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ecological problems.
6
The principal purpose of this topic is to explore
the role that law could play in enabling human societies (particularly
those of developed states that bear the lion
'
s share of responsibility for
the present dif
culties) to respond to the deterioration in the condition
of ecosystems which imperils them. It presents proposals for a system
of governance that seeks to lessen risks of ecosystem failure by securing
reductions in the cumulative pressures that human living places on their
functioning.
The
following section
of this chapter offers a brief explanation of
the reasons why an urgent legal response is required to the mounting
evidence of global ecological degradation.
Sections 1.3
to
1.6
of the
chapter summarise the proposals for a system of ecological governance
that
Chapters 2
to
7
set out in detail. The chapter concludes with an
overview of the topic
'
s structure.
1.2 Ecosystems and ecological degradation
'
is a term used in ecology to refer to all of the organisms and
the abiotic environment with which they interact in an area selected for
study.
7
It also means the organisational patterns or systems that exchanges
between organisms and their environments give rise to.
8
Ihavethissecond
usage in mind when I refer to ecosystems and their protection, because
the functioning of ecosystems, by which I mean the continuity of processes
that sustain them,
9
has outcomes, collectively described as
Ecosystem
'
'
ecosystem
, which provide essential support for human living on the planet.
10
They include
services
'
'
provisioning services
'
that yield food, clean water,
bre and
'
'
other materials on which humans rely;
regulating services
that help keep
the Earth within liveable bounds by having a positive in
uence on global-
scale processes such as climatic and hydrological cycles; and
'
supporting
services
such as soil formation, photosynthesis and primary production
that enable ecosystems to deliver the other services that they render.
'
6
Ibid
., pp.11, 14
-
15.
7
J. M. Blair et al.,
'
Ecosystems as Functional Units in Nature
'
(2000) 14 Natural Resources
and Environment,151
-
2.
8
Ibid
., 152
-
3.
9
K. Jax,
(2005) 111 Oikos,641.
10
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2005), pp. 103
'
Function and
“
Functioning
”
in Ecology: What does it Mean?
'
22;F.S.ChapinIIIetal.,Principles of
Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology, 2nd edn (New York: Springer, 2011), p. 21; K. Wallace,
'
-
Classi
cation of Ecosystem Services: Problems and Solutions
'
(2007) 139 Biological
Conservation,235
-
46.
