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75-609: CELA was established at the same time as its sister organization the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP), which does not offer Legal Aid services but focused on policy related to emerging and neglected environmental issues until 2011. CELA's goals include holding governments and polluters legally accountable in cases of harm to the environment or public health, safeguarding citizens’ environmental rights, improving environmental equity, seeking policies that protect human or ecosystem health , and ensuring

150-618: A "value statement" and stresses the role of human values in setting ecosystem management goals. It is the last goal mentioned in the survey, accommodating humans, that is most contentious. "We have observed that when groups of stakeholders work to define ... visions, this leads to debate over whether to emphasize ecosystem health or human well-being ... Whether the priority is ecosystems or people greatly influences stakeholders' assessment of desirable ecological and social states." and, for example, "For some, wolves are critical to ecosystem health and an essential part of nature, for others they are

225-430: A BioScience article on responsible use of scientific language: "Some conservationists fear that these terms could endorse human domination of the planet ... and could exacerbate the shifting cognitive baseline whereby humans tend to become accustomed to new and often degraded ecosystems and thus forget the nature of the past." Criticism of ecosystem health largely targets the failure of proponents to explicitly distinguish

300-460: A better functioning ecosystem with more biomass. Pearce and Moran outlined the following method for classifying environmental uses: Habitat loss and destruction can occur both naturally and through anthropogenic causes. Events leading to natural habitat loss include climate change, catastrophic events such as volcanic explosions and through the interactions of invasive and non-invasive species. Natural climate change, events have previously been

375-470: A consequence, the working definition of ecosystem health, along with the overall management goals, have evolved as well. Habitat protection Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve , protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction , fragmentation or reduction in range . It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology . For much of human history, nature

450-435: A considerable amount of empirical and theoretical research." Other authors have sought a numerical index of ecosystem health that would permit quantitative comparisons among ecosystems and within ecosystems over time. One such system employs ratings of the three properties mentioned above: Health = system vigor x system organization x system resilience . Ecologist Glenn Suter argues that such indices employ "nonsense units,"

525-527: A fact that is emphasized repeatedly in the literature of environmental ethics ... Hence, we advise always specifying the definition of indicators and propose clearly distinguishing ecological indicators in science from policy indicators used for decision-making processes." And integration of multiple, possibly conflicting, normative indicators into a single measure of "ecosystem health" is problematic. Using 56 indicators, "determining environmental status and assessing marine ecosystems health in an integrative way

600-425: A few key species." And, "Reviews of species-based monitoring approaches reveal that no single species, nor even a group of species, accurately reflects entire communities. Understanding the response of a single species may not provide reliable predictions about a group of species even when the group is comprised of a few very similar species." A trade-off between human health and the "health" of nature has been termed

675-450: A generalization is elusive as those properties do not necessarily co-vary in nature. For example, there is not necessarily a clear or consistent relationship between productivity and species richness. Similarly, the relationship between resilience and diversity is complex, and ecosystem stability may depend upon one or a few species rather than overall diversity. And some undesirable ecosystems are highly productive. “If species richness

750-457: A global scale. The commitments and actions of small volunteer associations in villages and towns, that endeavour to emulate the work of well known conservation organisations , are paramount in ensuring generations that follow understand the importance of natural resource conservation. Natural habitats can provide Ecosystem services to humans, which are "any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provide to people." The natural environment

825-417: A human-impacted wetland with the same indicator value may be judged unhealthy. Estimation of ecosystem health has been criticized for intermingling the two types of environmental indicators. A health indicator is a normative indicator, and if conflated with descriptive indicators "implies that normative values can be measured objectively, which is certainly not true. Thus, implicit values are insinuated to

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900-796: A plan and embedding goals within that plan, and monitoring and evaluating species. Considerations such as the species type, environment, and context are aspects of planning a habitat restoration project. Efforts to restore habitats that have been altered by anthropogenic activities has become a global endeavor, and is used to counteract the effects of habitat destruction by humans. Miller and Hobbs state three constraints on restoration: "ecological, economic, and social" constraints. Habitat restoration projects include Marine Debris Mitigation for Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge in Haiti and Lemon Bay Preserve Habitat Restoration in Florida. Habitat conservation

975-641: A result of conserving their habitat, other species in that community are protected thus serving as an element of gap analysis. In the United States of America, a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is often developed to conserve the environment in which a specific species inhabits. Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) the habitat that requires protection in an HCP is referred to as the ‘critical habitat’. Multiple-species HCPs are becoming more favourable than single-species HCPs as they can potentially protect an array of species before they warrant listing under

