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ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY: ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND HUMAN WELFARE

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series This Series presents the results of scientific meetings supported under the NATO Programme: Science for Peace and Security (SPS). The NATO SPS Programme supports meetings in the following Key Priority areas: (1) Defence Against Terrorism; (2) Countering other Threats to Security and (3) NATO, Partner and Mediterranean Dialogue Country Priorities. The types of meeting supported are generally “Advanced Study Institutes” and “Advanced Research Workshops”. The NATO SPS Series collects together the results of these meetings. The meetings are co-organized by scientists from NATO countries and scientists from NATO’s “Partner” or “Mediterranean Dialogue” countries. The observations and recommendations made at the meetings, as well as the contents of the volumes in the Series, reflect those of participants and contributors only; they should not necessarily be regarded as reflecting NATO views or policy. Advanced Study Institutes (ASI) are high-level tutorial courses to convey the latest developments in a subject to an advanced-level audience. Advanced Research Workshops (ARW) are expert meetings where an intense but informal exchange of views at the frontiers of a subject aims at identifying directions for future action. Following a transformation of the programme in 2006 the Series has been re-named and reorganised. Recent volumes on topics not related to security, which result from meetings supported under the programme earlier, may be found in the NATO Science Series. The Series is published by IOS Press, Amsterdam, and Springer Science and Business Media, Dordrecht, in conjunction with the NATO Public Diplomacy Division. Sub-Series A. B. C. D. E.

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Sub-Series E: Human and Societal Dynamics – Vol. 69 ISSN 1874-6276 (print) ISSN 1879-8268 (online)

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Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare Edited by

P.H. Liotta Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, USA

William G. Kepner U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Judith M. Lancaster Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USA and

David A. Mouat Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USA

Published in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare Newport, Rhode Island, USA 5-10 July, 2009

© 2010 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-60750-578-5 (print) ISBN 978-1-60750-579-2 (online) Library of Congress Control Number: 2010929915

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Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare P.H. Liotta et al. (Eds.) IOS Press, 2010 © 2010 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved

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Preface P.H. LIOTTA1 Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy Salve Regina University

1. The Human and Societal Dynamics of Ecosystem Services In the year 2000, at the turn of our new millennium, the United Nations SecretaryGeneral initiated the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably. Ecosystem services are characterized into four key categories: supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural functionality. Sustainable societies are dependent on the goods and services provided by ecosystems, including clean air and water, productive soils, and the production of food and fiber. Ecosystem services have been defined in a variety of ways; however, in the end they reflect the basic outputs of ecological functions or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being and a sense of security. The challenges we face today are to recognize and anticipate change in ecosystem services in all of its forms and to appreciate human and societal dynamic impacts. This paradigm shift is driven in part by the growing and necessary integration of diverse disciplines associated with the natural and social sciences. Thus, an important challenge in the future is to develop research initiatives that cut across political and disciplinary boundaries and synthesize the unique contributions of all sciences to intelligently inform and support effective policy and decision making. This scientific volume considers ecosystem services by addressing how scientific research and social change can best coevolve in achieving sustainable societies and true environmental security. 2. NATO’s Third Dimension Today’s focus on a range of nontraditional security threats coming from environmental, social, and economic stressors was anticipated at least as early as 1969. Speaking at NATO’s 20th anniversary that year, U.S. President Richard Nixon challenged the ______ 1

Address correspondence to P. H. Liotta, Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, 100 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, RI 02840, USA; tel.: +001 401 341 2371; fax: +001 401 341 2974; e-mail: [email protected].

