Humanity and the 21 st century’s resource gauntlet: a commentary on Ripple et al.’s article “World scientists’ warning to humanity: a second notice”

Abstract

A year ago, Ripple et al.’s “Warning to Humanity” was published (Ripple et al. 2017), reigniting debate on the importance of addressing the environmental crisis that humanity will increasingly face in the 21st century. While we fully endorse the pertinence of this initiative, we identify critical gaps which impede the capacity of this call to action in fostering the positive change that humanity needs. With our present manuscript, we provide a complementary assessment to Ripple et al.’s article for addressing the current environmental crisis, as well as some alternative paths forward. We emphasize the importance of considering historical patterns and underlying drivers of the current global socio-ecosystem, particularly in relation to social inequalities, human demography, and food production systems. Without such considerations, several of the steps proposed in the warning might be interpreted as prescriptions from a western-biased vision of our global socio-ecosystem, undermining the fundamental message of this unique initiative for achieving sustainability.

Marine reserve benefits and recreational fishing yields: The winners and the losers

“…Our findings indicate that current management plans do not benefit on-shore fishing, undermining equity in this emblematic activity that is historically accessible to all and particularly popular among vacationers, low-income, and retired people. Given increasing pressure on common-pool natural resources and growing socio-economic inequalities, this emerging issue needs to be prioritized in sustainable management actions [ 19 , 22 , 55 ].…”

“…In the face of such uncertainties, the preservation of fisheries resources and associated socio-economic benefits poses serious regulatory challenges in terms of implementing appropriate measures for resource durability and equitable access [3,19]. In this context, identifying social and ecological protagonists vulnerable to environmental decline can refine regulatory strategies and help define win-win, sustainable management for people and ecosystems [20][21][22].…”

Marine reserve benefits and recreational fishing yields: the winners and the losers

“…Given increasing pressure on common-pool natural resources and growing socio-economic inequalities, this emerging issue needs to be prioritized in sustainable management actions (Ostrom et al, 1999;Kayal et al, 2019;Zafra-Calvo et al, 2019). Table List of the species recorded for each of the three major fish families caught by recreational fishermen around the Cerbère-Banyuls natural marine reserve.…”

“…In the face of such uncertainties, the preservation of fisheries resources and associated socio-economic benefits poses serious regulatory challenges (Gaudin and De Young, 2007;Zafra-Calvo et al, 2019). In this context, identifying social and ecological protagonists vulnerable to environmental decline can help define adaptive management (McKinney and Lockwood 1999;Jantke et al, 2018;Kayal et al 2019).…”

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“…Our findings indicate that current management plans do not benefit on-shore fishing, undermining equity in this emblematic activity that is historically accessible to all and particularly popular among vacationers, low-income, and retired people. Given increasing pressure on common-pool natural resources and growing socio-economic inequalities, this emerging issue needs to be prioritized in sustainable management actions [19,22,55].…”