Suitable development and
conservation of natural resources
The concept of 'sustainability' is
gradually gaining acknowledgement throughout the world, and has become one of
the terms most frequently referred to by the media. This concept involves the
demand at present and in the future, sovereignty over countries, equity among
nations, natural resources, ecosystem capacity, and the integration of
environmental protection and development.
Sustainability originates from ecology.
The term, which first appeared in fishery and forestry, refers to a resources
management strategy. The strategy allows harvesting a reasonable portion of
resources, as long as the availability of the resources would not be threatened
and the resources would be replenished enough to compensate for the harvesting.
For instance, the fishery in a region is said to be sustainable production when
the capture rate of fishes is reasonably lower than their breeding rate.
The definition of sustainable
development laid down by the World Commission on Environment and Development
as:
The paramount concept of sustainable
development is promoting the advance and development of the society and
simultaneously upholding environmental protection principles. Sustainable
development highlights protection and improvement of the ecology when we are
promoting production. Sustainable is what resources should be, to the extent
that the resources is available for human use for a longer period, or even
forever, to avoid their exhaustion, which would surely undermine the life and
production of human beings then.
All in all, sustainability can
be divided into two main parts:
-Reflection
and negation of traditional development approaches
-Establishment
of the model of sustainable development, which in practice means industrial
production of high productivity but low consumption, clean use of resources,
secure and steady supply of food in the long run, balance between population
and resources.
The importance of Suitable
development
Proposition and recognition of
the theory of sustainable development
The
term 'sustainable development' was first found in 1980 in an international
document, the "World Conservation Strategy" published by the
International Union for Conversation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) (http://www.iucn.org)
with the support from the World Wide Fund(WWF).
In
1980, the United Nations appealed to all nations to work out the fundamental
relationship between the nature, society, ecosystem, economy and usage of
natural resources, so as to maintain sustainable development.
In
November, 1983, the United Nations established the World Commission on
Environment and Development (UNCED). The prime minister of
In
1987, the commission submitted the report titled "Our Common Future"
to the General Assembly of the United Nations. A model of "Sustainable
Development" was thus put forward.
Later,
the UNCED carried the Agenda 21 which is regarded as sublimation of the modern
knowledge of sustainable development.
Importance of sustainable development
The
concept of "sustainable development" was endorsed globally shortly
after it was put forward. As science advances, the deeper knowledge of the
earth makes people wonder if the earth has any limit in sustaining the life on
the planet. In short, the issue of concern is the 'carrying capacity of the environment',
which is the population and economy that a certain set of resources can support
at a given time while maintaining stability of the environment.
Development
is considered sustainable if the total reserve of natural resources remains
unchanged or even increases. To draw an analogy, withdrawing the interest only
from the bank is a sustainable process, since the amount of principal would not
change. Any additional withdrawal would decrease the principal. More ideal
would be depositing additional principal.
Sustainability
is related to the interaction of environmental, economic, social, cultural and
political factors. From a ecological view, the main concern of sustainability
is the stability of the biological system. From a global view, the crux would
be maintaining cultural diversity.
The
cultural perspective of sustainability would focus on maintaining the stability
of the society and the cultural regime, maintaining cultural diversity,
promoting domestic and international fairness.
"The
Our Common Future" published by UNCED defines sustainable development as
"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Two basic
viewpoints are put forward: the need for development, especially the
development of the human society, and the principle that the development should
be in a limited manner that would not threaten the development of the next
generation.
To
consider with provident sight, economic development in no way conflicts with
environmental protection. Policies acceptable to developed countries as well as
developing countries should be formulated. These policies would on one hand
allow the economic development of developing countries and further development
of developed countries, and on the other hand would not obviously undermine
biodiversity and would not permanently threaten the availability of resources
vital to human such as atmosphere, ocean, fresh water and forests.
Sustainable
development should be able to:
Summary
In
broad sense, sustainable development is the continual improvement or maintenance
of welfare for human society. It is also an integrated concept of fairness both
inside the country and internationally. It not only involves the conflicts
between the population, resources, environment and development at only a time
or in only a country, and is also an integrated idea of economy, society,
culture, technology and natural environment. Concepts of sustainable
development can be categorized into three:
Social
development is considered sustainable when resources, economy, society and
environment are in harmony.
Sustainable
development is a dynamic concept. It does not require that certain economic
activities keep on forever. Rather, it suggests continual internal and external
reforms. It spends a proper portion of the profits by current economic
activities on investment of other production, rather than mindlessly consume
it.
Conservation of timber
Conservation
biologists and foresters are calling for the attention of governments and
people towards the conservation of timber forests management, afforestation and
reduction in consumption.
The rate
of regeneration of timber can be increased and the rate of destruction of
forests can be reduced through the following means:
-using
fibers in fast growing plants for the manufacture of paper
-planting
more fast growing fuel wood trees and shrubs in countries that are still
depending heavily on fuelwood for energy
-reforesting
areas where timber has been operated
-reforesting
areas where fires have occurred
-creating
green belts for prevention of fires
-controlling
deforestation for agricultural, ranching, industrial, and urbanization purposes
Afforestation
Afforestation is the planting of trees for
commercial purposes, usually on land supporting non-forest veld types, e.g.
grassland or fynbos. This differs from reafforestation which is the restocking
of existing forests and woodlands which have been depleted.
