A Critical Ecosystem Approach for Global Environmental Problems

A Critical Ecosystem Approach for Global Environmental Problems André Francisco Pilon University of São Paulo / International Academy of Science, Health & Ecology gaiarine@usp.br Today's world is characterized by severe health problems, environmental degradation, predatory exploitation of natural assets, deforestation, desertification and geopolitical hegemonies related to oil and gas, while climate calamities, object of repeated scientific events, become evident and are continuously witnessed by ordinary people. This contemporary crisis is linked to a serious cultural degeneration and reflects the deceptive manoeuvres and collusion of political and economic groups that legitimize strategies rooted in overrated megaprojects, corruption and the disrespect for the resilience, integrity and beauty of natural environments and the precautionary principle. There is a dissonance between the legal framework, international conventions and the practices of political and economic groups that endorse the abuse of nature, devastating huge areas through logging, mining, industrial chemical production and “commodities”; indigenous and preservation areas are constantly at risk of invasions. Hernan L. Villagran reminds that “all major responsibilities to, supposedly, solve those challenging disruptions, are given to the private sector as a savior to solve the myriad of problems created by itself, and are ready to convey science-based “fairy-tails”, wishful thinking futures, technology-based magic thinking, and explicit and implicit denialism”. Neoliberal agents actively design all tools: Tadhg O'Mahony remonstrates that “the system is embedded and entrenched in the intertwined structures of power in society, in institutions, politics and mindsets; think tanks and lobbies for vested interests have engaged political and institutional structures, hiding problems and solutions”. “Systemic” interpretations, theories of “complexity”, the introduction of the “Anthropocene” as a new era in human history inadvertently obscure the role and effective action of people and groups that control economics and politics in today's world, who thus find an easy excuse to decline their responsibilities in the present state of the world. Manifestly, the evils attributed to the “Anthropocene” are not the responsibility of all humanity; the main culprits, who have the political and economic power to shape the forms of production and consumption and define lifestyles, must be distinguished from the majority of the population, whose power to change things cannot be compared with those. New policies and governance structures, actionable participation guidelines for the implementation of a just and participatory transition imply the development of meditative processes to enable reflection, learning and action, engaging local people and value creation at the heart of an effective and fully-fledged theoretical and practical approach to change. In polycentric governance, a wide range of communities and public and private authorities with overlapping areas of responsibility, interacting in seemingly uncoordinated processes of mutual adjustment, can support the emergence of a persistent system of social order to sustain capacities for individual freedom, group autonomy and community self-governance. Localism describes a range of political philosophies which supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identity, giving the power into the hands of local councils, communities and individuals to act. Localism can be contrasted with globalization sustained by business corporations. To implement its objective, as a theoretical and practical approach, a global assessment should be supplemented with a "roadmap" for communication, advocacy, public policy, research and teaching programs, encompassing communities and stakeholders engagement, government institutions, civil society, the role of the private sector and academia. In view of a road-map, according to the Earth System Governance Project, some questions should be explored: How to assess the institutional, political and social context in view of comparative research and metaanalyses to reveal general patterns and trends that vary by context? What are the research topics and questions where the accumulation of knowledge would be particularly fruitful in terms of scientific progress and/or impact on policy and governance? What comparative research, systematic reviews and meta-analyses exist? Which research results are in fact (not) taken up by policy makers, and why (not)? How to develop and use a basic terminology that is widely shared, but nevertheless open to reinterpretations and new concepts? How to coordinate collaborations such as common dictionaries or shared databases? How might the SPI community influence the policies of journals and funding agencies ? Earth’s regeneration and humanity’s regeneration, as faces of the same coin, should be addressed simultaneously, for their mutual reinforcement. These questions are examined in a new blog post published by Audrey Wientjes and Lina Le Pelley, from the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), in view of their research through the EU Horizon project JustWind4All. Throughout France, Terre de Liens fosters similar dynamics for preserving agricultural land and supporting a new generation of farmers, who are driven by the conviction that agriculture is everybody’s concern, that the way land is used and distributed is key to improving the quality of local food production, not to mention ecological forms of farming and livelier rural areas. The fundamental premise of Terre de Liens is that the value of farmland lies in its contribution to food production, lasting ecosystems and human life. In Saint Dizier, a small village of thirty-five inhabitants, local people, municipality members, local residents and farmers have decided to preserve agriculture as a component of local economic activity and lifestyle. The initiative within the framework of knowledge transfer and cooperation between concerned people and institutions can be extended to many of the problems of difficult settlement in today’s world, encompassing crucial questions related to today’s misleading development paradigms and the present cultural, political, economic and environmental crises worldwide. Biologics (derived