viewed from a life-span of three score years and there is a comforting constancy in the landscape around us, in the alternation of day and night, and the progression of life through the seasons. The local valleys and hills remain much’ the same as when we were children, except where urban and industrial development have intervened to change both scenery and fauna. But are such scents static? Consider subtle changes which may not immediately be obvious-rivers carrying sand and boulders from hills to sea, or rainfall washing away soil. If in one lifetime a few kilogram of rock are removed, t1?-e effect is hardly discernile to a human observer, but over a period of tens of thousands or millions of years the effect
on a landscape will be considerable. Given time, mountain chains will be reduced to monotonous plains, and marine areas become dry land.
Although the human observer is limited in time, observation of present-day processes such as the movement of sand in rivers is the basis for the interpretation of sedimentary rocks. These rocks are the products of past processes which sculptured ancient landscapes, and therefore they contain clues to the nature of past conditions on the Earth’s surface. It is this kind of detective work which forms the subject of this paper. In it, Professor E.;K.s Walton of the University of St. Andrews describes some of the clues which can be used to piece together a description of past environments. Such results form the basis for constructing a detailed history of the Earth.
Biodiversity and Sustainable Ecosystem Management: Key Issues and Challenges (present and future)
The variety of forms on earth, including genes, species and ecosystems, is known as biological diversity of biodiversity. The immense value of this vast resource remains largely unrecognized. For instance, genetic diversity underpins the development of cultivated food crop varieties and animal breeds. It also helps wild populations adapt to changing environmental conditions. Loss of biodiversity results in serious reductions in the goods (such as food, medicines and building materials) and the services (such as clean water and nutrient cycling) that the earth’s ecosystems can provide and that make economic prosperity arid human survival Possible. In short, biodiversity is the very basis for sustainable development.
Biodiversity includes every form of life – from the smallest microbe to the large animals and plants – and the interactions between them: This continuum of biological variety and interactions is difficult to imagine, let alone describe in tangible terms. Yet it is best understood ‘as the living world’s capacity of change – variability – ~d the wealth of biological forms and processes that derive as a result – variety. What is important about biodiversity of humans is the choice that it offers, from the perspective of both present benefits of varied and variable life forms and future options associated with variety and the capacity for organisms to adapt. It also provides the potential for change, an inherent capacity to mutate and adapt in an ever – shifting environment.
Biodiversity supports the ecosystem functions essential for life on earth. It provides products such as food, medicines and materials for·· industry. It is also at the heart of many cultural values.
Biodiversity and function ecosystems give resilience to the biosphere, but as biodiversity is degraded, communities and human society itself become more vulnerable because options for change are diminished. Biodiversity can be seen therefore as a ‘life insurance policy for life itself’ – something especially needed in this time of fast-paced global change. As the biological underpinnings of economic growth and the potential for prosperity are eroded, the prospects for achieving sustainable development are like wise reduced and global human security will be further threatened.
Properly conserved and wisely used, biodiversity guarantees the effective functioning of ecosystems that deliver a range of services vital for human well-being and ecosystem functioning. As noted in the convention on Biological Diversity of and other biodiversity related treaties, effective conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at all levels – genes, species and ecosystems -is a precondition for sustainable development. Similarly, similarly, because it underpins the survival and will determine the potential of human societies everywhere, continuing progress towards the goals established in the UN Millennium Declaration will only be possible if biodiversity is conserved and the benefits of its use are distributed equitably.
Activities that reduce biodiversity jeopardize development and human health through losses of useful materials, genetic stocks and the services of intact ecosystems. Among the most crucial of these services are air and water purification, waste detoxification and decomposition, climate stabilization, flood and drought moderation, seed dispersal and plant pollination, soil fertility renewal and nutrient recycling.
- An estimated 40 per cent of the global economy is based on biological products and processes.
- Approximately 20 per cent of the world’s fresh – water fish species have become extinct, threatened or endangered in recent decades, and some 75 per cent of the major marine fish stocks are either depleted, overexploited or being ed at their biological limit.
- Some 75 per cent of the genetic diversity of crop plants has been lost in the past century.
- More than 50 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been drained, and populations of inland water and wetland species have declined by 50 per cent between 1970 and 2000.
- Roughly one – third of the world’s coral reef systems have been destroyed or highly degraded.
- About 24 per cent of mammals and 12 per cent of bird species are currently considered to be globally threatened.
- Of the 1.2 billion people living ill extreme poverty, approximately 900 million live in rural areas; they are therefore highly dependent on biodiversity for their livelihoods and are most severely affected by biodiversity loss, water pollution and land degradation.
