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Why Nature Matters

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More Information: EcoResilience Initiative

Beauty

Beauty

Belief:

Beauty imbues life with meaning. Nature is a unique kind of beauty we evolved with. Some of its beauty comes from being nonhuman, and cannot be reproduced.

Many traditions look to nature for the sublime

Examples

Maldives

Hawaii

Niagra Falls

"Extraordinarily beautiful living things and places"

Pros:

- Simple human experience of desire and sublime.

- Seems to be mostly intrinsic and static

Undisturbed Nature

Undisturbed Nature

4% of all mammals

world wide are wild

74% of all land is modified

by humans

Belief:

The natural

world ought to

have its own space and resources to live as it chooses.

Self-willed Nature. Nature for Nature's sake.

Examples

Sahara

Russian Tundra

South China Karst

"Nature which has not been disrupted by

humans"

Pros:

- Clear definition, few remaining locations

- Can provide a reference for restoring degraded landscapes

Animal Welfare

Animal Welfare

"A better life for creatures in the wild"

Post Darwinism

"Providing the natural world with the same kinds of luxuries we built for ourselves."

Post Darwinism

Belief:

If they could, animals would also build shelters and grow food for themselves. We escaped the hardships of nature and we should offer animals better lives too.

"Providing the natural world with the same kinds of luxuries we built for ourselves."

Post Darwinism

Examples

Animals often lack basic shelter and clean water.

Just because they cannot invent technology is not a reason to withhold it from them.

enrichment

water, shelter, and food

comfort

health

In this model, morality is not limited to suffering of species

"Providing the natural world with the same kinds of luxuries we built for ourselves."

Post Darwinism

Examples

enrichment

water, shelter, and food

comfort

health

watering holes, bird feeders, nest boxes, bee bricks

air conditioning, pools, nest material

hamster wheels, mirrors, trampolines

animal hospitals

Many species play with toys when given the chance!

"Providing the natural world with the same kinds of luxuries we built for ourselves."

Enrichment corner

Play is present across the animal classes. There are examples of reptiles, fish, birds, and mammals.

Reduce Suffering

"Reducing suffering from nature."

Reduce Suffering

Belief:

Suffering is bad, even if it is natural. We have the ability to make the world better.

"Reducing suffering from nature."

Reduce Suffering

Examples

Animals regularly die horribly to preventable disease and starvation

Most animals die when they are young

Disease Treatment

Humane Birth Control

Reduce Natural Disasters

In this model, morality is based on individual experience

Scientific Knowledge

Pharmaceutical Families

Himalayas

Biomimicry

Canadian lakes

Scientific Knowledge

Climate change, neurology, evolution, sanitation, CRISPR, chemistry, DNA,

social science,

paleoclimates,

antibiotics,

agriculture,

pain killers,

architecture,

soft robotics,

bioremediation,

material science,

language formation, adaptation potential,

population dynamics, altruism, hydrodynamics

Economies of scale,

swarm intelligence, longevity research, cancer resistence, areodynamics,

disease modeling,

memory, sight,

smell, hearing,

gene drives,

biochemistry,

game theory,

communication,

nutrient cycling,

radiation resistence,

general intelligence,

disaster recovery, extaterrestrial survival,

Some families of plants have high concentrations of pharmaceutical properties.

Belief: Insight and understanding of our world, and where we came from is important.

The scientific field dedicated to using nature as inspiration for technological advancement.

Drastic changes in elevation allow us to anticipate the effects of climate change. We can study the migration of species, behavioral and genetic adaptations.

Many closely positioned lakes allow for controlled experiments on whole-ecosystems with replications. Removing predators, adding nutrients, etc.

Figure 1. Heatmap depicting the distribution of use records among plant families and the addressed troubles/systems. Abbreviations, as quoted in the figure, are as follows. CB, circulatory system and blood disorders; PI, pain and inflammations; DN, digestives system and nutritional disorders; P, poisoning; EM, endocrine system and metabolic disorders; PBP, pregnancy, birth and puerperal disorders; G, genitourinary system disorders; II, infections and infestations; IN, immune system disorders and neoplasia; NM, nervous system and mental disorders; MT, musculoskeletal system disorders and traumas; SS, skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders; R, respiratory system disorders; S, sensory system disorders; TR, tonic and restorative.

Rare and Endangered

Rare and Endangered

"At risk populations or unusual traits"

Rare Habitats

Rare Habitats

Belief:

Unique interactions between organisms are precious, not only the organisms themselves. Species need intact habitats to be able to thrive in the wild.

"Rare combinations of habitats."

Rare Habitats

Examples

27% of habitats are threatened or endangered. Preserving rare of habitats is an important part of preserving nature.

Pitch Pine Dunes in Maine

Artemisia frigida grassland, Inner Mongolia,

Extinction focused

on the environment-level is closer to preserving the experience of being in nature.

Rare Individuals

Rare Individuals

Belief:

28% of species are threatened with extinction. Genetic priortization can keep more of the tree of life intact.

"Rare genetics with only a few members on the evolutionary tree"

Rare Individuals

Examples

Prioritizing species to ensure the least amount of diversity is lost.

Coelocanths: 1 species left in the Order

Socotra:

300 endemic plants, 30 endemic reptiles, 6 endemic birds, 650 endemic insects, and 90 endemic snails

Torreya: 6 species left in the Family

- highly objective, measurable

- comparable across the world

"Rare genetics with only a few members on the evolutionary tree"

Rare Individuals

Phylogenetics measures which species are the last of their kind. Prioritizing evolutionary distinctiveness is a method to ensure the least amount of diversity is lost.

