The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - a good place to start

Whether you have seen Al Gore in his movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, standing on his cherry picker to show how rapidly the concentration of CO2 is increasing in our atmosphere, or images of polar bears stranded on melting lumps of ice, it is hard not to be convinced that something is happening to our climate and to our planet. As English snow drops flower earlier and earlier and as ice melts from the summit of Kilimanjaro there is evidence aplenty of the changes occurring around us.

It is hard also, to be unaware of at least some of the effects that humans are now having on the Earth’s ecosystems. Anyone with an interest in these matters will already be aware of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (see web link). This was called for in 2000 by the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. It involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provided a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably. Their four main findings are given below and provide an important context for this blog.

There is currently, at least in New Zealand where I am currently living, a religious-like fervour amongst the populace to care for our planet in a more enlightened way than we have over the past 200 years. This has to be good but is it enough? Whether our concern be driven by a desire for our children to have what we have had or purely from a human want to conserve the myriad of species that share our planet, is largely irrelevant. Through my writings here I want to introduce some of the key themes of environmental protection and conservation that we face over the coming years.

I should point out that I am an ecologist with no expertise in any particular field. One of my main interests is in conserving the world’s plant life so that future generations can benefit from the services it provides. They may be soil conservation, flood attenuation, provision of medicines, climate regulation through sequestration of carbon, providing timber and fuel, or habitat for the worlds biodiversity or just cultural or spiritual inspiration and fulfillment. We have a duty of care for this world and that means action must be taken today. But remember that we are a part of nature not apart from it. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Four Main Findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
■ 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.
■ 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. 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 challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demands for their services can be partially met under some scenarios that the MA has considered, but these 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.