SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
In the 1980's people realised that closing off areas of the rainforests and reefs to try and protect them was not a success. People still carried out illegal poaching and harvesting, so another form of protection was needed: SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT.
Sustainable Management involves:
Conserving the ecosystem for future generations, by ensuring we don't use it faster than it can be replaced. We do this by zoning.
Local people, as they need to be involved so the ecosystem will still provide them with resources.
Schemes which train and educate local people, so they can be involved in decision making as the most important STAKEHOLDERS (people who have an interest in an area/project/decision).
Helping local people living in poverty. Sustainable schemes allow local people to make a living from ECOTOURISM, or by carrying out activities in the BUFFER ZONE (see diagram for an LEDC example).
Being environmentally friendly. It avoids practices like clear cutting, where the forest is totally destroyed. Trees are left to protecet watersheds. Harvesting is selective, with only large trees cut for logging. Only adult fish are caught for food.
Ecotourism
This is a form of tourism visiting fragile and usually protected areas. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for conservation, to directly benefit the local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.
ACTING LOCALLY TO PROTECT THE BIOSPHERE
National policies can be delivered in a local area, involving local people with their 'indigenous knowledge' (knowledge of the area).
Foe example, BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLANS (BAP's) protect natural vegetation in Great Britain and are run nationally.
However, these plans act at a local level and wouldn't succeed unless local people followed them.
They arose from the Convention of Biodiversity at the 1992 World Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
ACTING NATIONALLY TO PROTECT THE BIOSPHERE
At a national scale, governments can set up protected areas, which help to conserve, manage and restore biodiversity.
The map shows the distributions of NATIONAL PARKS in England and Wales. In a national park the demands of recreation are managed in some of the most attractive, yet fragile, coastal and upland landscapes.
COMMUNITY FORESTS have been established to provide new areas of trees near major cities.
Governments can also pay farmers to MAINTAIN and REPLANT hedgerows and become more environmentally friendly. There are many different types of conservation area, all with different conservation aims.
ACTING GLOBALLY TO PROTECT THE BIOSPHERE
RAMSAR Convention on Conserving Wetlands
This was signed in 1971 and has now been adopted by 147 countries.
Many wetlands are international systems lying across the boundaries of two or more countries or states, or are part of river basins that include more than one country/state. The health of these wetlands is dependent upon the quality and quantity of the water supply from rivers, streams, lakes, or underground aquifers (stores of water).
The best intentions of countries on either side can prove to be a problem without a guide for cooperation. Increased biodiversity and conservation of natural resources are results of well-managed water resources; so if we manage the water correctly, we can get more species. Many of the wetland fauna, including some fish species, waterbirds, insects such as butterflies and dragonflies, and mammals such as otters, are migratory species (ones that move from place to place during different seasons). This means that their survival, conservation and management also require international cooperation.
CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
This was signed in 1973 and has been adopted by 166 countries. CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. For example, it attempts to prevent the trade in elephant ivory or handbags made from crocodile skin.
Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES was developed in the spirit of such cooperation.
Today, it gives varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs.
Human influence on the biosphere
The biosphere - worth protecting?