SUBJECT: Biodiversity, resources and development - a broad interpretation
AUTHOR: Angheluta Vadineanu
DATE: 15th April 2003

KEYWORDS: Biodiversity, organization, natural capital, socio-economic complexes, conservation.

SUMMARY: Biodiversity is the foundation and a source of a wide range of natural resources and services as well as the interface with socio-economic systems within the socio-ecological complexes.

The concepts and methods dealing with the "environment" (physical, chemical, biological, including human dominated and created environment) have been changed and improved as the ecological theory has developed from the early stage, usually described as "biological ecology", towards the current stage, which is more often and more appropriate defined as "systems ecology". The identification and description of the natural, semi-natural and human-dominated and created environment has changed as well from a former conceptual model which defined the environment as an assemblage of factors: air, water, soil, biota and human settlements, to the most recent one, which considers that the environment has a "hierarchical spatio-temporal organization" (Odum 1993, Pahl-Wostl 1995, Vadineanu 2001, Holling et al. 2002).

The ecological systems, as organized units and components of the hierarchy, are described as self-organizing and self-maintaining systems or as life supporting systems. More recently, they have been described as non-linear dynamic systems with evolving productive and carrying capacity. Within the organizational hierarchy we find both natural and semi-natural ecological systems that are fully self maintained and self regulated as well as human-dominated ecological systems which depend in different degree on commercial auxiliary energy and material inflow for providing specific resources and/or services (e.g. agro-systems, forest plantations, intensive fish farms). These biophysical units have intrinsic values (non-use values) that develop in time as well as provide many use and non-use values related to the resources and services they produce at different rates according to the phase of development. In this respect we have to consider these types of biophysical units or ecological systems as the Natural Capital (NC) of a region or country as well as the potential ecological foundation for Socio-Economic Systems.

Within the hierarchy are also the human-made ecosystems (e.g. urban ecosystems, industrial complexes, transport network), which are fully dependent for maintenance and development on commercial energy and material inflow. It is not our intention to discuss in detail the many narrow or wide interpretations of the biodiversity concept, but we consider the importance of a clear option for a scientifically sound interpretation which covers the spatio-temporal organization and complexity of the living and non-living "environment" - i) diversity of ecological systems across space and time scale (which integrates biological and physical components of the environment); ii) species and taxonomic diversity; iii) genetic diversity within and among species; iv) human social organization, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. The appropriateness of such option to the real world is expected to have a great impact on the design, development and implementation of policies and management plans triggered on worldwide recognized objectives dealing with conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity or sustainable development/or "balancing the structure and metabolism of economic systems with the spatio-temporal dynamics of biodiversity".

According to the above statements, we use "biodiversity" as the broader meaning which covers on one hand the components of Natural Capital together with their taxonomic and genetic diversity and on the other hand, human social organization, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity.
In other words, we can say that biodiversity consists in Natural Capital, Social and Cultural Capital and provides, on one side, the foundation which supports and feeds with resources and services the Socio-Economic Systems and, on the other side provides the interface between Natural Capital and the structure and metabolism of the "economic subsystem".

From this point of view it is obvious that each population and species has its own role for the maintenance and evolution of the higher level of biological (e.g. communities) and ecological systems as well as for their production and carrying capacity. Genetic diversity at the species level provides the adaptive potential and support for speciation. Species richness and genetic diversity provide adaptive potential and support for adaptive transformations and evolution of the ecological systems (natural, semi-natural and man-dominated). Social, cultural and human genetic diversity provides the adaptive potential for the evolution and development of Socio-Economic System. Only in these conditions can natural, man-dominated and man-created systems cope with surprise and uncertainty.

Conservation of "biological and ecological diversity" or "biodiversity" from this perspective does not appear as a peripheral issue (as was and unfortunately still is considered), but as the core issue for sustainable development (as an adaptive process across space and time which is taking place in socio-ecological complexes). Hence the conservation of biodiversity and its adaptive potential by balancing the spatial and exchange (mass, energy and information) relationships among natural capital and economic systems across space and time scales is a pre-condition for sustainability and finally for preventing loss of components of biodiversity at all levels (genetic, taxonomic, socio-cultural and ecological).

For holistic and adaptive management of the dynamics of socio-ecological complexes across space and time in order to achieve the goals of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, we certainly need among other things a package of complementary methods and procedures for economic valuation of natural resources and services as well as to set up thresholds for spatial development and mass exchanges. However, it has to be recognized that the success of such work depends on reliable and complete data, information and knowledge from all levels of biodiversity.
Currently we are facing many gaps and uncertainties concerning biodiversity data and knowledge. In addition the historical data and information is not properly structured or accessible. In these circumstances, long term research monitoring at all levels of biodiversity, coupled with the development of the "Support System for Holistic and Adaptive Management", based on well structured information systems and complementary tools for social and economic analysis, should be identified as key conditions for better governance.

References:

E. Odum, Ecology and our endangered life-support systems, Sinauer Assoc. Inc. Publishers, Sunderland, 1993.
C. Pahl-Wostl, The dynamic nature of ecosystems, John Wiley and sons, New York, 1995
Angheluta VADINEANU, 2001, Sustainable development: Theory and Practice regarding the Transition of Socio-Economic Systems towards Sustainability, UNESCO-CEPES Studies on Science and Culture, Bucuresti, 304 p.
Gunderson H.L., Holling S.C. (Eds.), Panarchy: Understanding transformations on human and natural systems; Island press, 2002

A contribution by:

Angheluta Vadineanu - University of Bucharest
Department of Systems Ecology and Sustainable Development
Splaiul Independentei 91-95, 76201, Bucharest