In fact, humankind actually has very little knowledge about the word’s biodiversity, since fewer than 2 million species have been scientifically described from a estimated’ 10 -15 million (or perhaps far more) species. And the role of these upon which society depends is almost completely unknown. Although action to stop the loss must not wait for the gathering of complete knowledge on biodiversity, the current achieve sustainable development.
The total loss of species through global extinction is a real concern. It has been estimated that current extinction rates among mammals and bird may be more than 100 times the rate expected in the absence of human activities. It is not coincidental that these rates are often matched by the extinction and loss of languages and others of cultural diversity.
However, the gradual erosion of genetic diversity, the loss of local populations and the fragmentation of existing species are often far greater short -term significance. Loss – of these elements of biodiversity is liable to have a direct impact on the livelihoods of people, particularly the world’s rural poor and disadvantaged. (See Box 1.) And it is the local loss of species populations, along with direct physical modification of the landscape that contributes most to ecosystem degradation.
For some threatened ecosystems, like freshwater wetlands and tropical forests, the rate of species extinction is now estimated to be 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate without human interference. But losses in these species rich systems should not detract from the fact that even species” – poor systems -including mangroves, tidal marshes, tundra and’ coniferous forests – are also suffering in this way, and they are as important in the functioning of the biosphere as species -rich ones.
BOX 1: Biodiversity’s Contribution to Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods and human Security
- Food security. Human society is highly dependent on genetic resources, including those from wild and semi -domesticated sources, for the productivity of its agriculture, livestock and fisheries. These resources also prove communities with an adaptation capacity so that varieties can be created that best cope with changing local conditions. Biodiversity associated with agriculture is critical to maintain soil quality, feed livestock and fish, control agricultural pests and diseases and provide critical pollution services. I~ addition, biodiversity is a source of alternative food products during periods of scarcity.
- Health improvements. Biodiversi1y is a source of the invaluable information and raw materials that under pin medicinal and health care system, both for the ‘informal’ sector that meets local health care needs of some 60 per cent of the world’s people, and the ‘formal’ sector that derives a majority of the world’s modem drugs from scarce or polluted water and air and from diseases associated with disrupted ecosystems. Further, having a variety of sources of foods supports better nutrition and therefore improves health.
- Income generation. Poor people tend to· depend most on the direct use of biodiversity for their livelihoods, and are therefore the first to suffer when these resources are degraded or lost. Biodiversity also offers great potential for marketing unique products, many of which are extremely va1uabl~, but the benefits only infrequently accrue to the poor.
- Reduced vulnerability. Poor people are most often exposed to and are least prepared to cope with unpredictable events such as fluctuations in access to food and other resources or environmental shocks ad risks. Ecosystem degradationexacerbates the frequency and impact of droughts, floods, landslides, forest fires and other: natural hazards, and can intensify competition and the potential for conflict over’ access to shared resources such as food and water.
- Ecosystem services. Forests, wetlands, coastal ecosystems and so on provide essential services that contribute in numerous ways to the productive activities of rural and ‘Urban poor people, including through the generation of water, cycling of nutrients, replenishment of soil fertility and prevention of erosion. These services are public goods, providing indirect values that are not traded in the market -place but are vital to the livelihoods of all people.
The main underlying causes of these losses originate in some of the most basic social, economic, political, cultural and historical features of society. The driving forces are numerous and interdependent, and although many of them depend strongly on international decisions and activities, the approaches to dealing with them are specific to countries and local settings and Win therefore vary. Transmitting their effects through economic or political actions. They include:
- Broad social, economic and political processes such as unsustainable production and’ consumption patterns, human population growth, inadequate. economic valuation of biodiversity, globalization of trade, poverty, inappropriate structural adjustment policies,’ harmful subsidies and incentives, lack of clear land use rights, lack political will, political unrest and wars;
- Institutional and social weaknesses such as poor governance, lack of intersectoral coordination and effective partnership, fragmented decision-making, lack of secure land tenure and uneven distribution of ownership, loss of cultural identity and spiritual value, insufficient scientific and implementation capacities, lack of information, limited use of scientific and local knowledge and lack of awareness and poor understanding of the role of biodiversity in providing goods and services and in defining sustainable development;
- Market and economic policy failures such as lack or non-enforcement of appropriate regulatory mechanisms, prevalence of harmful subsidies and incentives, absence of ‘appropriate local and global markets for biodiversity’ goods and services and lack of clear environmental and development policies and of environmental impact assessments; and
- Lack of knowledge, particularly among those directly involved in the management of biodiversity and those who make decisions on economic activities and development projects that affect biodiversity and ecosystems.