1050-467: A scientific purpose or normatively for a political purpose." Used descriptively, high chlorophyll-a is an indicator of eutrophication, but it may also be used as an ecosystem health indicator. When used as a normative (health) indicator, it indicates a rank on a health scale, a rank that can vary widely depending on societal preferences as to what is desirable. A high chlorophyll-a level in a natural successional wetland might be viewed as healthy whereas

1125-413: A single species, and as a result habitat corridors are maintained, edge effects are reduced and a broader suite of species are protected. A range of methods and models currently exist that can be used to determine how much habitat is to be conserved in order to sustain a viable population , including Resource Selection Function and Step Selection models. Modelling tools often rely on the spatial scale of

1200-437: A symbol of government overreach threatening their livelihoods and cultural values." Measuring ecosystem health requires extensive goal-driven environmental sampling. For example, a vision for ecosystem health of Lake Superior was developed by a public forum and a series of objectives were prepared for protection of habitat and maintenance of populations of some 70 indigenous fish species. A suite of 80 lake health indicators

1275-742: A time, eventually altered and changed Australia's vegetation so much that many herbivorous megafauna species were left with no habitat and were driven into extinction. Once herbivorous megafauna species became extinct, carnivorous megafauna species soon followed. In the recent past, humans have been responsible for causing more extinctions within a given period of time than ever before. Deforestation , pollution , anthropogenic climate change and human settlements have all been driving forces in altering or destroying habitats. The destruction of ecosystems such as rainforests has resulted in countless habitats being destroyed. These biodiversity hotspots are home to millions of habitat specialists, which do not exist beyond

1350-439: A tiny area. Once their habitat is destroyed, they cease to exist. This destruction has a follow-on effect, as species which coexist or depend upon the existence of other species also become extinct, eventually resulting in the collapse of an entire ecosystem. These time-delayed extinctions are referred to as the extinction debt, which is the result of destroying and fragmenting habitats. As a result of anthropogenic modification of

1425-657: A trend of accelerating erosion of the genetic resources of agricultural plants and animals. An increase in genetic similarity of agricultural plants and animals means an increased risk of food loss from major epidemics. Wild species of agricultural plants have been found to be more resistant to disease, for example the wild corn species Teosinte is resistant to 4 corn diseases that affect human grown crops. A combination of seed banking and habitat conservation has been proposed to maintain plant diversity for food security purposes. It has been shown that focusing conversation efforts on ecosystems "within multiple trophic levels" can lead to

1500-468: Is a conflict of interest as humans have demolished massive numbers of ecosystems to maintain their welfare, also disease and parasitism are historically normal in pre-industrial nature. Diseases and parasites promote ecosystem functioning, driving biodiversity and productivity, and parasites may constitute a significant fraction of ecosystem biomass. The very choice of the word "health" applied to ecology has been questioned as lacking in neutrality in

1575-554: Is a matter of current scientific debate." Most attempts to identify ecological indicators have been correlative rather than derived from prospective testing of their predictive value and the selection process for many indicators has been based upon weak evidence or has been lacking in evidence. In some cases no reliable indicators are known: "We found no examples of invertebrates successfully used in [forest] monitoring programs. Their richness and abundance ensure that they play significant roles in ecosystem function but thwart focus on

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1650-520: Is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem . Ecosystem condition can vary as a result of fire, flooding , drought , extinctions , invasive species , climate change , mining , fishing , farming or logging , chemical spills , and a host of other reasons. There is no universally accepted benchmark for a healthy ecosystem, rather the apparent health status of an ecosystem can vary depending upon which health metrics are employed in judging it and which societal aspirations are driving

1725-463: Is a source for a wide range of resources that can be exploited for economic profit, for example timber is harvested from forests and clean water is obtained from natural streams. However, land development from anthropogenic economic growth often causes a decline in the ecological integrity of nearby natural habitat. For instance, this was an issue in the northern Rocky Mountains of the US. However, there

1800-410: Is also the economic value in conserving natural habitats. Financial profit can be made from tourist revenue, for example in the tropics where species diversity is high, or in recreational sports which take place in natural environments such as hiking and mountain biking . The cost of repairing damaged ecosystems is considered to be much higher than the cost of conserving natural ecosystems. Measuring

1875-412: Is better", this does not imply that "small is bad". Shwartz argues that human induced habitat loss leaves no alternative to conserving small areas. Furthermore, he suggests many endangered species which are of high conservation value, may only be restricted to small isolated patches of habitat, and thus would be overlooked if larger areas were given a higher priority. The shift to conserving larger areas