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organization to help make “the world fit for man.” He called for the creation of a “committee on the challenges of modern society, responsible to the deputy ministers, to explore ways in which the experience and resources of the Western nations could most effectively be marshaled toward improving the quality of life of our peoples.” Nixon spoke prophetically about the coming challenges: The Western nations share common ideals and a common heritage. We are all advanced societies, sharing the benefits and the gathering torments of a rapidly advancing industrial technology. The industrial nations share no challenge more urgent than that of bringing twentieth-century man and his environment to terms with one another—of making the world fit for man, and helping man to learn how to remain in harmony with the rapidly changing world. [1]

Making the world fit for humans is part of NATO’s “third dimension,” which goes beyond cooperation in political and defense fields to encourage cooperation related to civil emergency planning and scientific and environmental cooperation. Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifically addresses this requirement, highlighting NATO’s responsibility to promote stability, well-being, and economic collaboration among nations [2]. Today, what we call environmental security and human security are elements of NATO’s long-standing focus on nontraditional security threats.

3. Making Policy Implications Relevant Since the origin of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) in 1969, environmental security and human security have grown in importance as elements of national and international security policies. Subsequently, security strategies have focused increasingly on environmental and human security themes. Economic and social concerns, in particular, took center stage: A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 USD a day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of development—and opportunity—is a moral imperative. [3]

As such, the significance of human integration within ecosystem studies proves more essential now than ever. A first premise of the concept of security, therefore, is that protection of human life from environmental, economic, food, health, personal, and political threats is a vital core value. A second argument is that actions that guard against environmental degradation represent a key element to security by ensuring sustainable resources and the continuation of ecosystem services that sustain human wellbeing. There are human and environmental elements of these premises (typically thought of as human security and environmental security) but both concepts are so intrinsically interlinked that one term does not usually occur without the other.

4. Designing, Defining and Delivering Ecosystem Services In 2006 CCMS merged with NATO’s Science Committee to form the Science for Peace and Security (SPS) program. The broad goals of the forerunner committees, nonetheless, remain strategically relevant to the SPS and show a long-term commitment to nontraditional concerns: to contribute to security, stability, and

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solidarity among nations by applying the best technical expertise together with collaboration, networking, and capacity building. As the primary committee promoting practical cooperation in civil science and innovation, SPS underscores NATO’s mission to link science to society for practical, real-world applications. The charter of SPS specifically illustrates a clear mandate: The aim of the Science for Peace and Security Programme is to contribute to security, stability and solidarity among nations, by applying the best technical expertise to problem solving. Collaboration, networking and capacity-building are means used to accomplish this end. A further aim is to facilitate continued democratic growth and support economic development in NATO’s Partner countries. [4]

Through a horizon-scanning agenda that seeks to share knowledge, SPS is expanding international dialogue and understanding through broad-based interdisciplinary networks of specialists. Scientific cooperation, under SPS guidelines, is therefore an instrument for finding answers to critical questions and a means of connecting nations—and scientists. Indeed, the constructive power of science and technology has in every era had the potential to propel humankind to new levels of well-being. This potential of science and technology is now greater than ever before, but realizing the potential today requires doing things differently. The challenge is to build scientific and technical cooperation in ways that enhance knowledge, spur economic growth, and alleviate poverty. In such spirit, our examination of the challenges of understanding and incorporating ecosystem services fell into three broad issue categories: defining, designing, and delivering. To our great fortune, scientists from 20 different nation-states addressed those challenges and our presentation in this volume represents: Defining Ecosystem Services: “Ecosystem Services and Security: The Fog of Vulnerability”—Shearer and Liotta take on the challenges of addressing security, environment, and its meaning for the nation-states. “Human-Triggered Earthquakes and Their Impacts on Human Security”—Klose, through scrupulous investigation, examines the highly controversial and much debated topic of human influence in triggering seismic events. “Mechanisms of Governance of Agro-Ecosystem Services”—the Bulgarian agro-economist Bachev considers agricultural and economic influences. In “A Framework for Ecosystem Services Planning” Staes considers factors for the understanding and effective implementation of ecosystem mechanisms. Equally Berkowicz evaluates “Perspectives on the Atmosphere’s Role in Sustaining Ecosystem Services”; and the defense environmental specialists Lillie and Fittipaldi consider the “Evolution of Ecosystem Management for Stewardship of U.S. Military Lands.” Designing Ecosystem Services: Kepner et alia address “The Use of Scenario Analysis to Assess Water Ecosystem Services in Response to Future Land Use Change in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon” while Schoenfeld addresses the topical and pertinent issue of “Environment and Human Security in the Eastern Mediterranean: Regional Environmentalism in the Reframing of Palestine-Israeli-Jordanian Relations.” Duliü, by contrast, considers “The Western Balkans: Environmental and Human Security,” while France examines “Expanding Ecosystem Services: Climate Change, Phenology, and the Building of Citizen ‘Scientists.’” To conclude this section, the natural scientists Klimkina and Seppelt respectively address “Assessment of the Consequences of Anthropogenic Catastrophes on Ecological-Genetic Environmental Conditions and Human Health” and “The Use of Simulation Models and Optimization Techniques in Environmental Management: The Example of Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs.”