We also need to recognize that it is not only biodiversity loss that has exacerbated poverty, but mismanagement of biodiversity through introductions of additional species or misguided efforts to ‘protect’ biodiversity from people through ‘enclosure’ (especially in areas where there is weak governance) – whether this has involved the enclosure of resources within protected areas or the enclosure of resources within protected areas or the enclosure of information and knowledge generated from biodiversity through the privatization of intellectual property rights.
Given the current value of this enclosed biodiversity, the critical challenge must be to facilitate a fair and equitable flow of benefits from it to the poor (it could provide’ benefits by remaining enclosed if viable and fair benefit -sharing mechanisms are in place). This will, for instance, involve exploring protected areas issues and identifying how the areas can be strengthened while benefiting local people. It must also involve investigation what sort of policies, legislation and institutional issues can promote more positive linkages -for example, by addressing intellectual property rights and incentives issues.
There is an urgent need as well to change the perception, and the policy approach derived from it, that biodiversity conservation is a ‘protected area issue’. Protected areas have an important role everywhere. Thus, biodiversity concerns should be present in the management of all places, and more particularly so in those where human intervention are more severe.
The sources of fresh water are in most cases fragile mountain ecosystems. On its way to the sea, fresh water passes through other ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes and wetlands that play an important role in ensuring the quality and quantity ·of the resources. The effective management and conservation of these ecosystems is essential to secure the water supply for human consumption. And conversely, healthy waterways and natural water flows are often required for ecosystems to function and biodiversity to be maintained.
Conversion of natural ecosystems to’ less diverse agricultural systems or to suburban or urban environment reduces the lands ability to absorb and hold precipitation. Converted areas are often more prone to floods because of increased rates of run-off and more prone to water scarcity during periods of low precipitation.
One of the undervalued services provided by natural ecosystems, particularly wetlands, is the filtration of waste and the detoxification of run-off before it reaches waterways. Because of this important ability to purify water, as well as the critical role played by biodiversity in stabilizing soil and preventing erosion, the loss of habitat has negative effects on water quality both in the immediate vicinity of the wetland and downstream. Similarly, invasive alien species can have a dramatic effect on the availability of surface water by changing water table levels, as is happening in Africa, Australia and Latin America.
The biodiversity of coastal and marine waters, notably fish and shellfish, plays a vital role providing food for many peoples, and healthy coastal ecosystems protect coasts against storms and flooding.
Biodiversity and Energy
Renewable source of energy, including wood fuel and biogas, depend on biodiversity (for the breeding of fast-growing native fuelwood species, for example). The maintenance of these renewable biological resources also depends on biodiversity that’ may allow adaptation to climate change. The _ sustainable harvesting of biomass for energy requires the use of good management practices that minimize the negative impacts on biodiversity, including habitats, and on soils and water.
Decisions about the construction and operation of major energy projects, such as large dams, must take biodiversity impacts into account, since such projects often have the potential to seriously undermine the provision of vital ecosystem goods and services. The extraction, transport and use of fossil fuels can have severe negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Strip mining for coal, oil tanker spills, oil pipeline leaks and disruption of animal migration patterns by pipelines are serious threats that need to be mitigated.
Climate change resulting from societal dependence on fossil fuel is also having increasingly serious consequences on entire ecosystems -especially highly vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs- and possibly on entire human cultures, in the case of certain small island states. Strategies to increase carbon sequestration through afforestation or reforestation efforts must take biodiversity into consideration since, for example, planting monocultures or using alien species can have serious negative consequences. However, the potential exists for climate change mitigation efforts to actually enhance biodiversity if conservation areas are accepted as carbon sinks under the Kyoto protocol.
Humans depend on biodiversity and the capacity of ecosystems to provide a multitude of goods and services that underpin a healthy human and natural environment. Many of the factors that threaten human heath also threaten biodiversity, such as toxic and hazardous materials and various forms of pollution. Biodiversity is essential for human health, for example, in the provision of the raw materials for medicine, indeed, some 20,000 species are used in traditional medicine, which forms the basis of primary health care for about 80 percents of the 3 billion people in developing countries. More than half of the world’s moderate drugs are derived form biological resources, which supports the traditional and modem pharmaceutical sectors. Approximately 5,000 species are potential sources of commercial drugs, while chemicals derived from 90 species are used globally in medicine. Of all useful plant-derived drugs, only 10 are synthesized in laboratories-the rest are still extracted from plants.
