Saving Species, Sustaining Life

Highly topical and timely, this week’s Saving Species program on Radio 4 focuses on the impact of humans on the planet. The panel; Jacqueline McGlade from the European Environment Agency, Aubrey Manning - University of Edinburgh, Jon Bridle - University of Bristol, and celebrated environmentalist Vandana Shiva, discuss some of the areas in which human influence has caused significant ecological damage.

Fishing

Demand for fish has increased considerably of late; directly, for human protein, and indirectly, as food for other fish. Vandana Shiva observes that where fish was once a luxury item, it is now considered acceptable for the rich to consume it on a regular basis. Large-scale fishing leads to the disruption of ecosystems. The removal of sharks and large predators is a prime example of this. Without top predators, a large ecosystem cannot be established, and the intricate ocean food webs cannot be maintained.

Jon Bridle explains that the root of the problem is governance. Decision makers and the small communities that manipulate the oceans have very limited understanding of nature. Hence, fisheries are a classic case of the ‘commons’ (Hardin 1968), where decisions are made at the expense of what is out of site, and therefore, out of mind. Further to this, subsidies distort ecosystem value, and the economy needs to be changed in order to use the planet more sustainably to support a given number of people.

Predators

Where once humans were both prey and predator, we are now very much at the core of habitat destruction. The Amazon rainforest, ‘the lungs of the world’, is vital to production of oxygen, carbon dioxide neutralisation, and is rich in highly valuable medicinal species. This unique resource is in jeopardy because of the unrealistic demands of the West.  Vast areas of forest have been cleared to make way for cheap meat production, and soya and palm oil plantations, a topic which is explained in detail here by a fellow blogger.

Too many people

Vandana Shiva describes the current inefficient resource intensive system in fishing, forestry and food production as ‘unsustainable and unjust’. She notes that the human species must recognize that it is our own abundance that is causing such damage to biodiversity. Shiva calls for an increase in ecological justice, restoration of love and appreciation for the planet, and a healing of the deep rift between humans and nature that was caused by the Cartesian revolution in science. There is talk of the need to banish the illusion that we are separate from nature, and recognize that we are part of the community of the earth. The program ends with the thought that the more we save species, the more we save ourselves.

Listen here