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Delivering Ecosystem Services: In our final section, we consider ways in which design could “deliver” on the promise of ecosystem services. As such, we draw on the expertise of urban planners, ecological scientists, geospatial specialists, and architects. This section leads off with the intriguing proposals from Bobylev for “Ecosystem Services in the Context of Human Development” followed by the Spiriü contribution of “Delivering Ecosystem Service Benefits: Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development.” Rochon follows with an encapsulation of ongoing work on “Real-Time Remote Sensing in Support of Ecosystem Services and Sustainability,” which Conti complements with “Geospatial Technologies and Their Benefit for Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare.” Our final contributions include unique considerations on “Food Security and Eco-Terrorism: Recognizing Vulnerabilities and Protecting Ecosystems” from Alpas as well as Zemmouri’s innovative analysis on “Delivering the Architecture of Ecosystem Services: Daylight Modeling for a Sustainable Building Design.” Finally, our summary offers encapsulation of the book’s peer-reviewed contributions, and considers implications not only for policy but for future meaningful scientific contribution.

5. Multiple Roles for Examining Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare In the spirit of scientific cooperation and the need to speak across borders and disciplines, an unusual mix of natural and social scientists from 20 different nationstates—spanning four continents—met at The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University, in Newport, Rhode Island for an intense and often exhilarating series of meetings, open fora, and public events—the culmination of which is represented with the publication of this scientific volume. The Pell Center was established at Salve Regina University by an Act of the United States Congress to pay tribute to Senator Claiborne Pell, whose life and career uniquely exemplify a remarkable mixture of wisdom and courage. The Center perpetuates two of the Senator’s principal goals: furthering international dialogue to achieve a more peaceful world and preparing citizens for an informed and active role in local, national, and world affairs. This NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare” has extended and deepened the international presence of the Pell Center and Salve Regina University and demonstrates unique collaboration. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of a few national agencies that operate in both regulatory and scientific capacity. Through its Office of Research and Development (ORD), EPA conducts research necessary to ensure that national policies, programs, and regulations are based on a scientifically defensible foundation. In 2007 EPA/ORD created the Ecological Services Research Program (ESRP). The goal of the ESRP is to transform the way decision makers understand and respond to environmental issues by making clear how their policy and management choices affect the type, quality, and magnitude of the goods and services ecosystems provide to sustain human well-being [5]. The goal requires ESRP to specifically design one of the world’s most comprehensive national research programs to understand the social benefits of ecosystem services. Its purpose is to conduct research and produce tools and analytical technologies to examine the provision of ecosystem services and communicate results to policy makers in an effort to improve national environmental and economic decision making.

