There has been an increasing consensus that global warming occurs and that it is caused mostly due to the increase of the green house gasses emission that linked with human activities. The impacts of this global warming are not merely on the climate pattern, it will and it has been impacting the world’s ecosystems (Pachauri, 2007). Climate change disaster and the loss of biological diversity has been subject of considerable public concern. This paper summarizes some important scientific substance regarding climate change and impact to biodiversity and what are the roles of ecology in this time of drastic changing world. Climate change can be driven by some factors: solar radiation, the Earth’s orbit and green house gases. The last factor is likely to become the main cause of global climate change. Green house effect refers to heat effect that felt due the entrapped sunlight by layer formed in the atmosphere from the accumulation of some gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. This layer has the nature of a glass-house-like effects which blocked some of the heat from the sunlight to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. This layer is important to keep the Earth warm because without it Earth will be as cold as the other planet in the galaxy. However, when concentration of the green house gases is become overwhelming, the layer becomes thicker and the amount of the heat that trapped is increasing hence making the Earth’s temperature to rise and global warming begin. The change of temperature, even only 1° C can change the world’s climate pattern.
The green house gases or GHG can come from nature activity such as volcanic eruption and lightning. However the major contribution of this GHG comes from human activities which can be in a form of the use of extensive fossil fuels, aerosols, changing land use and deforestation. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the GHG. The burning of tropical rain forest has contributed to the 20% increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Houghton, 1991). Heavy concentration of carbon dioxide can also come from a volcanic eruption. There are many parallel situations in the world where volcanic activity has become a major disturbance such as Hawaii, Mount St Helens, Krakatau and New Zealand (Hobbs, 2007). In the early 19th century the legendary eruption of Krakatau in Sunda Strait had caused catastrophic destruction, covering the air with heavy concentration of volcanic ash cloud that contains carbon dioxide across the continent (Thornton, 1996; Dale et al., 2005).
There has been a significance correlation between the increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the rising of the Earth’s temperature. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007), revealed that in the year of 2005 the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration was 379ppm³, rising as much as 99ppm³ from the last more than a hundred years ago in the 1850 where the CO2 level was 280ppm³. In these intervals, IPCC noted that there has also been an increase of 1° C in temperature and it is projected to continue to rise until 5° C in the year of 2100 if the current condition continues. The rising temperatures have been impacting our ecosystems. It has caused the rising of the sea water level globally, decreasing the amount of ice and snow in the poles and causing heavy precipitation and extreme drought in other parts of the world (Pachauri, 2007). IPCC also has projecting the ‘next big things’ to hit our ecosystems due to this climate change. In the year 2020, Africa will go through an era where water stress will be at a worrying level. By the year 2050 Asia will also have the same problem with Africa where the supply of fresh water will decrease and follow by the increase of sea water flood risk especially in the heavily populated coastal and delta areas. This actually has been happening in Indonesia and other countries in Asia, so it seems that the disaster will come earlier than we might have predicted. As for the Small Island Developing States or SIDS they will face the threat of conversion to ‘water grave’ among other impacts if the rising sea level keep continue in the future (Cherian, 2007).
Since the last decade, biodiversity has become one of the watchwords in environmental community in the world (Jutro, 1991). Biological diversity is a term to refers to the “variability among living organism from all resources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this include diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” (Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warns that global climate change will likely become the major driver of the loss of biodiversity in the end of the century. Even today climate change has brought serious impacts to biodiversity by causing habitat shifting, change in life cycle and the development of a new functional life traits and species extinction (CBD, 2007).
We have the luxury of looking at the past by studying paleontology fossils, pollens, tree life circle and historical documents and records to obtain information of how plants and animals abundance and distribution patterns across the globe. It is apparent that these patterns are greatly driven by the world’s climate patterns. Paleobiology study revealed that plants and animals are very sensitive to changes in climate (Davis, 1989). When the regional climate does not supportive then the life forms will disappear or colonizing other places where the climate is much more supportive and that is when habitat shifting happens. Changes in life cycles can be observed on the changes of flowering periods of many flowering plants in the world. If these changing in climatic patterns are so rapid and overwhelming it would be very hard for biota to adapt and species extinction will likely to occur, hence the world’s biological, habitat and ecosystems diversity, species and genetic diversity will be decreasing dramatically (Jutro, 1991).
