Persian Gulf: threats make it a microcosm for the world's oceans

Another pair of articles covering studies in recent academic journals, this time on the Persian (or Arabian) Gulf: "Protecting the Arabian Gulf: Past, present and future" (Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management [Vol. 12/4]) and "The Gulf: A young sea in decline" (Marine Pollution Bulletin [60/1]). Like the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf is a nearly enclosed body of water which can often amplify the impact of environmental changes. It can also serve as a microcosm of what can happen to larger bodies of water.

The Persian Gulf is bordered by several countries that are both experiencing significant industrial, residential, and tourism development and are hampered by a lack of cross-border cooperation in investigating and acting upon environmental issues key to the health of the Gulf. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Iran are some of the key nations that surround the Gulf. Environmental impact studies typically depend on extensive background data, or a baseline, to determine potential impact from development activities. Due to a lack of intra-country cooperation, these baselines are limited or non-existent, thereby weakening the power and effectiveness of the studies.

Development around the Gulf ranges from dredging to provide new land areas for industrial, residential and tourism developments; to oil exploration and drilling; to dams and desalination plants. Sea bottom dredging removes large areas of productive, shallow water habitat. This destruction impacts sealife nurseries and feeder fish populations (a source of food for many local low-income communities) and the extended land for huge developments can alter the water flows which can adversely affect other productive marine areas.

The threat of oil spills from the region's oil operations, as happened in 1991, always looms as an environmental threat, just as we are seeing take place in the Gulf of Mexico today. And dams and desalination plants, designed to quench the thirst of growing populations, deprives or disrupts the Gulf of natural intakes of fresh water which rejuvenates marshlands and helps to balance overall salinity.

Then there is the impact of climate change and a marked increase in water temperature which has also contributed to changes in salinity levels and water quality, in addition to impacting coral reef communities and spurring the growth of various algi that compete and crowd out or overtake the corals.

The small, nearly enclosed nature of the Gulf exacerbates these environmental issues and without the political cooperation needed for comprehensive scientific research and multi-national strategies to preserve and protect the Gulf, one of the studies I reviewed said, "the prognosis for the Gulf continuing to provide abundant natural resources is poor."

What is happening in the Persian Gulf is also happening worldwide. Accelerated in the Gulf; perhaps more slowly on a global scale - but the end results can be the same. Will the citizens of the Gulf nations learn and respond to save the Gulf? Will the rest of us?

Urban Agriculture: a plan to save Detroit

In the United States, shifts in the manufacturing base, heightened by the economic challenges of the past couple of years, have lead to the collapse of the business base of many American cities. No city better personifies this predicament than Detroit. With the loss of its automotive manufacturing backbone combined with high unemployment, home foreclosures. and the flight of its citizenry (the population has dropped from 1.8 million in 1950 to a current population of 800,00 and still dropping), Detroit is a city with considerable land that is going idle.

So, what does this have to do with nature and conservation, you ask? The latest issue of Fortune magazine reports on an interesting solution for Detroit's abandoned acreage: urban agriculture. And we're not talking about rooftop tomato gardens. No, what is being proposed is major, full-scale farming but utilizing the latest techniques in an attempt to produce maximum yield with as low of an impact (energy consumption, CO2 emissions, chemicals, etc.) as possible.

Currently, the plan is primarily the brainchild of John Hantz, a Detroit stockbroker, who has been consulting with Michigan State and the Kellogg Foundation for advice. And he is gaining support from Detroit civic leaders and a variety of potential investors. Hantz is prepared to make the initial $30 million investment himself and plans to begin planting this spring.

Wouldn't it be better to attract people - homeowners and businessmen alike - back to Detroit to use that idle acreage for suburban or industrial purposes? Perhaps, but it's been clear for some time that homeowners won't be coming back to Detroit any time soon if there's no work, and the industrial base has definitely moved on - either elsewhere within the country or overseas.

There are environmental benefits to this approach if it's done right. More CO2-absorbing plants rather than concrete, steel or aluminum siding. The use of compost-fed farms, thereby recycling various waste and using less chemical fertilizers. And supporting more locally grown produce, reducing the cost and environmental impact from national or international shipping.

Admittedly, the environmental benefits are not the biggest priority in Hantz's plan; he is more concerned with revitalizing Detroit's abandoned acreage - which currently totals nearly 30% of the city's 139 square miles - and seeing both a profit and revitalization of the former Motor City. And he is not without his critics who are skeptical that he is hoping for a major land grab. But something needs to be done for Detroit and anyone who steps up to the plate is most likely going to do so with some expectation of making a viable and profitable enterprise. The city's problems are just too enormous to realistically expect any other type of action.

So, we'll have to see. Maybe someday, while passing through the mid-west, you'll buy some plums grown in downtown Detroit!