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We are especially grateful for the sponsorship and support we received from the Pell Center, the NATO SPS Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the EPA Ecosystem Services Research Program, and the Desert Research Institute. This scientific volume thus takes both a conceptual and a pragmatic approach to the issues of environmental and human security—and the progressive implementation of ecosystem services into our lives. Beginning with conceptual approaches to understanding the intersections of risk, uncertainty, and environmental challenges—as well as the methodological challenges to measuring human security—we move immediately to region-specific challenges for environmental and human security in North Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East—in our recommendations for both future research and policy action. This volume represents far more than just “another book on the shelf.” Just as the Pell Center NATO ARW meeting represented an extraordinary endeavor in collegial collaboration, the work presented here is a fluid and evolving process—far more an ongoing exploration than an ending. In the spirit of the NATO SPS Programme, and as an extension of our ongoing spirit of cooperation to address and resolve emerging environmental and human security challenges, this volume’s central aim is to focus on stability, sustainability, and solidarity among peoples, states, and regions, to understand, appreciate, and incorporate ecosystem services into the way we live our lives.

References [1] [2] [3]

[4] [5] [6]

R. Nixon, Address at the Commemorative Session of the North Atlantic Council, 10 April 1969, http://www. presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=1992. North Atlantic Treaty, 4 April 1949, Washington, D.C., http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/ treaty.htm. G.W. Bush, Expand the circle of development by opening societies and building the infrastructure of democracy, National Security Strategy of the United States of America, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., September 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss7.html. North Atlantic Treaty Organization Science for Peace and Security Programme, Introduction, http://www.nato.int/science/about_sps/introduction.htm. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Ecological Research Program Research Multi-year Plan (2008-2014), 2008, http://epa.gov/ord/esrp/pdfs/ERP-MYP-complete-draft-v5.pdf. United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006, http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/ mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf.

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Acknowledgments This NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), “Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare,” held at The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University, represented an extraordinary collaboration. We wish to acknowledge support and encouragement from the Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). First, we thank Dr. Deniz Yüksel-Beten, Section Head of the SPS Programme in the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, for her steady guidance and direction; Sue Williamson for her unflagging support and immediate help with questions and concerns as we progressed in book preparation and production; and Professor Fernando Carvalho Rodrigues, Head of the Human and Societal Dynamics Panel. Equally, our colleague and friend, David Smith, of the Poverty and Environment Initiative at UNEP in Nairobi provided muchneeded guidance and support. We also must acknowledge with gratitude the enlightened leadership of Rick Linthurst, EPA National Program Director for Ecology, Jonathan Garber at the EPA’s Narragansett Atlantic Ecology Division, and other EPA colleagues, especially Brian Melzian and Darryl Keith, who provided both enthusiasm and encouragement as we progressed. Our ARW international colleagues, in particular, are indebted to our colleague Wayne Munns, who hosted an extraordinary symposium on Ecosystem Services and EPA’s ongoing active research in that arena. We thank as well Sister Jane Gerety, RSM, President of Salve Regina, for her vision and leadership, as well as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean de la Motte, and Sister M. Therese Antone, University Chancellor. We are indebted to the Pell Center staff— Associate Director Michele Corbeil-Sperduti, Office Manager Teresa Haas, and our five outstanding interns: Dominick Acevedo, Alyssa Cusano, Alyssa Kaplan, Nicholas Logler, and Dylan Nauss—for their unwavering commitment and enthusiasm. Salve Regina Graphic Design Services produced an exceptional program proceedings. We recognize that making our ARW appear flawless required a superhuman effort on the part of all our Salve Regina colleagues, which we deeply appreciate. Once again, our Technical Editor, Jo-Ann Parks, demonstrated her exceptional editorial skills and shared her great sense of humor. Finally, the panel of anonymous reviewers provided invaluable and timely input, but ultimately, we owe thanks to our ARW contributors, whose insight and illuminating analysis make this scientific volume such a major contribution.