1950-590: Is in some sort of balance between adaptability (randomness) and robustness (order) . Nevertheless, the universality of criticality is still under examination and is known as the Criticality Hypothesis, which states that systems in a dynamic regime shifting between order and disorder, attain the highest level of computational capabilities and achieve an optimal trade-off between robustness and flexibility. Recent results in cell and evolutionary biology, neuroscience and computer science have great interest in

2025-631: Is our major normative target, then we should convert the Amazon rainforest even faster into pasture.” "Resilience is not desirable per se. There can be highly resilient states of ecosystems which are very undesirable from some human perspectives, such as algal-dominated coral reefs ." Ecological resilience is a "capacity" that varies depending upon which properties of the ecosystem are to be studied and depending upon what kinds of disturbances are considered and how they are to be quantified. Approaches to assessing it "face high uncertainties and still require

2100-495: Is somewhat justified in society by placing more value on larger vertebrate species, which naturally have larger habitat requirements. Since its formation in 1951 The Nature Conservancy has slowly developed into one of the world's largest conservation organizations. Currently operating in over 30 countries, across five continents worldwide, The Nature Conservancy aims to protect nature and its assets for future generations. The organization purchases land or accepts land donations with

2175-526: Is still one of the grand challenges in marine ecosystems ecology, research and management" Another issue with indicators is validity. Good indicators must have an independently validated high predictive value , that is high sensitivity (high probability of indicating a significant change in the indicandum) and high specificity (low probability of wrongly indicating a change). The reliability of various health metrics has been questioned and "what combination of measurements should be used to evaluate ecosystems

2250-431: Is that the historical composition of many human-altered ecosystems is unknown or unknowable. Also, fossil and pollen records indicate that the species that occupy an ecosystem reshuffle through time, so it is difficult to identify one snapshot in time as optimum or "healthy.". A commonly cited broad definition states that a healthy ecosystem has three attributes: While this captures significant ecosystem properties,

2325-759: Is their "Pride Campaigns". For example, in the Andes in South America, Rare has incentives to develop watershed protection practices. In the Southeast Asia's "coral triangle" Rare is training fishers in local communities to better manage the areas around the coral reefs in order to lessen human impact. Such programs last for three years with the aim of changing community attitudes so as to conserve fragile habitats and provide ecological protection for years to come. WWF Netherlands, along with ARK Nature, Wild Wonders of Europe, and Conservation Capital have started

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2400-456: Is used to infer trends in another (unmeasured) environmental variable or cluster of unmeasured variables (the indicandum). For example, rising mortality rate of canaries in a coal mine is an indicator of rising carbon monoxide levels. Rising chlorophyll-a levels in a lake may signal eutrophication . Ecosystem assessments employ two kinds of indicators, descriptive indicators and normative indicators. "Indicators can be used descriptively for

2475-421: Is viewed as having ecological foundations. It is also an urban planning term in reference to "green" cities (composting, recycling), and has been used loosely with regard to various environmental issues, and as the condition of human-disturbed environmental sites. Ecosystem integrity implies a condition of an ecosystem exposed to a minimum of human influence. Ecohealth is the relationship of human health to

2550-425: Is vital for protecting species and ecological processes. It is important to conserve and protect the space/ area in which that species occupies. Therefore, areas classified as ‘biodiversity hotspots’, or those in which a flagship, umbrella, or endangered species inhabits are often the habitats that are given precedence over others. Species that possess an elevated risk of extinction are given the highest priority and as

2625-636: The Philippines and Zambia . Rare has been in operation since 1973 with current global partners in over 50 countries and offices in the United States of America, Mexico, the Philippines, China and Indonesia. Rare focuses on the human activity that threatens biodiversity and habitats such as overfishing and unsustainable agriculture. By engaging local communities and changing behaviour Rare has been able to launch campaigns to protect areas in most need of conservation. The key aspect of Rare's methodology

2700-470: The forests of British India . The conservation ethic that began to evolve included three core principles: 1) human activities damage the environment , 2) there was a civic duty to maintain the environment for future generations, and 3) scientific, empirically-based methods should be applied to ensure this duty was carried out. Sir James Ranald Martin was prominent in promoting this ideology, publishing numerous medico-topographical reports that demonstrated

