Readings for this weekESPM 169 Lecture September 12, 2002Biodiversity1. Library follow-up- [email protected] play around on databases, use all library resources2. PAN/EPA Internships3. Section readings - first session of “classic” (important) readings - arising from this week’s and last week’s work on cooperation and agenda settingHaas, Peter M., Robert O. Keohane, et al., Eds. (1993). Institutions for the Earth: Sourcesof Effective International Environmental Protection. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, chapter 1 - authors, importance of book - definition of “institutions”; Three C’s - concern, contractual environment, capacityYoung, Oran. 1994. International Governance: Protecting the Environment in a Stateless Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Ch. 4, “Institutional Bargaining: Creating International Governance Systems.” - author, regime formation - how do states come to agreement in the absence of government, and under conditions of extreme uncertainty? “veil of ignorance”Readings for this week - textbook, GBO, Lovejoy14. Big Points - policy cycle - issue emergence and framinga. Policy cycle: issue emergence, agenda-setting, negotiation and policy formation, implementationb. Issue emergence and framing: - problem must be identified - but that’s not enough - consensus must emerge that it needs to be addressed internationally (that national action is not enough) - framing: very important in this process - issue sponsors (e.g. UNEP, IUCN, conservation biologists) put the issue in such a way that stresses its importance, its global nature, and that point towards a manageable set of policy tools - raises concern, capture imaginations - social and political process - as much about communication as anythingc. Causes and Policy Options: fundamental cf. proximate; fixed vs. malleable example: democracies and war5. Biodiversity - definition, genealogy, emergence as an international political issue, threats, importancea. Definitions Write down important elements of biodiversityConvention Definition: “all aspects of variability evident within the living world, including diversity within and between individuals, populations, species, communities and ecosystems….the term is commonly used loosely to refer to all species and habitats in some given area or the earth overall” 2“Biological diversity incorporates the idea of distinctiveness at every level of life from molecules to cells, to individuals, to species, to assemblages of species and to ecosystems” (Murray, 1995:19)b. Genealogy of Term conservation (wildlife, natural variety, fellow creatures, preservation of endangered species) to biological diversity to biodiversity - a rallying cry- important part of framing process contains aspects of genetic diversity and habitat (in-situ conservation) that are different from 19th century conceptionsTakacs:- role of conservation biologists (a discipline founded in 1980s out of ecology and evolutionary biology - mission - to conserve biological diversity- specific writers - Leopold, Carson, Paul and Anne Ehrlich - founding of the National Forum on BioDiversity sponsored by NAS in mid 1980s in US - Walter G. Rosen (senior program officer for Board of Basic Biology) is credited with the term: "take the logical out of biological" - i.e. inject emotion; EO Wilson et al involved early- the right buzzword at the right time - unified a bunch of scientific approaches, linked in with "cultural diversity" and humanity (not just wilderness or animals) - diversity seen as a normative good- shift from defense to offense- popular internationally- though "biological diversity" still used officiallyc. Levels of BD:1. Genetic - most basic building-block of BD: blueprint for individual organisms32. Species (most useful measure) - distinctive groups of similar populations that are isolated reproductively from other such groups3. Ecosystems4. All add up to the biosphere - through which BD is distributed - hot-spots; tropics - also a framing issue for international actionGenetic BD: important because genetic diversity ensures survival in changing conditions - wild genes in grain production - loss of genetic diversity in threatened populations - biotechnology  first point of serious controversy in case - textbook cf. UN document we have always manipulated genetic diversity, but at an organism level -interbreeding animal species and plant species. In the 1990s, techniques have emerged to engineer genes themselves - producing GMOs - using genes from entirely different organisms strong arguments as to whether it will destroy BD or save usSpecies BD: historically, the main framing of the problem - easy to measure, map and demonstrate - 1.75 million plant and animal species have been identified; possibly many millions more - extinction: does occur naturally, but rate has been much higher; around 300-350 species of vertebrates, 400 invertebrates in the last 400 years; higher number of plant species. - threatened species: 24% of mammal species and 12% of birds considered threatened with extinction in 2000.Ecosystems (Habitats): - marine and coastal - freshwater - forests4- dry and sub-humid land ecosystems - agricultural ecosystemsd. Value of BD again, an important part of the framing process a basic issue: underlies the continuation of life on earth - see Lovejoy piece - aesthetic and ethical: charismatic macrofauna - economic - food, medicine are most commonly cited - agriculture, water, fish - most important source of protein for a lot of the world; water a source of energy, too. - tourism - ecological - natural services - cleansing (dispersal and breakdown of wastes), climateregulation, protection from erosion, pollination - especially bacteria, and other lower forms of life e. Threats to BD write down threats! - proximate and fundamental - anthropogenic threats - again, framing - habitat conversion, fragmentation, destruction (desertification, salinization) - in particular, forest loss, development of wetlands and swamps - 1980: 113,000 km2 of tropical forest was cleared, up to 169,000 in 1990 - invasive, introduced species (rabbits in Australia as e.g. of both!) - climate change - chemical pollution - waste, acid rain, oil spills - nitrogen deposition from fertilizers, fossil fuel burning (algae blooms)5- population growth - consumptionf. Links to International Action - monitoring and cataloging - system-level effects