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Participants of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare” working inside the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Young Building, Salve Regina University Newport, Rhode Island. (Photographer: Kim Fuller)

Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare P.H. Liotta et al. (Eds.) IOS Press, 2010 © 2010 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved

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Introduction P.H. LIOTTA1 Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University

1. Background and Purpose The NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), sponsored by the Science for Peace and Security Programme (SPS), on “Achieving Environmental Security: Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare” was held at The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Additional sponsorship for the workshop came from both the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Building on the success of The Pell Center 2007 NATO Advanced Research Workshop, and the subsequent 2008 publication of the scientific volume drawn from its proceedings [1], The Pell Center meeting considered how technology and new methodologies are addressing goals of poverty reduction, diminishing conflict potential, increasing human security, and positively affecting UN Millennium Development Goals. The aim of this ARW was to broaden the agenda beyond scientific research to include social change through an active and continuing science-policy interface. We began work with two basic premises. First, the protection of human life from environmental, economic, food, health, personal, and political threats is a vital core value. Second, actions that guard against environmental degradation represent key elements to enhance environmental security, ensure sustainable resources, and enable ecosystem services that sustain human well-being.

2. Understanding and Applying Ecosystem Services From 2001 to 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [2] involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provided a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably. Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that natural ecosystems provide. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products such as clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes. Ecosystem services are distinct from other ecosystem products and functions because there is human demand for these natural assets. 1 Address correspondence to P. H. Liotta, Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, 100 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island 02840, USA; tel.: +001-4013412371; fax: +001-4013412974; e-mail: [email protected].

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2.1. Ecosystem Service Categories Ecosystem services are characterized into four key categories (table 1): provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as mitigating environmental change and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits [2, 3]. 2.2. Ecosystem Service Provisions It is the provision of these basic services and their probability for continuation into the future that serve as core to the concepts of human and environmental security. Sustainable societies are dependent on the goods and services provided by ecosystems, including clean air and water, productive soils, and the production of food and fiber. Ecosystem services have been defined in a variety of ways; however, in the end they reflect the basic outputs of ecological function or processes (or benefits, as some scientists have argued) that directly or indirectly contribute to human welfare and security. 2.3. The Danger of Ecosystem Service Degradation As human populations grow, so too the resource demands imposed on ecosystems and the impacts of our global footprint increase. While many have believed that these ecosystem services are free, invulnerable, and infinitely available, the consequence of anthropogenic use and abuse are ever more apparent. Air and water quality are increasingly compromised, oceans are being over-fished, pests and diseases are extending beyond historical boundaries, and deforestation is eliminating flood control around human settlements. By some estimates, as much as 50 percent of Earth’s icefree land surface has been heavily transformed or degraded by anthropogenic activities, 66 percent of marine fisheries are either overexploited or at their limit, atmospheric CO2 has increased more than 30 percent since the advent of industrialization, and nearly 25 percent of Earth’s bird species became extinct over the last two millennia. Consequently, society is collectively realizing that ecosystem services are not only threatened and limited, but that the pressure to evaluate trade-offs between immediate and long-term human needs is urgent.

3. Defining and Distinguishing Environmental Security This NATO ARW focused on emerging environmental vulnerabilities that require a broadened and deeper understanding of both traditional and nontraditional security issues. Notably, in the opening session, ARW participants recognized that Article 2 of the original North Atlantic Treaty emphasized critical aspects of nontraditional security concerns [4]. Participants thus focused on specific aspects of environmental change as it affects regions and communities directly connected to NATO scientific concerns, while accepting that no single operative definition exists for environmental security. A number of principles regarding environmental security were commonly accepted, nonetheless, as

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working constructs for this meeting. Alan Hecht, of the U.S. EPA, noted in the 1990s, for example, that Environmental Security is a process whereby solutions to environmental problems contribute to national security objectives. It encompasses the idea that cooperation among nations and regions to solve environmental problems can help advance the goals of political stability, economic development, and peace. By addressing the environmental components of potential security “hot spots,” threats to international security can be prevented before they become a threat to political or economic stability or peace. (cited in [5]) A more recent attempt at defining this sometimes problematic concept suggests that Environmental Security refers to the impact of environmental factors on security. These environmental factors include both natural environmental phenomena, such as natural disasters, and environmental changes caused by human activity, such as depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. The impact of human activity on the environment can, however, also be positive and depends on the quality of governance as it applies, among others, to the use and management of natural resources [6]. A further definition, one that emphasizes the need for recognition and cooperation, suggests that Environmental security centers on a focus that seeks the best effective response to changing environmental conditions that have the potential to reduce stability, affect peaceful relationships, and—if left unchecked—could contribute to the outbreak of conflict. [7]