"Rare genetics with only a few members on the evolutionary tree"

Rare Individuals

EDGE is a metric measuring Evolutionary Distinctiveness and Global Endangeredness.

STAR is a metric measuring Species Threat Abatement and Restoration potential. (Tractability)

Biodiversity

Biodiversity

"Variety of life"

Species Biodiverity

Many species in one area

Total species is relatively easy to measure.

Example Locations

Species

Biodiversity hotspots are 2.3% of Earth

Most plants in a biodiversity hotspot are endemic, meaning they are not found anywhere else on Earth.

44% of the plants and 35% of vertebrates are in these zones

Amazon Rainforest

Madagascar

Indo-Burma

Madagascar

Madagascar has struggled to balance its world-class natural resources with increasing pressure from farming, fuel cutting, and high-value timber. A worrying development has been the fracturing of conservation authority. While more land area is now "protected" it is uncertain if these areas can resist deforestation. The main bottleneck in Madagascar is enforcement and governance.

Read More ...

Important Madagascar Protected Areas:

Masoala National Park

Ankarafantsika Nat'l Park

Midongy du sud Nat'l Park

Tsingy de Bemaraha Nat'l Park

Tsimanampetsotsa Nat'l Park

Marojejy Nat'l Park

Kirindy Mitea Nat'l Park

Amazon Collapse:

Fragmentation:

Learn More:

Fragmentation has an outsized impact on biodiversity, as rainforest animals are hardwired not to enter even road-size gaps.

Who protects the Amazon.

Distance from Edge:

Effect:

0m

The Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse place on earth. It is currently suffering from two major threats: Climate Change and Logging, which are both exacerbating fires.

CO2 increase is the primary driver. It heats up and dries out the forest more than deforestation. Climate Change affects the Amazon more than other tropical locations. There is a danger it will shift rainforest to savannah by increasing fires feedback effects.

Small mammals unaffected, frogs benefit, forest butterflies decrease

What would it cost to save the Amazon.

80m

Insectivorous birds disappear

Amazon Rainforest

2400m

A Detailed Review of what went wrong in the Amazon

Fires increase

500,000m

Large mammals, some birds and insects disappear

Current climate change is not enough to cause the Amazon to collapse, but with 20 -30% logging of the rainforest, the danger is real. Logging has increased enormously in the last few years due to policy changes in Brazil.

Nakai Nam Theun

Nakai Nam Theun

Nakai Nam Theun is one of the last contiguous forest wilderness in Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Protected in 2019 it contians several forest types including cloud forest. Wildlife poaching is the largest threat. Nakai Nam Theun still contains 100 mammals including several rare large ones such as muntjac, asian elephant, saola and pangolin as well as 400 species of bird.

Read More ...

Some conservation organizations active in the region:

Biomes

Biome Biodiverity

Places with the highest habitat variety

Belief:

Places with many habitats are some of the most stunning places on earth. They often support interesting combinations of species thriving in unusual circumstances.

The interactions between organisms are important, not just the organisms themselves.

Species alone aren't enough. We want a diversity of habitats.

Biome Biodiverity

Places with the highest habitat variety

Focuses on preserving all kinds of landscapes.

Examples

Hyrcanian forests

Sacred Himalayas

Uunartoq hotsprings

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services

Belief:

Our society depends on underlying resources and systems in the natural world. We need ecosystem services to be plentiful and reliable for our quality of life to remain high.

Nature's true value is discounted in our current economy

It's about 41 trillion, or 55% of earth's total GDP

"Natural processes which are beneficial for other species (including us)"

Predictable Seasons

Insect Population

Flood Prevention

Bioremediation

Reduced Fires

Soil Nutrients

Pollination

Sanitation

Soil pH

Grazing Land

Water Cycling

UV Protection

Salinity Balance

Waste Processing

Rodent Population

Landslide Prevention Nutrient Cycles (N, P, K)

Ecosystem Services are a bridge between human activities and the natural world. Right now they are often invisible "externalities"

Human-Wildlife Conflict

Carbon Sequestration

Drought Reduction

Disaster Recovery

Oxygen Provision

Erosion Control

Genetic Library

Fish stocks

Timber

Air Quality

Fresh Water

Storm Buffering

Sunlight Intensity

Disease Reduction

Agricultural Output

Heavy Metal Removal

Temperature Regulation

Examples

Coexistence

Coexistence

"Living in harmony with nature"

Traditional& Degrowth

The aim is to increase human interactions with nature, learning to live in harmony

Traditional & Degrowth

Belief:

There was great wisdom in the ways we discarded as "outdated." Intentions that were too longterm to be visible.

The aim is to increase human interactions with nature, learning to live in harmony

Traditional & Degrowth

Examples

We have made terrible sacrifices for convenience and lost something important.

First Nations University of Canada

Wildtending

Fiji Culture Village, Bhoramdeo Jungle Retreat

- proven methods

- low impact, accomodates humans and nature

- cultural heritage

Green Futurism

"Civilization in harmony with nature through technology"

Green Futurism

Belief:

We have the

technology to have it all. Including living in harmony

with nature. The best possible future is a green one where everything thrives.

"Civilization in harmony with nature through technology"

Green Futurism

Examples

There is nothing inherently wrong with human invention. We can contribute to nature and peacefully cohabitate more than ever before.

Engineering with Nature

Eco Resorts:

Bambu Indah Monte Verde

De-extinction

EcoVillages and Earthships

Our power to do good has increased, not decreased.

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