2775-519: The "health paradox" and it illuminates how human values drive perceptions of ecosystem health. Human health has benefited by sacrificing the "health" of wild ecosystems, such as dismantling and damming of wild valleys, destruction of mosquito -bearing wetlands , diversion of water for irrigation , conversion of wilderness to farmland , timber removal, and extirpation of tigers , whales, ferrets, and wolves . There has been an acrimonious schism among conservationists and resource managers over

2850-579: The 1950s. The term "ecosystem health" has become widespread in the ecological literature, as a general metaphor meaning something good, and as an environmental quality goal in field assessments of rivers, lakes, seas, and forests. The term ecosystem health has been employed to embrace some suite of environmental goals deemed desirable. Edward Grumbine's highly cited paper "What is ecosystem management?" surveyed ecosystem management and ecosystem health literature and summarized frequently encountered goal statements: Grumbine describes each of these goals as

2925-655: The ESA, as well as being able to conserve broad ecosystem components and processes . As of January 2007, 484 HCPs were permitted across the United States, 40 of which covered 10 or more species. The San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP) encompasses 85 species in a total area of 26,000-km2. Its aim is to protect the habitats of multiple species and overall biodiversity by minimizing development in sensitive areas. HCPs require clearly defined goals and objectives, efficient monitoring programs, as well as successful communication and collaboration with stakeholders and land owners in

3000-496: The Earth either received less sunlight or grew colder, causing certain fauna and flora to flourish whilst others perished. Previously known warm areas in the tropics, the most sensitive habitats on Earth, grew colder, and areas such as Australia developed radically different flora and fauna to those seen today. The big five mass extinction events have also been linked to sea level changes, indicating that large scale marine species loss

3075-789: The Galápagos’ Islands, Ecuador. It was also a WWF grant that helped with the formation of the College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania which today focuses on teaching a wide range of protected area management skills in areas such as ecology, range management and law enforcement. The WWF has since gone on to aid in the protection of land in Spain, creating the Coto Doñana National Park in order to conserve migratory birds and The Democratic Republic of Congo , home to

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3150-505: The UN often use the terms planetary and ecosystem health, such as the recent journal The Lancet Planetary Health . The health metaphor applied to the environment has been in use at least since the early 1800s and the great American conservationist Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) spoke metaphorically of land health, land sickness, mutilation, and violence when describing land use practices. The term "ecosystem management" has been in use at least since

3225-412: The area as an indicator of conservation value. There has been an increase in emphasis on conserving few large areas of habitat as opposed to many small areas. This idea is often referred to as the "single large or several small", SLOSS debate , and is a highly controversial area among conservation biologists and ecologists . The reasons behind the argument that "larger is better" include the reduction in

3300-465: The area. Reserve design is also important and requires a high level of planning and management in order to achieve the goals of the HCP. Successful reserve design often takes the form of a hierarchical system with the most valued habitats requiring high protection being surrounded by buffer habitats that have a lower protection status. Like HCPs, hierarchical reserve design is a method most often used to protect

3375-483: The assessment. Advocates of the health metaphor argue for its simplicity as a communication tool. "Policy-makers and the public need simple, understandable concepts like health." Some critics worry that ecosystem health, a "value-laden construct", can be "passed off as science to unsuspecting policy makers and the public." However, this term is often used in portraying the state of ecosystems worldwide and in conservation and management. For example, scientific journals and

3450-508: The benefit in taking a scientific approach towards habitat conservation. For the last decade the organization has been using a collaborative, scientific method known as "Conservation by Design." By collecting and analyzing scientific data The Conservancy is able to holistically approach the protection of various ecosystems. This process determines the habitats that need protection, specific elements that should be conserved as well as monitoring progress so more efficient practices can be developed for

3525-479: The cause of many widespread and large scale losses in habitat. For example, some of the mass extinction events generally referred to as the "Big Five" have coincided with large scale such as the Earth entering an ice age, or alternate warming events. Other events in the big five also have their roots in natural causes, such as volcanic explosions and meteor collisions. The Chicxulub impact is one such example, which has previously caused widespread losses in habitat as

3600-426: The criticality hypothesis, emphasizing its role as a viable candidate general law in the realm of adaptive complex systems (see and references therein). Health metrics are determined by stakeholder goals, which drive ecosystem definition. An ecosystem is an abstraction. "Ecosystems cannot be identified or found in nature. Instead, they must be delimited by an observer. This can be done in many different ways for

3675-510: The damage from large-scale deforestation and desiccation , and lobbying extensively for the institutionalization of forest conservation activities in British India through the establishment of Forest Departments . The Madras Board of Revenue started local conservation efforts in 1842, headed by Alexander Gibson , a professional botanist who systematically adopted a forest conservation program based on scientific principles. This