4. Environmental Change and Human Impact Linkages The linkages between environmental change and human welfare, while not always obvious, can nevertheless have profound impact. As Brian Shaw noted in a 2007-released White Paper prepared for the Office of Intelligence, U.S. Department of Energy: The relationships between the environment and human security are certainly close and complex. A great deal of human security is tied to individuals’ access to natural resources and vulnerabilities to environmental change—and a great deal of environmental change is directly and indirectly affected by human activities and conflicts. . . . The central issue is that, unlike war, traditional or man-made disasters, most environmental issues evolve very slowly. It is difficult to determine when a critical environmental change is occurring or when a change in some aspect of the environment will have a significant and destabilizing effect on a nation or a region. [8] Participating ARW scientists at this Pell Center event commonly recognized that human security and environmental security are not synonymous terms. Environmental change and impact, nonetheless, do directly impact human security outcomes. In the broadest sense, environmental security considers issues of environmental degradation, deprivation, and resource scarcity. By contrast, human security examines the impact of systems and processes on the individual, while recognizing basic concerns for human life and valuing human dignity.

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Table 1. Ecosystem Functions and Services [3]. Ecosystem functions and services

Description

Supportive functions and structures

Ecological structures and functions that are essential to the delivery of ecosystem services

Nutrient cycling

Storage, processing, and acquisition of nutrients within the biosphere

Nitrogen cycle; phosphorous cycle

Net primary production

Conversion of sunlight into biomass

Plant growth

Pollination and seed dispersal

Movement of plant genes

Insect pollination; seed dispersal by animals

Habitat

The physical place where organisms reside

Refugium for resident and migratory species; spawning and nursery grounds

Hydrological cycle

Movement and storage of water through the biosphere

Evapotransporation; stream runoff; groundwater retention

Regulating services

Maintenance of essential ecological processes and life support systems for human well-being

Gas regulation

Regulation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans

Biotic sequestration of carbon dioxide and release of oxygen; vegetative absorption of volatile organic compounds

Climate regulation

Regulation of local to global climate processes

Direct influence of land cover on temperature, precipitation, wind, and humidity

Disturbance regulation

Dampening of environmental fluctuations and disturbance

Storm surge protection; flood protection

Biological regulation

Species interactions

Control of pests and diseases; reduction of herb ivory (crop damage)

Water regulation

Flow of water across the planet surface

Modulation of the drought–flood cycle; purification of water

Soil retention

Erosion control and sediment retention

Prevention of soil loss by wind and runoff; avoiding buildup of silt in lakes and wetlands

Waste regulation

Removal or breakdown of nonnutrient compounds and materials

Pollution detoxification; abatement of noise pollution

Nutrient regulation

Maintenance of major nutrients within acceptable bounds

Prevention of premature eutrophication in lakes; maintenance of soil fertility

Provisioning services

Provisioning of natural resources and raw materials

Water supply

Filtering, retention, and storage of fresh water

Examples

Provision of fresh water for drinking; medium for transportation; irrigation

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Provisioning of edible plants and animals for human consumption

Hunting and gathering of fish, game, fruits, and other edible animals and plants; small-scale subsistence farming and aquaculture

Building and manufacturing

Lumber; skins; plant fibers; oils; dyes

Fuel and energy

Fuel wood; organic matter (e.g., peat)

Soil and fertilizer

Topsoil; frill; leaves; litter; excrement

Genetic resources

Genetic resources

Genes to improve crop resistance to pathogens and pests and other commercial applications