With advance in biotechnology and the availability of new and precise screening tools, interests in biodiversity as a source of both raw materials and the chemical information required for developing new medicinal products is expanding. Effects to assess any potential adverse impacts of living modified organisms on the environment and on human health are also expanding in parallel with the growth in biotechnology applications.
Biodiversity among animals in another important factor for medical research, at the same time, it is vital to ensure that health strategies, especially those for vector control using organochloride compounds, do not have adverse effects on biodiversity and become counterproductive.
In addition to the role it plays in helping people recover from illness, biodiversity also makes a significant contribution in preventing disease and illness, since well-functioning ecosystems can help protect human health. For example~ the conservation and wise use of biodiversity helps maintain the resilience of ecosystems and their associated socio-cultural system, which promotes human well-being and reduced reliance on drugs. Wetlands and other functioning ecosystems can often detoxify water-bone diseases, and natural predators of disease-causing insects can help prevent overuse of organ chlorides.
Biodiversity and Agriculture
All forms of agriculture, including agriculture and aquaculture, whether intensive or small-scale, depend on biodiversity both for the supply of plant and animal genetic resources for production and for the provision of essential ecological services, such as the maintenance of soil fertility, nutrient cycling, pollination, erosion control and pest and disease regulation. It is vital to retain these positive functions of biodiversity in relation to agriculture since soil micro-organisms maintain soil fertility, break down waste product and ensure soil structure. Insects, bats and- birds provide critical pollination services. Wild predators and disease of agricultural pests are crucial to control pest damage to crops and livestock. A high proportion of the world’s livestock depends on natural vegetation for feed. Accordingly, if it is to be sustainable, agricultural productivity needs to be built on a strong foundation of biological diversity at the gene, species and ecosystem levels. Thus threats to biodiversity often also constitute direct threats to agricultural productivity and food security.
It has been estimated that some 30,000 species are edible and that only about 7,000 of these have been cultivated or collected for food by humans. Between 15 and 20 crops are of major economic importance, and a total of 30 crops meet 95 percent of the energy or protein needs of the world’s population, just three crops-wheat, rice and maize-provide more than 50 percent of the global plant-derived energy intake, while only 40 species of domesticated animals are used in agriculture. Regular infusions of new crop strains are critical to expanding crop yields to meet future food demands.
Estimates of the global value associated with plant genetic resources in agriculture vary from hundreds of millions to tens of billions of dollars per year.
Indeed biodiversity-and especially the maintenance of wild relatives of domesticated species -is essential to sustainable agriculture. These linkages transcend national frontiers and clearly illustrate that the maintenance of diversity is a matter of global, not just local, concern. To cite just a few examples, the benefits of Mexican wild corn crossed with commercial corns to increase resistance have been estimated at US$4 billion a year world-wide; the value of Californian tomatoes increased by US$8 million a year as a result of a flavor gene _ found in a Peruvian wild tomato; a gene from Ethiopian barley protects Californian barley from viruses, with an estimated value of US$160 million a year; and the animal values of increased resistance given by Turkish wild wheat to American wheat amounts to some US$50 million.
Biodiversity and the Millennium Development Goals
The millennium development goals (MDGs, see inside front cover) adopted by the UN general assembly in September 2000 provide key targets to address the most pressing development needs. Ensuring environmental sustainability is recognized as one of eight key goals. Because biodiversity underpins the survival of human societies everywhere, continuing progress towards these goals can only be possible when it is conserved and the benefits of its use are distributed equitably. This goal is closely tied with that of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Since the poor are the people most directly dependent on biological diversity and therefore most immediately affected by its loss, the need to stem this loss world wide as well as in specific locations is central to the goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and of ensuring environmental sustainability biodiversity IS also important for the
development of medicines, and therefore its maintenance is critical to efforts to combat HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
One of the challenges in ensuring environmental sustainability will be increasing the production of food, to meet the needs of a growing population while minimizing the clearing of land for agriculture and dependence on’ chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Biotechnology has the potential to contribute to enhanced food security and poverty alleviation, but will require careful management through development of sound Biosafety frameworks to prevent any adverse effects biotechnology issues were’ addressed in Chapter 16 of Agenda 21 and also by the Commission on Sustainable Development In 1995, when the chair’s report called for strengthened emphasis on the ecological, safety, health, socio-economic and ethical aspects of biotechnology .
Biosafety has become an important issue of debate and research in the field of biodiversity, and a new protocol to address the possible risks related to the handling and transfer of genetically modified organisms has been developed to deal with it the Cartagena biosafety protocol. The world summit on sustainable development preparatory committee meeting in Bali agreed to invite countries to ratify the Biosafety Protocol. There is a compelling need for independent, consolidated scientific advice to decision-makers on this issue.