3750-431: The environment, including the effect of climate change, wars, food production, urbanization, and ecosystem structure and function. Ecosystem management and ecosystem-based management refer to the sustainable management of ecosystems and in some cases may employ the terms ecosystem health or ecosystem integrity as a goal. The practice of natural resource management has evolved as societal priorities have changed and, as

3825-629: The environment, the extinction rate has climbed to the point where the Earth is now within a sixth mass extinction event, as commonly agreed by biologists. This has been particularly evident, for example, in the rapid decline in the number of amphibian species worldwide. Adaptive management addresses the challenge of scientific uncertainty in habitat conservation plans by systematically gathering and applying reliable information to enhance conservation strategies over time. This approach allows for adjustments in management practices based on new insights, making conservation efforts more effective. Determining

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3900-410: The future. The Nature Conservancy currently has a large number of diverse projects in operation. They work with countries around the world to protect forests, river systems, oceans, deserts and grasslands. In all cases the aim is to provide a sustainable environment for both the plant and animal life forms that depend on them as well as all future generations to come. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

3975-461: The habitat and resources ranging from one species to several species The Society for Ecological Restoration's International Science and Policy Working Group define restoration as "the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed." The scale of habitat restoration efforts can range from small to large areas of land depending on the goal of the project. Elements of habitat restoration include developing

4050-407: The indices have "no meaning; they cannot be predicted, so they are not applicable to most regulatory problems; they have no diagnostic power; effects of one component are eclipsed by responses of other components, and the reason for a high or low index value is unknown." “Another way to measure ecosystem health" is using complex systems concepts such as criticality, meaning that a healthy ecosystem

4125-557: The intention of conserving its natural resources. In 1955 The Nature Conservancy purchased its first 60-acre plot near the New York/Connecticut border in the United States of America. Today the Conservancy has expanded to protect over 119 million acres of land, 5,000 river miles as well as participating in over 1,000 marine protection programs across the globe . Since its beginnings The Nature Conservancy has understood

4200-461: The management objective", to employ habitat descriptors and real properties of ecosystems. An example of a policy statement is "The maintenance of viable natural populations of wildlife and ecological functions always takes precedence over any human use of wildlife." An example of a goal is "Maintain viable populations of all native species in situ." An example of a management objective is "Maintain self-sustaining populations of lake whitefish within

4275-435: The negative impacts of patch edge effects, the general idea that species richness increases with habitat area and the ability of larger habitats to support greater populations with lower extinction probabilities. Noss & Cooperrider support the "larger is better" claim and developed a model that implies areas of habitat less than 1000ha are "tiny" and of low conservation value. However, Shwartz suggests that although "larger

4350-418: The normative (policy preference) dimension from the descriptive (scientific information) dimension, and has included the following: Alternatives have been proposed for the term ecosystem health, including more neutral language such as ecosystem status, ecosystem prognosis, and ecosystem sustainability. Another alternative to the use of a health metaphor is to "express exactly and clearly the public policy and

4425-470: The question of whether to "ratchet back human domination of the biosphere" or whether to embrace it. These two perspectives have been characterized as utilitarian vs protectionist. The utilitarian view treats human health and well-being as criteria of ecosystem health. For example, destruction of wetlands to control malaria mosquitoes "resulted in an improvement in ecosystem health." The protectionist view treats humans as an invasive species: "If there

4500-505: The range of abundance observed during 1990-99." Kurt Jax presented an ecosystem assessment format that avoids imposing a preconceived notion of normality, that avoids the muddling of normative and descriptive, and that gives serious attention to ecosystem definition. (1) Societal purposes for the ecosystem are negotiated by stakeholders, (2) a functioning ecosystem is defined with emphasis on phenomena relevant to stakeholder goals, (3) benchmark reference conditions and permissible variation of

4575-424: The reader, a situation which has to be avoided." The very act of selecting indicators of any kind is biased by the observer's perspective and separation of goals from descriptions has been advocated as a step toward transparency: "A separation of descriptive and normative indicators is essential from the perspective of the philosophy of science ... Goals and values cannot be deduced directly from descriptions ...