Medicinal resources

Biological and chemical substances for use in drugs and pharmaceuticals

Quinine; Pacific yew; echinacea

Ornamental resources

Resources for fashion, handicraft, jewelry, pets, worship, decoration, and souvenirs

Feathers used in decorative costumes; shells used as jewelry

Cultural services

Enhancing emotional, psychological, and cognitive well-being

Recreation

Opportunities for rest, refreshment, and recreation

Ecotourism; bird-watching; outdoor sports

Aesthetic

Sensory enjoyment of functioning ecological systems

Proximity of houses to scenery; open space

Science and education

Use of natural areas for scientific and educational enhancement

A “natural field laboratory” and reference area

Spiritual and historic

Spiritual or historic information with significant religious values

Use of nature as national symbols; natural landscapes

Food

Raw materials

5. ARW Program Format The overall breakdown of the ARW comprised three separate approaches, which were extended and refined in the preparation of this volume: Defining ecosystem services and meaning for human welfare; Designing ecosystem services for human welfare; Delivering ecosystem services for human welfare. The ARW also included two open fora, composed of experts examining the themes of human security and making the linkages between economics, poverty, and environmental change, and their implications for security. The Pell Center presented two public events in conjunction with the ARW. First, we premiered the first-ever public screening of the ABC News Documentary Earth 2100: The Final Century of Civilization?—a project in which ARW participants Dr. P. H. Liotta and Dr. Allan W. Shearer were original creative consultants. Second, we featured an address by human security expert Dr. Dragana Duliü from the University of Belgrade in Serbia addressing “The Geopolitics of Humanitarian Assistance.”

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6. Related Field Activities In addition to the ARW activities at The Pell Center, participants engaged in field activities within the Narragansett Bay area, to include symposia and visits to: •



University of Rhode Island: Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO), Narragansett Bay Campus: Extended tour of the Inner Space Center, which connects researchers and ships at sea with URI and shore-based scientists, along with meetings of URI oceanographers and environmental scientists United States Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, for an extended seminar on going EPA research efforts in ecosystem services.

Given the resources and scientific research ongoing in Rhode’s Island Narragansett Bay, these field activities provided tremendous benefit. Scientists from the MENA and Europe were especially enthusiastic about these site visits and were provided ample opportunity for exchange and dialogue. 7. Primary Objectives and Outcomes The primary objectives of the NATO ARW and this accompanying text represent efforts to: • • • •

Foster crossover dialogue with stakeholders and decision makers for policy relevant applications that relate to environmental security and human adaptability; Develop common mechanisms for response to environmental change while recognizing and acting on region-specific threats, challenge, and vulnerabilities; Demonstrate the validity of human welfare assessment under changing socioeconomic and ecological conditions; Present a viable strategic framework to define, operationalize, and implement ecosystem service strategies that prove useful for policy makers.

As the relationship between ecosystem services and human welfare is linked, interdependent, and complex, this ARW explored the best possible approaches for bringing about sustainable development and sustainable societies. This scientific volume thus seeks, as primary focus, to illustrate and offer concrete solutions to changing variabilities and conditions—and to consider commonalities among scientists from North America, Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Black Sea region, and North Africa in finding solutions. Drawing on previous collaborative efforts, this work contributes to a transatlantic debate on key environmental security challenges in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. It is a debate—and a dialogue—we need to continue. P.H. Liotta, MFA, Ph.D. Executive Director Professor of Humanities Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy Salve Regina University

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References [1]

[2] [3]

[4] [5]

[6]

[7] [8]