We would probably spontaneously ask “what can we do?” At least there are two things that need to be done: Adaptation and mitigation. Adaptation activities can help species and ecosystems cope with changing climatic conditions. Ranging from the construction of protective infrastructure to the development of corridors or the planting of resistant tree or crop varieties, adaptation activities can have either a positive, negative or neutral impact on biodiversity (CBD, 2007).
Adaptation to climate change is a complex issue which often requires significant planning and cross-sector support. Then, technology is needed to help with this effort. Though we admitted that it was technology that begins the industrial revolution which then trigger the global warming and climate change. Nevertheless a more sophisticated technology is also needed in order to help to adapt to these changes. Renewable energy is one of the things that technology has to offer. The sunlight, the winds and the plant are some of the known resources of this environmentally-friendly future energy and other sources are still open for further research and exploration. In line with adaptation, we also need to consider seriously of the mitigation efforts. Mitigation concern primarily with the efforts to expand forested landscapes and to restore the world’s forest as carbon sinks. But this will not be an easy task for any country including Indonesia with its current deforestation rates that reach over more than two million hectares per year (FWI/GFW, 2002). It is a sad fact that deforestation is happening at a very alarming rate.
Forests perform as carbon storehouses and play a significant role in influencing our climate. When forests are cleared, they discharge carbon and act as a source of GHG emissions. However, if they are restored, they sequester carbon and become a sink of carbon. The use of forests can for that reason add to the problem of climate change, but it can also be a tool in formulating ways of mitigating it (Streck and Scholz, 2006). Professor Richard J. Hobbs from Murdoch University recently presented his concept of ECWEE. ECWEE stands for Everything Connected with Everything Else. It is the basic concept in ecology that often forgotten in every planning and decision making. ECWEE basically talks about how we see ourself in a broad sense. We all living in this system; the human and nature, which are linked each other and this is a complex adaptive system where everything is not working in a linear and predictable way instead it is full of uncertainty and might take us to many different states of condition. This concept then takes us to the emerging notion of resilience concept in ecology. However, the resilience concept is not a new idea. C.S Holling is the one that set this idea in motion in 1973 with the first scientific paper that explain about resilience. Resilience basically defines as the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and ‘bounce back’ to regain its fundamental function and structure (Walker & Salt, 2006). Threshold, alternative stable states and adaptive cycles are some of the building blocks of resilience. In resilience concept, there are many different stable states after a threshold have been crossed (multiple equilibrium states, fig.3). When it does happens it is hard or may not be possible to bounce back, hence we have to be cautious of choosing our pathways because we may not be able make it back to the previous condition. In the context of global climate change concern, this concept of resilience becomes essential. The awareness of the nature carrying capacity and its thresholds are the elements that are often neglected. Famine, epidemic, nature disaster, and biodiversity extinction, these are the possible undesirable states in the near future if we dare to cross the threshold of the continuous overwhelming concentration of green house gasses.
Mitigation is one of the efforts to not cross this threshold. Another important role of ecology in this effort is the emerging need of one of the field in ecology which is; restoration ecology. Why do we need ecological restoration? First of all, we all aware of the fact that deforestation is happening at an alarming rate across the globe. Whilst we also know that a healthy forest ecosystem can act as carbon sequester that can reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Second, the consequences of this climate change have been impacting our environment and ecosystem as seen in the desertification, salinisation, and other ecosystems degradation. Ecological restoration is an intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem (SERI, 2004). Recently forest restoration has been acknowledged by the Indonesian Government with the issue of the Forestry Ministry’s decree in 2004. However, efforts made by the government merely focus on the idea of re-vegetation, but restoration is more than just re-vegetation: it proceeds beyond gardening. Neglecting the scientific knowledge concerning ecology and other related field has led many restoration programs to fail (Walker et al., 2007). Across the globe, the practice of ecological restoration, and the science of restoration ecology, has developed rapidly over the past few decades. Thus ecological restoration is more and more used as a major component of humanity’s ‘toolbox’, which will be essential to counter and adapt to the climate change (Harris et al., 2006). Our road ahead will not be easy but it worthwhile to think about what Eric Hoffer said regarding ecology in a changing world “In a time of drastic changes, it is a learner who inherits the future”.
