Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance. Worldwide changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and air are being driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations, and urban areas have expanded in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Such changes in land use have enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet’s resources, but they also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate human needs and maintaining the capacity of the biosphere to provide goods and services in the long term.

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Global Consequences of Land Use

Numerous theoretical frameworks have been developed to explain the gap between the possession of environmental knowledge and environmental awareness, and displaying pro-environmental behavior. Although many hundreds of studies have been undertaken, no definitive explanation has yet been found. Our article describes a few of the most influential and commonly used analytical frameworks: early US linear progression models; altruism, empathy and prosocial behavior models; and finally, sociological models. All of the models we discuss (and many of the ones we do not such as economic models, psychological models that look at behavior in general, social marketing models and that have become known as deliberative and inclusionary processes or procedures (DIPS)) have some validity in certain circumstances. This indicates that the question of what shapes pro-environmental behavior is such a complex one that it cannot be visualized through one single framework or diagram. We then analyze the factors that have been f...

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Mind the Gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?

Freshwater biodiversity is the over-riding conservation priority during the International Decade for Action - 'Water for Life' - 2005 to 2015. Fresh water makes up only 0.01% of the World's water and approximately 0.8% of the Earth's surface, yet this tiny fraction of global water supports at least 100000 species out of approximately 1.8 million - almost 6% of all described species. Inland waters and freshwater biodiversity constitute a valuable natural resource, in economic, cultural, aesthetic, scientific and educational terms. Their conservation and management are critical to the interests of all humans, nations and governments. Yet this precious heritage is in crisis. Fresh waters are experiencing declines in biodiversity far greater than those in the most affected terrestrial ecosystems, and if trends in human demands for water remain unaltered and species losses continue at current rates, the opportunity to conserve much of the remaining biodiversity in fresh water will vanish before the 'Water for Life' decade ends in 2015. Why is this so, and what is being done about it? This article explores the special features of freshwater habitats and the biodiversity they support that makes them especially vulnerable to human activities. We document threats to global freshwater biodiversity under five headings: overexploitation; water pollution; flow modification; destruction or degradation of habitat; and invasion by exotic species. Their combined and interacting influences have resulted in population declines and range reduction of freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Conservation of biodiversity is complicated by the landscape position of rivers and wetlands as 'receivers' of land-use effluents, and the problems posed by endemism and thus non-substitutability. In addition, in many parts of the world, fresh water is subject to severe competition among multiple human stakeholders. Protection of freshwater biodiversity is perhaps the ultimate conservation challenge because it is influenced by the upstream drainage network, the surrounding land, the riparian zone, and - in the case of migrating aquatic fauna - downstream reaches. Such prerequisites are hardly ever met. Immediate action is needed where opportunities exist to set aside intact lake and river ecosystems within large protected areas. For most of the global land surface, trade-offs between conservation of freshwater biodiversity and human use of ecosystem goods and services are necessary. We advocate continuing attempts to check species loss but, in many situations, urge adoption of a compromise position of management for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning and resilience, and human livelihoods in order to provide a viable long-term basis for freshwater conservation. Recognition of this need will require adoption of a new paradigm for biodiversity protection and freshwater ecosystem management - one that has been appropriately termed 'reconciliation ecology'.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/96AA265E3D88C95FB802E7A73CCB4332/S1464793105006950a.pdf/div-class-title-freshwater-biodiversity-importance-threats-status-and-conservation-challenges-div.pdf

Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

Climate change 2014 - Synthesis Report

https://www.kth.se/social/upload/4ea53de1f27654240a000000/Bolund%20and%20Hunhammar%201999.pdf

Ecosystem services in urban areas

How long can global ecological overshoot last

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Humanity's growing Ecological Footprint: sustainable development

The MENA Region faces a range of challenges to its long-term security and prosperity in the 21st century. Although many of the Regions economic challenges have been widely analyzed, environmental challenges are rarely taken into consideration in the process of formulating economic policies in the MENA Region. This paper begins to address the major gaps in knowledge about the economics of the environment in the MENA Region and will analyze the most current literature and trends regarding sustainable resource management for the 21st century. This paper proposes a framework for the discussion of the economic ramification of various environmental issues facing the MENA Region. It also presents various environmental accounting systems and indicators that may be useful for the MENA Region to implement in order to manage these issues more effectively. Of particular relevance is the establishment of environmental accounts as set forth under the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), which is expected to become an international statistical standard for integrated economic and environmental accounting using concepts, definitions and classifications of the System of National Accounts (SNA). The paper then proposes the Ecological Footprint as an additional tool for resource and ecosystem service accounting. The Ecological Footprint is a resource accounting tool that measures how much productive area it takes to produce what a population consumes and absorb its waste, using prevailing technology. It compares this to the available biocapacity of the world or each country. The paper concludes by recognizing that given the complexity of the concept of sustainable development and measuring what counts for the well-being of both present and future generations, it is evident that robust accounting tools and indicators are needed for the 21st century. While many of these tools already exist and can be found in the SEEA and Ecological Footprint, more analysis is needed on the areas of overlap and potential integration of these two systems.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Challenges in The MENA Region: Accounting for The Environment In The 21st Century

Tracking Supply and Demand of Biocapacity through Ecological Footprint Accounting

Many of us live in cities where we easily forget that nature works in closed loops. We go to the store to buy food with money from the bank machine and, later, get rid of the waste either by depositing it in the back alley or flushing it down the toilet. Big city life breaks natural material cycles and provides little sense of our intimate connection with nature.

Mathis Wackernagel

Papers

How long can global ecological overshoot last

Humanity's growing Ecological Footprint: sustainable development

Sustainable Development and Environmental Challenges in The MENA Region: Accounting for The Environment In The 21st Century

Tracking Supply and Demand of Biocapacity through Ecological Footprint Accounting

Ecological Footprints for Beginners