from natural resources such as microbes, plants, pheromones and other sources) are emerging as crucial agricultural tools. Biological solutions offer benefits for crop protection, soil health improvement, and regenerative farming practices; however, discourse surrounding biological's role in agriculture is contaminated by suspicions and misconceptions. Co-creation of new paradigms would connect communities, justice and value creation, by making local communities part of the process, ensuring participation on a local level as a priority for all actors involved. It is clear from many empirical examples that a strong local foundation includes interpersonal relationships and processes imbricating different dimensions. Eliciting events and changes depends of the synergic and combined interaction of all dimensions of being in the world taken alltogether: intimate, interactive, social and biophysical. These relationships imply a panorama intermingling relationships with oneself, relationships with groups, relationships with society at large and relationships with the environment for their mutual support. To support for new and existing climate-related policies, and to ensure that fundamental human right to public participation is protected, it is necessary a concerted effort to engage with the public during the policy formulation, introduction, application and monitoring phases, including all dimensions of being in the world: intimate, interactive, social and biophysical. Evaluation and planning, advocacy, communication, public policies, research and teaching programmes, should combine all dimensions of being-in-the-world (intimate, interactive, social and biophysical), as they intertwine, as donors and recipients, to induce the events (deficits/assets), cope with consequences (desired/undesired) and contribute for change (potential outputs). In the socio-cultural learning niches, both in education systems and in the society at large, heuristichermeneutic experiences can generate awareness, interpretation and understanding beyond established stereotypes, from a thematic (“what” is at stake), an epistemic (“how” to understand and define the events) and a strategic (who, when, where) point of view. “Communication, advocacy, public policies, research and teaching programs should focus in the transformation of the dominant paradigms of development, growth, wealth, power and freedom embedded at political, economic, educational and cultural levels, in the political and economic groups which have a tough voice in the media, in finances and in the academic world. Publishing scientific reports, teaching and learning about essentially the same problems, but unimplemented solutions, reminds us that we should take into account the supremacy of political and economic groups, which have a tough voice in propaganda, in the media, in finances and in the academic world. New concepts and strategies are needed to deal with them. Rather than targeting segmented, reduced issues and insist on solving isolated and localized problems (without addressing the general phenomenon), problems should be defined and dealt with in view of the current “world-system” with its boundaries, structures, techno-economic paradigms, support groups, rules of legitimization, and coherence. Scientists and scientific advisers should take every opportunity to come alongside politicians to debate with them in public bodies and media (broadcasting, television and the press) and freely express their opinions on current issues, especially when contaminated by dominant political and economic interests in contradiction to scientific evidence. Instead of to appease voters, shareholders and politicians with the least disruptive approach possible, genuine systemic change is needed. Environmental degradation, plastic pollution and carbon emissions will continue to worsen until policies that, among other things, encourage investment in fossil fuels and global subsidies allocated to them. The focus on collective responsibility should stop using technical legal arguments to legitimize largescale devastation in ways that ignore an ethical, operational and institutional framework, which must always maintain its autonomy so that it may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles embedded in an ecosystem approach to the problems of our time. References: Earth System Governance Project, Taskforce on Knowledge Cumulation https://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/research/taskforce-on-knowledge-cumulation/ O’Mahony, T., (2022). Toward Sustainable Wellbeing: Advances in Contemporary Concepts. Frontiers in Sustainability. 3:807984. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.807984 Pilon, A. F., Desertification, a Condition that Involves People, Soil and the Ways of Being in the World, Humanities Commons [on line]: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:45579/ Pilon, A. F., On Drought, Desertification and Land Degradation: Questions and Challenges, International Forestry Working Group Newsletter, June 2019, pp. 11-15 [on line]: http://www.orrforest.net/saf/June2019.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 328489784_On_Drought_Desertification_and_Land_Degradation_Questions_and_Challenges Pilon, A. F., Earth, People, the Environment and the State of the World: Questions and Related Literature, Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379661804_Earth_People_the_Environment_and_the_Sta te_of_the_World_Questions_and_Related_Literature Pilon, A. F., Reframing Relationships Between Humans and the Earth: An Ecosystem Approach [ppt presentation], 2019: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 338584804_Reframing_Relationships_Between_Humans_and_the_Earth_An_Ecosystem_Approach Poteete, A. R. et al. (2010), Working Together: Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Rioufol, V. and Wartena. S.: Terre de Liens: Experiencing and Managing Farmland as Commons https://patternsofcommoning.org/terre-de-liens-experiencing-and-managing-farmland-as-commons/ Wientjes, A. & Pelley, L. le. A Just and Effective Wind Energy Transition: Six Insights from Denmark and the Netherlands A blog by DRIFTers: https://www.eur.nl/en/news/just-and-effective-wind-energytransition-six-insights-denmark-and-netherlands Villagran, H. L. (2022) On the Private Sector Driven Outer Space Agenda, Open Letter