The green house gases or GHG can come from nature activity such as volcanic eruption and lightning. However the major contribution of this GHG comes from human activities which can be in a form of the use of extensive fossil fuels, aerosols, changing land use and deforestation. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the GHG. The burning of tropical rain forest has contributed to the 20% increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Houghton, 1991). Heavy concentration of carbon dioxide can also come from a volcanic eruption. There are many parallel situations in the world where volcanic activity has become a major disturbance such as Hawaii, Mount St Helens, Krakatau and New Zealand (Hobbs, 2007). In the early 19th century the legendary eruption of Krakatau in Sunda Strait had caused catastrophic destruction, covering the air with heavy concentration of volcanic ash cloud that contains carbon dioxide across the continent (Thornton, 1996; Dale et al., 2005).
There has been a significance correlation between the increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the rising of the Earth’s temperature. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007), revealed that in the year of 2005 the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration was 379ppm³, rising as much as 99ppm³ from the last more than a hundred years ago in the 1850 where the CO2 level was 280ppm³. In these intervals, IPCC noted that there has also been an increase of 1° C in temperature and it is projected to continue to rise until 5° C in the year of 2100 if the current condition continues. The rising temperatures have been impacting our ecosystems. It has caused the rising of the sea water level globally, decreasing the amount of ice and snow in the poles and causing heavy precipitation and extreme drought in other parts of the world (Pachauri, 2007). IPCC also has projecting the ‘next big things’ to hit our ecosystems due to this climate change. In the year 2020, Africa will go through an era where water stress will be at a worrying level. By the year 2050 Asia will also have the same problem with Africa where the supply of fresh water will decrease and follow by the increase of sea water flood risk especially in the heavily populated coastal and delta areas. This actually has been happening in Indonesia and other countries in Asia, so it seems that the disaster will come earlier than we might have predicted. As for the Small Island Developing States or SIDS they will face the threat of conversion to ‘water grave’ among other impacts if the rising sea level keep continue in the future (Cherian, 2007).
Since the last decade, biodiversity has become one of the watchwords in environmental community in the world (Jutro, 1991). Biological diversity is a term to refers to the “variability among living organism from all resources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this include diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” (Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warns that global climate change will likely become the major driver of the loss of biodiversity in the end of the century. Even today climate change has brought serious impacts to biodiversity by causing habitat shifting, change in life cycle and the development of a new functional life traits and species extinction (CBD, 2007).
We have the luxury of looking at the past by studying paleontology fossils, pollens, tree life circle and historical documents and records to obtain information of how plants and animals abundance and distribution patterns across the globe. It is apparent that these patterns are greatly driven by the world’s climate patterns. Paleobiology study revealed that plants and animals are very sensitive to changes in climate (Davis, 1989). When the regional climate does not supportive then the life forms will disappear or colonizing other places where the climate is much more supportive and that is when habitat shifting happens. Changes in life cycles can be observed on the changes of flowering periods of many flowering plants in the world. If these changing in climatic patterns are so rapid and overwhelming it would be very hard for biota to adapt and species extinction will likely to occur, hence the world’s biological, habitat and ecosystems diversity, species and genetic diversity will be decreasing dramatically (Jutro, 1991).
We would probably spontaneously ask “what can we do?” At least there are two things that need to be done: Adaptation and mitigation. Adaptation activities can help species and ecosystems cope with changing climatic conditions. Ranging from the construction of protective infrastructure to the development of corridors or the planting of resistant tree or crop varieties, adaptation activities can have either a positive, negative or neutral impact on biodiversity (CBD, 2007).
