Unsustainable overfishing on coral reefs is not simply an issue of too many people fishing on the reefs. A new study shows that it is the level of socio-economic development of coastal communities that determines how intensively nearby reefs will be fished.
The American, Australian, British and Kenyan scientists behind the study surveyed 19 coral reefs and the adjacent coastal communities in the western Indian Ocean region. They measured the amount of fish on the reefs (fish biomass) and a range of social, economic, demographic and cultural indicators in the human communities. In a recent issue of the scientific journal Current Biology they publish their results showing that human population density in fishing villages was a rather poor predictor of the amount of fish in adjacent reefs. Rather it was the level of socio-economic development, such as access to water, paved roads and electricity, that was strongest correlated to fish biomass.
Actually, the authors found less fish on reefs in areas with moderate levels of socio-economic development. In contrast, the areas with the lowest and highest levels of socio-economic development had up to four times as much fish on the reefs.
Socio-economic inequality is an important factor to consider when predicting rates of human-induced biodiversity loss, according to new findings by a group of researchers from McGill University in Canada.
Inequality is an important predictor of biodiversity loss, according to a new study. Photo: Poor fishermen docked close to fancy hotels in Hong Kong, where inequality is higher than in the rest of China. (D.M. Cook/Flickr).
The Canadian team of scientists has analyzed data from 50 countries and compared different socio-economic models’ ability to predict biodiversity loss, measured as the proportion of threatened plant and vertebrate species (animals with a backbone). They have published their results in Conservation Biology, in a paper entitled “A Cross-National Analysis of How Economic Inequality Predicts Biodiversity Loss”.
– Our results confirm that economic inequality is an important predictor of biodiversity loss, says Professor Garry Peterson one of the scientists behind the new study.
On April 21-22 Albaeco hosted a training session on the "Corporate Ecosystem Services Review" (ESR)together with World Resources Institute and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.Click the picture below to view a video with an introduction to the ESR, with Suzanne Ozment and John Finisdore from the World Resources Institute.
The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review is a methodology for identifying business risks and opportunities arising from ecosystem change. It is based upon the results of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a global health check of the planet's ecosystems.
ESR is developed by World Resources Institute together with WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) and is now being used globally.
After the Second World War at least 40 percent of all intrastate conflicts have a link to natural resources and the environment, according to a report launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The report, entitled “From Conflict to Peacebuilding – The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment”, concludes that peacemaking efforts must focus much more on environmental factors in the future. This statement is based on the many civil wars, e.g. in Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have centred on resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil. Other conflicts, in places like Darfur and the Middle East, have involved control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water.
“As the global population continues to rise, and the demand for resources continues to grow, there is significant potential for conflicts over natural resources to intensify in the coming decades”, writes UNEP in a press release.
Moreover, they conclude that climate change seems to aggravate existing tensions and generate new conflict due to its impacts on water availability, food security, prevalence of disease, coastal boundaries, and population distribution.
View leading researchers in the field of sustainable development explaining an important concept or recent research insight just for you!
Albaeco and Stockholm Resilience Centre have developed a new video seminar concept called the “Stockholm Whiteboard Seminars”. The idea is to get away from seminars loaded with lengthy and flashy PowerPoints and go back to basics. So, take the opportunity to get a short and close encounter with a top scientist in the field of sustainable development, who uses the whiteboard to explain an important concept or recent research insight just for you!
Earlier this year UNEP, UNDP and the World Bank teamed up with World Resources Institute to publish a report focusing on the concept of resilience “for cushioning the impacts of climate change and delivering continuing benefits to the poor”. Recently, the Volvo Environment Prize was given to the “father of resilience theory”, C.S. Holling. But what is this resilience-thing really all about? We thought it was about time to try to sort this concept out once and for all.
Building economic, social, and environmental resilience that cushions the impacts of climate change is becoming increasingly important. Photo by Annette Löf/azote.se: thunderstorm approaching over Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Resilience has become one of the new buzzwords of sustainability. This is not only due to the fact that the father of resilience theory, Canadian ecologist Crawford “Buzz” Holling, recently won the Volvo Environment Prize, it all started much earlier. The concept of resilience was introduced by Holling already back in 1973 as: “a measure of the ability of systems to absorb change… and still persist”.
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