Future in our hands

Geologists have classified most epochs in Earth’s history according to fossils, radiometric dating and composition of the strata. The widely endorsed label for our current era, the Anthropocene, describes the extent to which our collective human footprint is changing the planet. It’s a proposed ‘geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems.’

It’s not a surprise to hear that humanity’s impact is negative overall, as evidenced by global climate change, biodiversity loss and species extinction. Although life on Earth has undergone vast changes over millions of years, never before has one species been the cause.

Happily, in response to our negative impacts, many humans are engaged in repairing historical and ongoing ecological damage. Alongside our long list of negative impacts, examples of positive effects abound.

Actions that degrade and repair the planet’s ecosystems do not amount to a zero-sum game, though. At any moment places are being destroyed and restored, but they’re not the same places, and the actions don’t happen in equal measure. We haven’t repaired nearly as much as we’ve degraded and destroyed. (In fact, most restoration initiatives are pet projects of the very industries damaging the land.)

It’s unrealistic to imagine that human lives, coupled with our many wants and needs, could ever be benign for the planet. But no one is arguing for this. Ecologists around the world are making the case for societies to change the systems that oversee development and resource extraction so that ecosystem functionality – which supports all life – can be maintained or restored.

Figuring out and upholding thresholds to ensure ecosystem health is not easy. Much thought has gone into determining goals to tip the scales in nature’s favour, so that initiatives to heal the planet will outweigh activities that further degrade it, and ecosystem health can be restored where it’s been lost. Some scientists have argued that ‘nature needs half’ – that half the planet’s natural areas should be protected to maintain the processes that support human and non-human well-being. Considering we’re just one of around 10 million animal species, and many areas we grudgingly yield are covered with rock, ice and snow, that’s not a lot.

Last year, a group of international conservationists released a paper that advanced benchmarks to achieve a ‘nature positive’ world. The goals are to reach zero net loss of nature after 2020, damage less than we repair by 2030 (become ‘net positive’) and achieve ‘full recovery’ by 2050.

Excerpted: ‘Anthropocene Means The Future Is in Our Hands’. Courtesy: Commondreams.org