Another MDG IS promoting gender equality and empowering women. As women are In many cases the primary custodians of traditional knowledge as well as the main direct users of biodiversity, its loss or degradation can worsen their societal role by limiting their ability to act as managers to natural resources for food production, clothing and medical purposes. Likewise, the possibility of conflicts arising as a result of increasingly scarce natural resources will inevitably diminish prospects for a global partnership for development, one of the MDGs.
Ultimately, however, since social and economic stability is a prerequisite for· sustainable development, the continued loss of biodiversity and degradation to natural resources can severely constrain efforts to meet all the MDGs, as they will lead to a reduction in food security. This can only exacerbate problems associated with malnutrition, undernourishment and risk of famine and will increase human vulnerability to disease with obvious consequences for maternal health and child mortality rates. Continues biodiversity loss will also result in social disruption as ecosystems are destabilized and become more vulnerable to natural disasters, such as floods, droughts and hurricanes, and to stresses resulting from human activities, such as pollution and climate change.
Given the inextricable link between biodiversity and the achievement of the MDGs, there is a need in the future to consider goals, targets and indicators that are more explicitly related to biodiversity and that are also time-bound.
Sustainable Design
Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally-conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of economic, social~ and ecological sustainability.
The intention of sustainable design is to “eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design”(1) Manifestations of sustainable de-sign require no non-renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment.
Applications of this philosophy range from the microcosm~ small objects for everyday use, through to the macrocosm- buildings, cities and the earth’s physical surface. It is a philosophy that can be applied in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and fashion design.
Sustainable design IS mostly a general reaction to global environment crises, the rapid growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources, damage to ecosystems, and loss of biodiversity(2).
These limits of sustainable design are reducing. Whole earth impacts are beginning to be considered because growth in goods and services is consistently outpacing gains ill efficiency. As a result, the net effect of sustainable design to data has been to simply improve the efficiency of rapidly increasing impacts. The present approach, which focuses on the efficiency of delivering individual goods and services, does not solve this problem. The basic dilemmas includes; the increasing complexity of efficiency improvements; the difficulty of implementing new technologies in societies built around old ones; that physical impacts of delivering goods and services are not localized, but are distributed throughout the economies; and that the scale of resource use is growing and not stabilizing.
The motivation for sustainable design was articulated in E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book small is beautiful. In architecture, sustainable design is not the attachment or supplement of architectural design but in integrated design process. This requires close cooperation of the design team, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages, from site selection, scheme formation, material selection and procurement, to project implementation(3).
GREEN ECONOMY
‘Green’ economy is a fast growing new economic development model in contrast to the existing ‘black’ economic model based on fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, the green economy is based on a knowledge of Ecological economics that aims at addressing the interdependence of human economics and natural ecosystem and the adverse impact of human economic activities on climate change and global warming. In the midst of the global economic crisis, the UNEP United Nations Environment Program called for a global Green- New Deal according to which governments were encouraged to support its economic transformation to a greener economy. (1)
Green economy includes green energy generation based on renewable energy to substitute for fossil fuels and energy conservation for efficient energy use. The green economy is considered being able to both create green jobs, ensure real, sustainable economic growth, and prevent environmental pollution, global warming, resource depletion, and environmental degradation.
Because the market failure related to environmental and climate protection as a result of external costs, high future commercial rates and associated high initial costs for research, development, and marketing of green energy sources and green products prevents firms from being voluntarily interested in reducing environment-unfriendly activities (Reinhardt, 1999; King and Lenox, 2002; Wagner, 203; Wagner, et at, 2005), the green economy is considered needing government subsidies as market incentives to motivate firms to invest and produce green products and services. The German Renewable Energy Act, legislation of many other EU countries and the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, all provide such market incentives.
However, there’ are still incompatibilities between the’ UN global green new deal call and the existing international trade mechanism in term of market incentives. For example, the WTO Subsidies Agreement has strict rules against government subsidies, especially for exported goods. Such incompatibilities may serve as obstacles to governments’ responses to the UN Global green new deal call. WTO needs to update its subsidy rules to account for the needs of acceleration the transition to the green, low-carbon economy. Research is urgently needed to inform the governments and the international community how the governments should promote the green economy within their national borders without being engaged in trade wars in the name of the green economy and how they should cooperate in their promotional efforts at a coordinated international level.
Thank you for your patience.
Permit me to acknowledge Minapuye Isaac Odigi Phd Professor Of Geology who put this paper together and I only delivered it.
Thank you
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