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4650-420: The same chunk of nature, depending on the specific perspectives of interest." Ecosystem definition determines the acceptable range of variability (reference conditions) and determines measurement variables. The latter are used as indicators of ecosystem structure and function, and can be used as indicators of "health". An indicator is a variable, such as a chemical or biological property, that when measured,

4725-425: The size, type and location of habitat to conserve is a complex area of conservation biology. Although difficult to measure and predict, the conservation value of a habitat is often a reflection of the quality (e.g. species abundance and diversity), endangerment of encompassing ecosystems, and spatial distribution of that habitat. Habitat restoration is a subset of habitat conservation and its goals include improving

4800-490: The species' habitat and decreasing their dispersal range. This increases species isolation which then causes their population to decline. Even before the modern industrial era, humans were having widespread, and major effects on the environment. A good example of this is found in Aboriginal Australians and Australian megafauna . Aboriginal hunting practices, which included burning large sections of forest at

4875-434: The system are established, (4) measurement variables are chosen for use as indicators, and (5) the time scale and spatial scale of assessment are decided. Ecological health has been used as a medical term in reference to human allergy and multiple chemical sensitivity and as a public health term for programs to modify health risks (diabetes, obesity, smoking, etc.). Human health itself, when viewed in its broadest sense,

4950-626: The timely cleanup of pollution. CELA represents citizens and groups in tribunals, boards, and commissions and was especially active assisting the Concerned Citizens of Walkerton throughout all phases of the Walkerton Inquiry into tainted drinking water in 2002. The current executive director of CELA is Theresa McClenaghan. This article about an environmental organization is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ecosystem health Ecosystem health

5025-436: The value of nature itself and the need to protect it. By the mid-20th century, countries such as the United States, Canada, and Britain instigated laws and legislation in order to ensure that the most fragile and beautiful environments would be protected for posterity. Today, with the help of NGO's and governments worldwide, a strong movement is mobilizing with the goal of protecting habitats and preserving biodiversity on

5100-444: The world's largest protected wetlands. The WWF also initiated a debt-for-nature concept which allows the country to put funds normally allocated to paying off national debt, into conservation programs that protect its natural landscapes. Countries currently participating include Madagascar , the first country to participate which since 1989 has generated over $ US50 million towards preservation, Bolivia , Costa Rica , Ecuador , Gabon ,

5175-401: The worth of conserving different habitat areas is often criticized as being too utilitarian from a philosophical point of view. Habitat conservation is important in maintaining biodiversity , which refers to the variability in populations, organisms, and gene pools, as well as habitats and ecosystems. Biodiversity is also an essential part of global food security. There is evidence to support

5250-471: Was developed for the Great Lakes Basin including monitoring native fish species, exotic species, water levels, phosphorus levels, toxic chemicals, phytoplankton , zooplankton , fish tissue contaminants, etc. Some authors have attempted broad definitions of ecosystem health, such as benchmarking as healthy the historical ecosystem state "prior to the onset of anthropogenic stress ." A difficulty

5325-504: Was ever a species that qualified as an invasive pest, it is Homo sapiens ," Proponents of the utilitarian view argue that "healthy ecosystems are characterized by their capability to sustain healthy human populations," and "healthy ecosystems must be economically viable," as it is "unhealthy" ecosystems that are likely to result in increases in contamination , infectious diseases , fires, floods, crop failures and fishery collapse. Protectionists argue that privileging of human health

5400-584: Was first formed in after a group of passionate conservationists signed what is now referred to as the Morges Manifesto. WWF is currently operating in over 100 countries across 5 continents with a current listing of over 5 million supporters. One of the first projects of WWF was assisting in the creation of the Charles Darwin Research Foundation which aided in the protection of diverse range of unique species existing on

5475-456: Was seen as a resource that could be controlled by the government and used for personal and economic gain . The idea was that plants only existed to feed animals and animals only existed to feed humans. The value of land was limited only to the resources it provided such as fertile soil , timber , and minerals . Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, social views started to change and conservation principles were first practically applied to

5550-460: Was strongly influenced by loss in marine habitats, particularly shelf habitats. Methane-driven oceanic eruptions have also been shown to have caused smaller mass extinction events. Humans have been the cause of many species’ extinction. Due to humans’ changing and modifying their environment, the habitat of other species often become altered or destroyed as a result of human actions. The altering of habitats will cause habitat fragmentation, reducing

5625-530: Was the first case of state conservation management of forests in the world. Governor-General Lord Dalhousie introduced the first permanent and large-scale forest conservation program in 1855, a model that soon spread to other colonies , as well to the United States , where Yellowstone National Park was opened in 1872 as the world's first national park. Rather than focusing on the economic or material benefits from nature, humans began to appreciate

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