Ecosystem Health最新文献

ABSTRACT

After surveying the two main paradigms for ecological risk assessment, this commentary discusses two mistakes often associated with the paradigm based on ecosystem health. These are the beard fallacy and the pragmatist fallacy. The argument is that if you really learn from experience with quantitative (human health) risk assessment, you can avoid importing similar fallacies into ecological risk assessment. The commentary suggests strategies for avoiding each of these fallacies and thus for improving analyses of ecosystem health.

ABSTRACT

The tribal communities of Meghalaya in northeast India—Khasis, Garos, and Jaintias—have a tradition of environmental conservation based on various religious beliefs which have been passed on from one generation to the other. Based on these beliefs, certain patches of forests are designated as sacred groves under customary law and are protected from any product extraction by the community. Such forests are very rich in biological diversity and harbor many endangered plant species including rare herbs and medicinal plants. Seventy-nine sacred groves were located, denoted on a geographical map of Meghalaya, and studied for their biodiversity value, status, and vegetation characteristics. A baseline floristic survey revealed that at least 514 species representing 340 genera and 131 families were present in these sacred groves. The status of sacred groves was ascertained through canopy cover estimate. A little over 1.3% of total sacred grove area was undisturbed, 42.1% had relatively dense forest, 26.3% had sparse canopy cover, and 30.3% had open forest. The vegetation characteristics and species diversity of an undisturbed sacred grove were compared with that of an unprotected disturbed forest. The species diversity indices were higher for the sacred grove than for the disturbed forest. The species composition and community characteristics differed significantly between the two forests. Sociocultural aspects of sacred grove conservation were analyzed, and views of the local people were enlisted. Based on the findings, conservation strategies for sacred groves were suggested.

ABSTRACT

The philosophical basis for opposition and support of risk assessment by environmentalists is considered. Opponents’ perspective is dominated by “empathy” for individual victims, theoretical and identifiable, who suffer morbidity or mortality due to environmental pollution. Proponents’ perceive optimization of aggregate public health as the ethical imperative. Taken to their extreme, these positions lead to angry rhetoric in their mutual efforts to discredit the opposing view, without considering whether it is possible to integrate the legitimated impulses that lie behind the two perspectives. This essay presents one such synthesis that both accepts the inevitability of risk assessment (and in many cases its importance) as a decision analytic tool but also integrates many of the noble convictions that lie behind the critique when victims are clearly identifiable. As ecological risk assessment becomes an increasingly developed tool for decision-making about managing ecosystem health, many of the same arguments are certain to be wielded. A balanced philosophical approach to this new discipline has the potential to expedite a more rational and ultimately protective public policy while conveying an important societal message about compassion and respect for the sanctity of life.

ABSTRACT

We now live under a comprehensive international trading system which affects what we eat, wear, buy, and produce. As of January 1995, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT 1947) was replaced by the World Trade Organization Agreement (WTOA) which sets out rules affecting practically all trade in goods and services worldwide.

The implications for trade in agricultural goods are enormous. Today, not only are rules concerning trade in goods generally applicable to trade in agricultural goods, but new rules specific to trade in such products are set out in the WTOA’s Agreement on Agriculture. The WTOA promises to limit national agricultural policies which impede international trade in agricultural products. The new WTOA rules should increase efficiency of and decrease friction arising in trade in agricultural products. These developments represent truly positive economic and political outcomes.

But what will be the environmental effects of changes in trade flows facilitated by WTOA rules and institutions? How will the new rules affect ecosystem health? The truth is that the worlds of trade law and ecosystem health are light-years apart. Advocates for free trade and those for the environment often distrust each other and think that the interests of one can be advanced only through the sacrifice by the other. The first part of this article traces some of the reasons for the evolution of this seemingly zero-sum game. The second section of the article examines the historical development and current treatment of environmental measures under the WTOA.

The agricultural sector is then highlighted as a microcosm of how the new WTOA rules will produce environmental effects which positively, although perhaps unintentionally, affect agroecosystems. The article concludes with speculation as to whether it is not now time to reorient the acrimonious trade/environment debate to one which is less adversarial and more focused on achieving ecosystem health while continuing to improve international market access and trade relations.

ABSTRACT

A three-stage study was conducted to investigate the community health impacts of the Petro Canada petroleum refinery in Oakville, Ontario. A feasibility study was the basis for a stage 2 health survey in 1992 designed to examine the association between self-reported somatic and/or psychosocial symptoms and exposure to odorous refinery emissions in families living near the refinery. In stage 3, a qualitative investigation of residents’ experiences of the refinery was conducted in 1994 by means of depth interviews of a subsample of the survey respondents. The focus of this article is the results of the stage 2 and 3 studies. The survey results (n = 391) showed strong association between zone of residence and odor perception and annoyance, which, in turn, were strongly associated with the reporting of cardinal and general symptoms in adults and children. The strong mediating effect of odors on the refinery exposure–symptom reporting relationship was confirmed by the results of path analyses. The survey findings are consistent with the results of several previous studies of health effects due to environmental odor exposures, which suggest a psychosomatic reaction to the environmental stress associated with odorous emissions. The analysis of the depth interviews (n = 40) revealed the effects of social and community factors on residents’ experiences of the refinery emissions and served to elucidate the relationship between exposure, odor annoyance, and symptom reporting. Ten emergent themes were identified, and these were integrated in terms of three profiles of “typical” resident reactions to the refinery. Follow-up quantitative and qualitative studies are planned to determine whether the ongoing odor reduction plan at the refinery results in reduced levels of symptom reporting.

ABSTRACT

With massive urbanization occurring worldwide, environment and health concerns have reached near-crisis dimensions in many cities throughout the world. Whilst age-old environmental health hazards such as unsafe food and water, microbiological contamination of the environment, overall poor sanitation, and inadequate environmental hygiene are today still prevalent, new environment and development problems have emerged, some of which appear to threaten the entire ecosystem.

Environment and health problems today are complex, multidisciplinary in nature, interrelated, and often ill-defined with uncertain solutions. New and innovative approaches are needed to tackle such problems in the future, with development, environment, and health concerns addressed together in a coordinated and integrated way. The total environment must be supportive of health development.

This paper highlights some of the key milestones in the recent history of the environment and public health fields, which have been instrumental in the development of more integrated approaches to addressing crosscutting environment and health problems, with particular emphasis placed on initiatives such as Agenda 21. It then discusses the concept and philosophy of the successful “Healthy Cities” project, which is an urban health and development project initiated by the World Health Organization to address more effectively health and environment issues at the local level. Other strategies such as the “Sustainable Cities” initiative are also mentioned. Finally, attention is drawn to some of the successes that have been achieved through participatory planning initiatives, and the implications for implementation in respect to institutional restructuring, human resource needs, and information systems are highlighted.