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How Can We Develop & Maintain a Sustainable Future?. Management Techniques. Conservation: Protecting of resources that might otherwise be expended with less responsible pattern of use: Includes education of consumer Incentives to decrease consumption. Preservation.
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Management Techniques • Conservation: Protecting of resources that might otherwise be expended with less responsible pattern of use: • Includes education of consumer • Incentives to decrease consumption
Preservation • Provides ample reserve of resources for the future use • Different from conservation which simply reduces use of resources • 1964 Wilderness Act
Restoration • Bringing a damaged ecosystem back to its unspoiled, natural condition.
Remediation: Using chemical, biological, physical methods to remove chemically active (either hazardous or toxic) pollutants Superfund Reclamation: Returning devastated land to a condition that is environmentally useful and socially/politically acceptable. Remediation vs Reclamation What is the difference between, restoration, remediation, reclamation?
Mitigation • Refers to finding a solution to a problem • Establishing another ecosystem elsewhere in place of damage done as a result of development
What Services Do The Following Major Systems Provide? • Forests • Grasslands/Savannas • Croplands • Wetlands • Desert/Tundra • Coastal Oceans • Coral Reefs • Open Oceans
How Do We Determine Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)? • The highest possible rate of use that the system can match with its own rate of replacement or maintenance. • Important consideration is carrying capacity • Optimal population is half the carrying capacity • What’s the problem with determining MSY?
What’s Happening to Our Ocean Ecosystems? • Pollution • Overfishing • Destruction of habitat
International Whaling • Whales were heavily exploited and depleted until 1980s • Only limited whaling allowed by Japan, Norway, Canada, Alaska and Greenland • Endangered and vulnerable species include: N. Atlantic Right Whale, Blue Whale, N. Pacific right Whale, Fin, Sei, Bowhead, Humpback, Gray, & Sperm
Will Aquaculture Be Able to Fill the Gap? • Coastal Aquaculture • Open Ocean • Carp, Tilapia, milkfish and mollusks make up 80% of production
Protecting Our National Forests! • Although we have cut all but 5% of the forests since the colonists first arrived, deforestation is no longer a problem in the US • There are more trees today than in 1920
Forests as Obstacles • Worldwide, only about 10% of forests are protected • Because of El Nino, droughts have led to increased forest fire (1998 known as “the year the Earth caught fire”) • Difficult to exploit forest for food, therefore conversion to agriculture is #1 leading cause of deforestation • Between 1960-1990 loss of 20% of tropical forests (up to1.1 billion acres) the size of 2/3 of US
Types of Forest Management • Silviculture: Objective of producing a specific crop • Clear cutting: removing an entire stand • Selective cutting: some mature trees are removed leaving behind a diversity of biota • Shelter-wood cutting: cutting mature trees in groups over a period of 10-20 years.
Ecosystem Management • Clinton administration’s Forest Service Chief (Mike Dombeck) declares no building new logging roads • Bush administration announced “Healthy Forests Initiative”, by reducing “fuel load” (shrubs & trees) to prevent forest fires
Rainforests of the World • Crucial in maintaining Earth’s climate • Greater economic development & rapid population growth • Indonesia plans to convert 20% of its forests (1 million hectares) • What incentives and assistance could the US offer Brazil or African countries to keep tropical rain forests from further harm due to conversion?
Sustainable Forest Management • Plantation of trees for wood or other products • Extractive Reserves: Latex, nuts, fibers fruits • Preserving Forests: Use as tourist attractions • Place forest under the control of indigenous villagers • World Bank: Will finance only logging companies with sustainable practices, and improve livelihoods of the millions of poor who live and depend on the forests • Remote Sensing: Using radar and satellite imagery, Brazil monitors its forests. Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA) measured world forests in this manner
To Development • It would cost more than $100,000 a year to duplicate the water purification and fish propagation of a single acre of natural tidal wetlands