The Ecosystems Revolution: Co-creating a Symbiotic Future

Everard, Mark

Abstract

The Ecosystems Revolution: Co-creating a Symbiotic Future is all about humanity’s relationship with the natural world, how it has shifted throughout our evolutionary journey, and how we urgently need to accelerate its evolution on a far more symbiotic basis. The book draws upon and integrates a number of themes – natural and artificial selection processes in evolution and decision-making, how revolutions are constructed and perceived, directed versus random change, and the history and necessary future trajectory of the human story – seeking guidance on achievement of a sustainable future secured by a symbiotic relationship with the ecosystems that constitute its vital underpinnings.

Chapter 2, Of this Earth, considers the integrally co-evolved and interdependent nature of all life, from microbes to humans and the workings of the entire biosphere, highlighting the indivisibility of all human activities from the rest of nature. This interdependence underlies today’s diverse and pressing sustainability challenges, including both their causes and their potential solutions. This recognition illuminates the need for an ‘ecosystems revolution’, progressively repositioning the workings of nature’s supportive processes into governance systems to build a future of greater security, wellbeing and opportunity.

Chapter 3, Breakthroughs in the ascent of humanity, plots the trajectory of human development through the lens of the materials and technologies we have harnessed to further our own prospects. These have been characterised as a series of so-called ‘revolutions’ in the manipulation of natural resources. A generally narrow focus on immediate advantages accruing form a largely fortuitous ‘evolutionary’ innovations has frequently also generated multiple unintended consequences, emphasising the need for greater cognisance of systemic ramifications for people and supporting ecosystems as a basis for the next societal revolution.

Chapter 4, Chance or choice?, reviews the nature of natural selection, a primary concept in the theory of evolution, including the application of selection principles to the evolution of ideas, technologies and products. It contrasts the multi-factorial nature of natural selection with the often narrow framing of artificial selection, which externalises many of the impacts of human innovations on ecosystems that, in turn compromise their capacities to sustain human needs as a form of natural selection process. This highlights the need for a new type of revolution in human development that is directed rather than relying on fortuitous innovations, and is also guided by a broader framework of ‘artificial selection’ principles more closely aligned to the complexity of the natural world. It also challenges current conceptions of sustainable development that implicitly assume stationarity when, in fact, the ongoing pace of ecosystem decline requires us to raise our vision to one that encompasses the progressive rebuilding of ecosystem capacity and resilience.

Chapter 5, Reanimating the landscape, draws upon a range of inspiring community-based projects across the developing world where restoration of degraded landscapes have regenerated ecosystems and human livelihoods in a positively reinforcing cycle. Parallels are drawn with emerging approaches to restoration of catchments and their functions for pollution control, water resource protection, flood management and other outcomes on an increasingly integrated, nature-based way. Examples are drawn from across the world where ecosystem restoration is protecting and increasing human security, economic benefits and opportunity, highlighting the importance of investment in the natural infrastructure vital for securing human wellbeing into the future. However, the difficulties of navigating a transition to a broader, systemic paradigm are significant, threatening as this broadening of conception may appear to mind sets formed on currently established norms and vested interests founded on more reductive perspectives.

Chapter 6, A revolutionary journey, explores how an ecosystems revolution is already under way, as evidenced by the shaping of the broader formal and informal policy environment of the developed world over the past century and more. The dependencies and impacts of major policy areas on ecosystems and their services are reviewed through selected examples, emphasising the need for far greater internalisation of the benefits and vulnerabilities of supporting ecosystems, an integrated across policy spheres and societal sectors, if continuing human opportunity is to be secured.

Chapter 7, Co-creating the Symbiocene, recognises that human pressures will continue to exert significant influence on global ecosystems, whether we chose to direct ourselves on a progressive path or permit continuing decline through inaction. What is undoubtedly required if sustainability becomes our guiding principle is to achieve increasing symbiosis between natural processes, with their associated ‘natural selection’ forces, and the choices and ‘artificial selection’ criteria that humanity applies to direct it towards that chosen future. This directed revolution to achieve symbiosis between the natural processes that shaped the Holocene with the human pressures that currently, in their unreconstructed state, shape the Anthropocene, would constitute a new synergistic and sustainable epoch: the Symbiocene. A framework for decision-making is presented, backed up by a range of worked examples across policy areas, before then concluding with thoughts on the unique influences we all bring to bear through our day-to-day choices and actions, all of which influence, to unpredictable degrees, the kind of future we are co-creating.

The ecosystems revolution: co-creating a symbiotic future is packed with practical and positive examples, inspiring us that, for all the attendant negative trends, a revolution is possible. This will not be a revolution brought about by force or violence; rather, it is one that we will co-create, indeed are co-creating, through shared understanding, aspiration and consideration of the ramifications of our incremental decisions and actions. It is about empowerment and engagement in a journey, for it is not the ecosystems that require a revolution; they have always and will always adapt and survive. It is about us co-creating a revolution that progressively embeds the multiple values and importance of thriving, regenerating ecosystems into the ways that we think, act and live lives of potentially expanding opportunity and fulfilment.

Citation

Everard, M. (2016). The Ecosystems Revolution: Co-creating a Symbiotic Future. UK: Palgrave

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: Jun 29, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9783319316574
• Keywords: revolution, symbiotic, sustainable development, interdependence, breakthroughs, symbiocene, decision-making, cycles, ecosystems, biosphere, indivisibility, technology, natural limits, natural selection, artificial selection, cultural evolution, memes, rev
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/910564
• Publisher URL: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319316574