FYI: I read a variety of publications, from conservative Fortune to liberal Rolling Stone, as I find it's a great way to get a feel for the pulse of things. I typically read Fortune to see what is being adopted in the world of technology gadgets - if it's in Fortune, then it's probably going mainstream.

Read the article by David Whitford in Fortune.com.

Ecotourism in Latin America: Human Society International promotes economic strategy

Several times in this blog I have cited my support of ecotourism as a means of enlightening people to the wonders of nature and the need for conservation. And while that is the overarching goal, for ecotourism to be truly successful it must contain a strong economic component that makes it appealing to those who may be faced with having to change established business models or personal activities for the sake of ecotourism operations.

But the economic incentives must not be confined to a small group of profitable businessmen; the community as a whole must benefit so as to ensure long-term support. This has been a cornerstone of the strategy taken by the Humane Society International and a recent email summary newsletter about their activities in promoting ecotourism in Latin America clearly illustrates their approach, from Costa Rica to Peru.

Ranging from hospitality opportunities, including tour guide training to cabins and restaurants, to scientific research support to land and road development - all provide a variety of economic opportunities for local communities. It's fundamental and the cynic may see it as locals just being self-serving, but one of the best ways to garner support for conserving natural resources is to provide a tangible benefit, particularly in areas where the people's day-to-day existence holds much greater influence compared to big picture goals like conservation.

To borrow from a famous quote of Teddy Roosevelt, regulations and enforcement are required to wield "a big stick" at those who would willingly threaten our natural resources; ecotourism serves as a means to "speak softly" and gain converts from both outside and within critical nature sites.

Read HSI newsletter.

Putting A Price On Nature: WWF starts new project to aid conservation

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one of the largest conservation organizations with a broad range of interests and projects ranging from conservation of endangered species like tigers, gorillas, and rhinos to big picture issues like this one: putting a price on nature.

In essence this is a bit similar to the carbon credits concept that has been bounced around of late. Basically, the WWF is looking at the relationships between human society and nature, where ecosystems support economic development in a variety of ways; and then establish an economic model where those who benefit from the ecosystem would compensate those whose responsibility it would be to maintain the ecosystem. Well, here's an excerpt from their web site to explain it further:

Natural Capital: Putting a Price on Nature

By Dr. Taylor Ricketts

Sometimes pushing the limits of conservation means changing our perspective on a problem or challenging established assumptions. Doing so can unlock whole new approaches to conservation and lead to waves of success on the ground.

Assumption: Conservation and economic development are by nature at odds - a family can either earn money off their land or set it aside for conservation. With colleagues at Stanford University and The Nature Conservancy, we decided to turn this assumption on its head: What if people could be rewarded for conserving their land through payments from other people who value the "ecosystem services" that land provides? Could those who use the water that is cleaned when it flows through wetlands pay the owners of the wetlands to conserve that ecosystem? How cool would that be? That's how the Natural Capital Project was born.

To be fair, the concept of ecosystem services - and payments - has been around for a while. The goal our three organizations now share is to make them an operational force for conservation. We have set up experimental sites - in China, Tanzania, the Mesoamerican Reef, California and Hawaii - to test valuing ecosystem services in explicit economic terms. Some say it is politically dangerous to put a price tag on nature; others say it can't be done. Both could be true, but we believe the venture is worth the risk, as the rewards could be huge.

In Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains. Ancient forests here sustain thousands of species unique to the area. They give birth to half a dozen rivers providing water and electricity to more than 4 million people. Local villagers depend on the forest for firewood, medicinal plants, building materials and food. But in recent decades over 70 percent of the forest has been destroyed by logging, fires and farmland conversion. River flows have declined, interfering with hydropower and leading to increasingly frequent rolling blackouts in Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam. In short, the links between nature and human well-being are as tightly forged here as anywhere on Earth.

My WWF colleague Dr. Neil Burgess and I are working with international researchers, local experts and decision makers to calculate the forest's economic value to local, national, and global populations. With funding from the Packard Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust, we're creating maps that plot the value of ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, water purification, flood control, crop pollination, and harvested forest products. Only a few months into a five-year project, we've hit the ground running. Teams are in the field collecting data on water purification, carbon sequestration and timber. By the time you read this, we'll have met with leading decision makers to ensure our research is as useful as possible. In early 2008 we'll use the data and software we're now developing to publish our first maps. We already see clear political support and interest in using our products: The Tanzanian government has commissioned a task force on ecosystem services, based in part on the technical advice Neil has provided them for years. The Natural Capital Project is simply the most exciting initiative I've been involved with at WWF. Combining powerful research with strong and immediate application, we aim to break new intellectual ground and achieve big conservation results. It is experimental, with all the uncertainties that go along with any experiment. But we have the right partners, wonderful support from our leaders, and a powerful idea: making conservation economically attractive.

You can learn more about this and other WWF projects by visiting their web site, one of the most comprehensive in the conservation field.