Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
prioritizes biological carbon capture and storage through deliberate measures relating
to forest protection and management, afforestation and soil improvement through
the addition of biochar. It also involves restoring ocean vegetation by addressing
problems of overfishing and the destructive trawling of the seabed. Marine ecosystems
are finely balanced and they have evolved over millions of years both to generate
oxygen and to safely absorb carbon dioxide. Governments and energy corporations
seem to be less interested in this ecological approach even though some countries,
such as China, do complement their economic, industrial and urban developments
with massive ecological projects such as tree planting, which aim to arrest the very
serious problems of desertification and deforestation. Unfortunately, it seems,
insufficient research attention has been applied to many ecologically sensitive areas,
particularly to hydrological, pedological and landscape matters, which has meant
that not all afforestation schemes in China have been as successful as originally
hoped (Cao
et al
., 2011). Nonetheless, 40 billion trees have been planted since 1981
and there have clearly been gradual improvements in some areas with a modest
positive impact on mitigating the effects of increased carbon emissions.
Biosequestration is arguably beneficial to both human society and the environment,
for it is a proven way of absorbing carbon. It does offer genuine opportunities for
nurturing biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, potentially enhancing food production
and in some areas rural poverty by reducing the need for rural dwellers to seek work
in the cities (Girardet and Mendonca, 2009). This type of work requires visioning
and the establishment of generative conditions for a structured collaboration and
partnership among professional groups, researchers in universities, corporations and
politicians. These groups need to develop and share knowledge of capacity-building
tools which would accelerate the development of biosequestration projects and, where
possible, scale up the development of integrated low-carbon technologies.
Ecological footprint analysis
The continuing design, application and revision of sustainability indicators, and
other similar tools, is often an attempt to manage the sustainability process by gently
questioning the notion that only what is measurable is valuable. We need to move
to a position where we seek to measure what we value. Developing a sustainable
indicator is an attempt to point out both what we value and how we intend to
measure it. The problem arises in selecting a reasonable and manageable number of
indicators that effectively serve to organize information into specific categories and
showing the interconnections and possible trade-offs among them. Apart from being
resonant, valid and motivational, for Chambers
et al
. indicators must also be:
•
organized around a sharp purpose (for example, building municipal sustain-
ability);
•
captured in an effective framework for organizing the indicators that explains
the challenges and trade-offs (for example, economic quality of life and
maintaining Earth's biocapacity);
•
imaginative and realistic about possible intervention points (public planning);
and
•
specific about the next steps beyond the indicator project (for example, new
green taxation and regulation).
(2000: 18)
