Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Nature, Culture, and Conservation
in the Anthropocene
The Anthropocene epoch is arguably defined by unprecedented levels of human influence
on climate, species extinctions, ecosystem loss, degradation and pollution (Steffen et  al.
2007, 2011, Zalasiewicz et al. 2011, Barnosky et al. 2013, 2014). Urgent changes in energy con-
sumption, water management, and food production and distribution are needed to main-
tain biodiversity and keep human activities within a safe operating space (Rockström et al.
2009, Hughes et al. 2013). Radical changes in consumption patterns and land management
are needed to avoid further transformation of landscapes to potentially dangerous tipping
points, or critical transitions, where essential ecological processes no longer function and
the provision of ecosystem services breaks down (Carpenter et  al. 2009, Barnosky et  al.
2012). Recent sustainable development goals aim to meet the needs of the present genera-
tion, but also safeguard the resilience of life-support systems upon which current and future
generations depend (Brundtland 1987, Griggs et al. 2013).
New sustainability goals take into account the resilience and limitations of ecosystems,
and the inextricable links between environmental, ecological and social concerns (Carpenter
et al. 2009, Glaser 2012, Griggs et al. 2013). While there is increasing capability and complexity
in models that predict future states under different climatic and economic scenarios, few
models explicitly incorporate a long-term dimension. The policy-ecology-environment
dynamic framework needs to integrate long-term variability, thresholds and limits of accept-
able change with policy relevant concepts like ecosystem services, adaptive management,
livelihoods, and planetary boundaries (Dearing et al. 2010, 2012, Gillson and Marchant 2014).
Protected areas cover only about 12% of the Earth's land surface, so land outside of pro-
tected areas is vital to the successful conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services
(Tscharntke et al. 2012). Furthermore, not all protected areas are 'wilderness' areas, and there
is an increasing formalization and acceptance of cultural landscapes as valid conservation
targets, for example through World Heritage Site designations, the EU Landscape Conven-
tion, and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Protected Area designa-
tions (see Table 7.1) (Corson et al. 2014). Cultural landscapes represent the 'combined works
of nature and of man. Some cultural landscapes have been treasured for centuries, others
have been perceived as valuable more recently. They show various degrees of human modifi-
cation, from a human created park or botanic garden, to a sacred forest grove where little
 
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