{"id":4601,"date":"2013-09-18T08:12:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T07:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=4601"},"modified":"2013-09-18T08:12:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T07:12:43","slug":"wildlife-human-population-and-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2013\/09\/18\/wildlife-human-population-and-confusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife, human population, and confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Wildlife Trusts have produced a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wildlifetrusts.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/TWT%20Population%20Resources%20Consumption%20Statement%20FINAL%201%2008-13.pdf\">statement<\/a> on population, resource use &amp; consumption in the UK.\u00a0 It begins:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\">The Wildlife Trusts believe that it is insufficient simply to prevent the further decline in the quantity and quality of existing habitats, species and natural places.\u00a0 We must enable nature to recover, on a grand scale.\u00a0 We must create Living Landscapes and secure Living Seas. \u00a0For nature to recover, a broad cross section of society must:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">understand that humanity <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">is<\/span> part of a complex natural world and wholly dependent on it;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">understand the true value of nature to us, to our local communities, to wider society and to our economy;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">appreciate the consequences of our decisions and actions for nature \u2013 and in particular for the natural environment on which our health, happiness, wealth and wellbeing depend;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">translate that understanding into action that reduces the harm we cause to the natural environment and that helps nature to recover.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\"> An important part of this is the impact of the growing human population on the natural environment. \u00a0Increasing population is only one contributor to our increasing impact on the natural environment, but the presence of more people will inevitably make nature\u2019s recovery more difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\"> The overall impact of the UK\u2019s human population on the natural environment can be represented using a simple <a href=\"http:\/\/webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/20110311100922\/http:\/\/www.rcep.org.uk\/reports\/29-demographics\/documents\/Demography_final_report.pdf\">equation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"4\" height=\"8\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\"> <strong>EA \u00a0= \u00a0PS <\/strong>x<strong> C <\/strong>x<strong> EIUC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #000080\">where: <\/span><strong>EA<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080\"> = \u00a0environmental impact, <\/span><strong>PS<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080\"> = \u00a0population size, <\/span><strong>C<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080\"> = \u00a0consumption per head of population \u2013 and <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>EIUC<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080\"> = \u00a0environmental impact per unit of consumption<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\">An increase in any of the three factors that contribute to this equation will increase the pressure on the natural environment caused by human beings, unless there is a corresponding reduction in one or both of the other factors.\u00a0 Some aspects of our environmental impact (such as disturbance to wildlife from recreational use of local natural greenspaces, or building houses on floodplains) will be greatest close to where we live, so they will be felt most acutely in places with a high population density.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In many ways is a splendid (if rather sad) rationale for why the Wildlife Trusts need to exist. The emphasis on the urban, and how urban living needs to change to something much more restorative of natural and social capital, is very welcome. \u00a0That said, I still think that there is a problem at the heart of the paper. \u00a0Just below the equation (which is anything but \"simple\" to my mind), we find:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080\">To reduce our environmental impact, we must all play our part in:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">reducing the harmful environmental impacts of the goods and services that we consume;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">reducing the amount we consume; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">stabilizing the population of the UK;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080\">helping nature\u2019s recovery by investing to create Living Landscapes and secure Living Seas that\u00a0will help to provide for the future needs of society and the economy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The problem is this: When a Chair or a Director of a Wildlife Trust is asked what their Trust is doing about all this, they will give convincing responses in relation to the 1st, 2nd and 4th points \u2013 but what (on Earth) will they say about the 3rd?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Wildlife Trusts have produced a statement on population, resource use &amp; consumption in the UK.\u00a0 It begins: The Wildlife Trusts believe that it is insufficient simply to prevent the further decline in the quantity and quality of existing habitats,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}