Less
than 0,5% of
WOODLOTS
AND AGROFORESTRY
The increasing demand for fuelwood and building
material in rural areas has caused widespread deforestation of natural
woodlands, riverine zones, and water catchments. To
reduce this problem woodlots have been established at a number of villages
throughout the country to supply fuelwood and poles. Many woodlots make use of
wattle and gum trees and now cover a total area of roughly 14 000 ha in
The
incorporation of trees with crops, a system known as agroforestry,
is one method of increasing fuelwood production that is gaining popularity in
AFFORESTATION
AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The supply of wood and wood products from
afforested areas has prevented the over-exploitation and destruction of our
indigenous forests. However, unwise planning and management of afforestation
can lead to negative environmental impacts.
Habitats
most severely affected by afforestation include wetlands, grassland, fynbos and
indigenous forests. Good management, and planning that takes conservation of
natural habitats into consideration, can overcome these problems, some of which
are outlined below:
Wetlands:
Plantations situated too close to wetlands and perennial streams, or in their
catchments, leads to their eventual drying out as trees use large amounts of
water. The endangered wattled crane is dependant on
wetlands for breeding (see Enviro Facts "Wattled Crane").
Grasslands:
These rich communities support a variety of animals, including threatened
species such as oribis,
Fynbos: this
unique habitat of the
Indigenous forests: When plantations next to indigenous forests are logged, trees may fall
onto the forest margin and damage it. Once damaged, the forest margin can no
longer protect the indigenous forest from fire. In addition, logging can
destroy the diverse habitat where forest and grassland meet. The forest margin
is an important food source for many forest animals, e.g. bushbucks shelter in
the forest but feed mainly on the smaller plants in the forest margin.
River catchments: Trees use large amounts of water. Afforestation in water catchments thus
reduces runoff and water availability for other uses (see Enviro
Facts "River Catchments").
AFFORESTATION AND THE
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the
atmosphere during photosynthesis. It has been suggested that large scale
afforestation could successfully absorb the CO2 generated by the burning of the
fossil fuels, coal and oil. The vast areas of afforestation required to achieve
this would result in many negative environmental impacts. From a local
perspective, in the short term such afforestation would cause as much
environmental destruction as global warming could in the long term.
A
better approach would be to tackle this problem at its roots: reduce our
reliance on fossil fuels and prevent deforestation of our natural forests.
Fossil fuel combustion and deforestation together account for the majority of
man-made CO2 releases (see Enviro Facts "Global
Warming").
Reduction of consumption
The rate
of consumption of timber can be reduced as fallows:
-burning
fuelwood more efficiently in some developing countries
-switching
to use of the other energy sources in countries that are still depending
heavily on fuelwood
-recycling
of papers
Afforestation in
*
Pines, originally from the N. Hemisphere, make up 51% of the total commercial
afforestation (TCA) in SA and are mainly used for sawlogs,
veneer and pulpwood.
*
Gum trees from
*
Black wattle from
*
Other trees make up the final 0,6% of the TCA. Only 16% of
Alien
tree species (e.g. pines and gums) used in local afforestation do well in
Conservation of fishery resources
Many
fish populations worldwide have experienced drastic reductions in number,
largely due to the effects of the fishing industry and habitat loss. Although
the nature of the decline is specific for each species and environment in which
they occupy, similar efforts are being employed through rivers, lakes and
oceans to both enhance natural populations and alleviate some of the stress
placed on them by the fishing industry. One of the many ways in which to
replenish declining natural stocks is through captive breeding or hatchery
programs (Oliver, C.H., 1995 and Secor, D. and E. Houde, 1998). Often juvenile fish are removed form their
natural habitat and are then allowed develop to sexual maturity within the safe
confines of an aquaculture or lab environment prior to release back in the
natural environment (Berejikian, B, et al, 1997)).
Other large hatchery operations oversee the ex situ breeding and growth of fish
populations. Regardless of the methods used, stocking efforts have the same
purposes in mind: the long-term increase of fish populations that are presently
suffering from declining numbers. However, the success of stocking is often
less than anticipated and in some instances may exacerbate the decline in
population numbers. Aquaculture can also be used for the purpose of raising
fish to harvest and sell (Gjoen, H. and H.Bentsen, 1997). Ocean ranching or fish farming is a
process in which fish are selectively bred to help meet the demands of the
consumer-based fishing industry without placing undue stress on natural
populations. As of 1998, seven per cent of fish sold in the Canadian market was
raised via fish farming (DFO website). Although a secondary purpose of ocean
ranching may be to lessen the rate of decline of natural fish populations,
ocean ranching may be contributing to some problems observed in natural
populations. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for some of the farmed fish to
escape into natural fish environments while being held in sea pens (Hebert, P,
1991; L. Hansen, et al, 1997). If one considers salmon, 90% of salmon in the