P.A. Liotta, D.A. Mouat, W.G. Kepner, and J.M. Lancaster (Eds). 2008. Environmental Change and Human Security: Recognizing and Acting on Hazard Impacts, Springer Publishers, The Netherlands, ISBN 978-1-4020-8549-9. 478 pp. MEA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment), Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Our Human Planet, Island Press, Washington, D.C., 2005 (www.MAweb.org). S. Farber, R. Costanza, D.L. Childers, J. Erickson, K. Gross, M. Grove, C.S. Hopkinson, J. Kahn, S. Pincetl, A. Troy, P. Warren, and M. Wilson, Linking ecology and economics for ecosystem management, Bioscience 56 (2006), 121-133. North Atlantic Treaty, 4 April 1949, Washington, D.C.; http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm. K. Butts, Environmental security and the Army war college, PowerPoint presentation for workshop on Teaching Population, Environment, and Security, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., 20 May 2007. Anonymous, draft preparatory document for workshop participants, Water scarcity, land degradation, and desertification in the Mediterranean region—Environment and security linkage, Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe, City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain, 10–11 December 2007. P.H. Liotta, The Uncertain Certainty: Environmental Change, Human Security, and the Future EuroMediterranean, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2003. B.R. Shaw, From environmental security to environmental intelligence, Paper prepared for the Office of Intelligence, U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 7 February 2007, with specific acknowledgment to the Office of Intelligence, U.S. DOE, for release of this report.

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Contents Preface P.H. Liotta

v

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction P.H. Liotta

xiii

Part I: Defining Ecosystem Services: Big Picture Relevance Ecosystem Services and Security: The Fog of Vulnerability Allan W. Shearer and P.H. Liotta

3

Human-Triggered Earthquakes and Their Impacts on Human Security Christian D. Klose

13

Mechanisms of Governance of Agro-Ecosystem Services Hrabrin Bachev

31

A Framework for Ecosystem Services Planning Jan Staes, Dirk Vrebos and Patrick Meire

53

Perspectives on the Atmosphere’s Role in Sustaining Ecosystem Services Simon M. Berkowicz

73

Evolution of Ecosystem Management for Stewardship of U.S. Military Lands Thomas H. Lillie and John J. Fittipaldi

87

Part II: Designing Ecosystem Services The Use of Scenario Analysis to Assess Water Ecosystem Services in Response to Future Land Use Change in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon Mariano Hernandez, William G. Kepner, David C. Goodrich and Darius J. Semmens Environment and Human Security in the Eastern Mediterranean: Regional Environmentalism in the Reframing of Palestinian-Israeli-Jordanian Relations Stuart Schoenfeld The Western Balkans: Environmental and Human Security Dragana Duliü Expanding Ecosystem Services: Climate Change, Phenology, and the Building of Citizen “Scientists” Robert L. France

97

113 133

143

xxii

Assessment of the Consequences of Anthropogenic Catastrophes on EcologicalGenetic Environmental Conditions and Human Health Alla Gorova, Iryna Klimkina, Artem Pavlychenko and Yury Buchavy

153

The Use of Simulation Models and Optimization Techniques in Environmental Management: The Example of Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs Ralf Seppelt and Sven Lautenbach

167

Part III: Delivering Ecosystem Services Ecosystem Services in the Context of Human Development Nikolai Bobylev Delivering Ecosystem Service Benefits: Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development Zdravko Spiriü Real-Time Remote Sensing in Support of Ecosystem Services and Sustainability Gilbert L. Rochon, Larry Biehl, Souleymane Fall, Darion Grant, Thierno Thiam, Bereket Araya, Bertin Hilaire Mbongo, Jinha Jung, Sohaib Ghani, Madgy Abdel Wahab, Gamal Salah El Afandi, Gülay Altay, Okan Ersoy, Angel Torres Valcarcel and Cesar Javier Gonzalez

183

207 217

Geospatial Technologies and Their Benefit for Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare Giuseppe Conti and Raffaele De Amicis

225

Food Security and Eco-terrorism: Recognizing Vulnerabilities and Protecting Ecosystems Hami Alpas and Taylan Kiymaz

239

Delivering the Architecture of Ecosystem Services: Daylight Modeling for a Sustainable Building Design Noureddine Zemmouri

251

Summary Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare W.G. Kepner

265

Subject Index

269

Author Index

271