Adaptation to climate change is a complex issue which often requires significant planning and cross-sector support. Then, technology is needed to help with this effort. Though we admitted that it was technology that begins the industrial revolution which then trigger the global warming and climate change. Nevertheless a more sophisticated technology is also needed in order to help to adapt to these changes. Renewable energy is one of the things that technology has to offer. The sunlight, the winds and the plant are some of the known resources of this environmentally-friendly future energy and other sources are still open for further research and exploration. In line with adaptation, we also need to consider seriously of the mitigation efforts. Mitigation concern primarily with the efforts to expand forested landscapes and to restore the world’s forest as carbon sinks. But this will not be an easy task for any country including Indonesia with its current deforestation rates that reach over more than two million hectares per year (FWI/GFW, 2002). It is a sad fact that deforestation is happening at a very alarming rate.
Forests perform as carbon storehouses and play a significant role in influencing our climate. When forests are cleared, they discharge carbon and act as a source of GHG emissions. However, if they are restored, they sequester carbon and become a sink of carbon. The use of forests can for that reason add to the problem of climate change, but it can also be a tool in formulating ways of mitigating it (Streck and Scholz, 2006). Professor Richard J. Hobbs from Murdoch University recently presented his concept of ECWEE. ECWEE stands for Everything Connected with Everything Else. It is the basic concept in ecology that often forgotten in every planning and decision making. ECWEE basically talks about how we see ourself in a broad sense. We all living in this system; the human and nature, which are linked each other and this is a complex adaptive system where everything is not working in a linear and predictable way instead it is full of uncertainty and might take us to many different states of condition. This concept then takes us to the emerging notion of resilience concept in ecology. However, the resilience concept is not a new idea. C.S Holling is the one that set this idea in motion in 1973 with the first scientific paper that explain about resilience. Resilience basically defines as the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and ‘bounce back’ to regain its fundamental function and structure (Walker & Salt, 2006). Threshold, alternative stable states and adaptive cycles are some of the building blocks of resilience. In resilience concept, there are many different stable states after a threshold have been crossed (multiple equilibrium states, fig.3). When it does happens it is hard or may not be possible to bounce back, hence we have to be cautious of choosing our pathways because we may not be able make it back to the previous condition. In the context of global climate change concern, this concept of resilience becomes essential. The awareness of the nature carrying capacity and its thresholds are the elements that are often neglected. Famine, epidemic, nature disaster, and biodiversity extinction, these are the possible undesirable states in the near future if we dare to cross the threshold of the continuous overwhelming concentration of green house gasses.
Mitigation is one of the efforts to not cross this threshold. Another important role of ecology in this effort is the emerging need of one of the field in ecology which is; restoration ecology. Why do we need ecological restoration? First of all, we all aware of the fact that deforestation is happening at an alarming rate across the globe. Whilst we also know that a healthy forest ecosystem can act as carbon sequester that can reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Second, the consequences of this climate change have been impacting our environment and ecosystem as seen in the desertification, salinisation, and other ecosystems degradation. Ecological restoration is an intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem (SERI, 2004). Recently forest restoration has been acknowledged by the Indonesian Government with the issue of the Forestry Ministry’s decree in 2004. However, efforts made by the government merely focus on the idea of re-vegetation, but restoration is more than just re-vegetation: it proceeds beyond gardening. Neglecting the scientific knowledge concerning ecology and other related field has led many restoration programs to fail (Walker et al., 2007). Across the globe, the practice of ecological restoration, and the science of restoration ecology, has developed rapidly over the past few decades. Thus ecological restoration is more and more used as a major component of humanity’s ‘toolbox’, which will be essential to counter and adapt to the climate change (Harris et al., 2006). Our road ahead will not be easy but it worthwhile to think about what Eric Hoffer said regarding ecology in a changing world “In a time of drastic changes, it is a learner who inherits the future”.
No comments:
Post a Comment