Human Impact on Biodiversity, Overview

Reconciling ecological and social justice to promote biodiversity conservation

“…Indeed, there was a time that human groups and the surrounding environment were not at the extreme odds that they are today. Under traditional conditions -low population density, a subsistence rather than a market economy, adequate fallow periods, and extensive forests for future gardens -human activity was not a major threat to global ecosystems and other species (Sponsel 2013). However, these traditional conditions are now rare.…”

Commodification of natural resources and forest ecosystem services: examining implications for forest protection

“…Even at the small scale, when used too often and too intensely by an increasing number of people, soil tends to degrade (Sinclair 2014). Indigenous societies may have once lived in a state of ecological equilibrium with the environment, but such a state may now be disrupted (Sponsel 2014). According to Balee (1994:116), disequilibrium with the environment typically manifests itself in high population densities, dependence on global market economies, fossil fuel-based technologies, reduction in exposure to the natural environment and a huge negative effect on biological diversity.…”

“…Accommodation of the growing human population and the expansion of often illegally appropriated agricultural lands have resulted in further escalation of biodiversity crises (Sinclair 2015). Many formerly ‘traditional’ communities that live in proximity to protected areas have reached populations exceeding the carrying capacity of their natural environment, unintentionally depleting resources (Sponsel 2014). Today, agricultural development exists where indigenous laws would previously have prohibited them; for example, close to rivers or on steep hillsides, all places that are prone to erosion and less likely to be resilient (Shoreman-Ouimet & Kopnina 2016).…”

The conservation of African yellowwood tree ( Afrocarpus falcatus ) in Sidama sacred sites, Ethiopia

“…Related conceptual frameworks of historical ecology and cultural landscapes that explain the historical and cultural embeddedness of physical places (Balee, 2006;Chouin, 2002) are incorporated in the concept of biocultural diversity. Biocultural diversity conservation as a concept and approach to conservation emerges from this context, and it emphasizes that conserving biodiversity without giving attention to people and cultural diversity is a disservice to the millennia of faithful, inextricable co-evolution (Loh & Harmon, 2014;Sponsel, 2013a).…”

“…They are epicenters of local ecology, community life, livelihood and belief (Sponsel, 2008). They occupy a key place in the biocultural diversity conservation debate and are increasingly recognized as showcases for the conservation of biocultural diversity, because their strong cultural importance derives from, and requires maintenance of biodiversity (Maffi & Woodley 2010;Sponsel 2013a). Eighty percent of the world's high biodiversity areas are reported to overlap with sacred ancestral lands, claimed or managed by indigenous peoples and local communities (Sobrevila, 2008;Toledo, 2013).…”