to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs: https://www.academia.edu/92732048/UN_Office_for_Outer_Space_Affairs_On_the_Private_Sector_ Driven_Outer_Space_Agenda_Pending_Critical_Questions_and_Actions_WSF2022_ Addendum General Information about Brazil’s Soil Protection Brazil has an area of 8.5 million squares kilometers, occupying nearly half of South America. It has several climate zones which include the tropical Amazon in the North region, the semiarid in the Northeast and temperate zones in the South. The climatic differences contributes to ecological differences creating different biogeographic zones or biomes. They include the world's largest tropical rainforest (the Amazon Forest), the world's largest flood plain (the Pantanal), the savanna and forests, the Savanna Caatinga (semiarid forest), the Atlantic Forest Pampa Savanna. Soil Science in Brazil goes back to the beginning of 19th century when the Imperial Institutes of Agricultural Education were created, followed by creation of the Experimental Stations, with strong emphasis on soil fertility studies. The number of professors total 345, with strong research activities in the graduate programs in different regions of Brazil. There are 65 State and Federal Agriculture Research Centers, involving many soil scientists. The major contribution of Soil Science in Brazil to the world was the development of the largest and most competitive technology for tropical agriculture. Specifically, the agricultural feasibility of soils in the Cerrado Biome, the adaptation of plant genotypes to abiotic stresses, techniques for nitrogen fixation in grasses, the technology to support the no-till system, the Brazilian System of Soil Classification, practices to control land degradation, management of cover and forestry crops, analysis and recommendation of nutrients for regional crops. Painel de Sustentabilidade Integrada (Integrated Sustainability Dashboard) https://pamgia.ibama.gov.br/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=cc39e3feb3d742efbaebb2b2efb4cbcf The overall objective of this project is to offer a dynamic instrument for integrated sustainability assessment through an online dashboard, which does not only stick to absolute rates of forest loss, but broadens the scope to an analysis of environmental, economic, institutional and social factors. As a cut, the municipalities classified as having deforestation monitored and under control by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, between the years 2012 and 2021, were defined as objects. Brazilian Soil Science Society www.sbcs.org.br The Brazilian Soil Science Society (SBCS in its portuguese acronym) was established in 1947, aiming to join people and institutions towards the promotion and development of Soil Science in Brazil. The Brazilian Soil Science Society is one of the oldest scientific societies in Brazil. It was created in October 1947 during the 1st Brazilian Meeting of Soil Science held at the headquarters of the Agricultural Chemistry Institute of Rio de Janeiro, at present the Soils Institute of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Centre. Its origin lies within the Interamerican Conference of Agriculture, Caracas, 1945, the 2nd Pan American Congress of Mining and Geology, Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, 1946 and the 5th Brazilian Congress of Chemistry, Porto Alegre, 1947. It is qualified as a civil, non-profit scientific organization. Its headquarters are located at the Soils Department in the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State. National Soil Program of Brazil (PronaSolos/Embrapa) https://www.embrapa.br/ The main objectives of the PronaSolos are the resumption of the performance of the pedological surveys in a multi-scale character and their respective interpretations, in a continuous way, following a schedule established according to needs identified by a national multi-institutional consortium and compatible with the demands arising from the policies of the federal and state governments for the sector, as well as to establish an integrated database in which soil information from previous works and those produced will be organized and systematized for consultation of the general public. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Ministério do Meio Ambiente https://www.gov.br/icmbio/pt-br Casa da Moeda do Brasil. partnered with the Chico Mendes Institute (ICMBio), the production of seedlings in nurseries to be transplanted in degraded areas. deciding to voluntarily reforest degraded areas within the Union Biological Reserve (REBIO), Atlantic Forest of the coastal plain of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Within the REBIO, 137 hectares of Atlantic Forest should be recovered, with the planting of 205,000 native plants in the region. creation of Conservation Units in biomes where the percentage of protected areas (Caatinga, Pampa and Pantanal) is still very low; and contribute to the achievement of the National Biodiversity Target No. 11, as defined by the National Commission on Biodiversity - Conabio (CONABIO Resolution No. 6 of September 3, 2013). By 2020, it is expected to conserve, SNUC and other categories of officially protected areas, such as APPs, legal reserves and indigenous lands with native vegetation, at least 30% of the Amazon, 17% of each other terrestrial biomes and 10% of marine and coastal areas. The National Cadastre of Conservation Units (UNUC) is maintained by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) with the collaboration of federal, state and municipal Governing Bodies. Its main objective is to provide a database with official information from the National System of Conservation Units. In this environment are presented the physical, biological, tourist, managerial and georeferenced data of the conservation units, supporting actions that increase the effective management capacity of Conservation Units. The areas of effective management are those that are properly demarcated and regularized, which guarantee the conservation or sustainable use of natural resources and ecological processes, based on the efficient use of resources, infrastructure and qualified personnel, through participatory planning and processes of management. The National System of Conservation Units (SNUC - LEI 9.985 / 2000) - is the set of federal, state and municipal conservation units (UC).