Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter » ecological valuation

Consequences of nuclear accidents for biodiversity and ecosystem services

A. Cherson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:48:35 +0000

Nuclear energy is a potential solution to electricity demand but also entails risks. Policy debates on nuclear accidents have focused primarily on negative impacts on humans. Although such impacts are important, we argue that policy debates must also consider the consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We reviewed 521 studies conducted after the Chernobyl accident, the most severe nuclear accident in history. Elevated radiation levels have been recorded among a diversity of species, even up to thousands of kilometers away from the meltdown site, and after more than two decades following the accident. Close to the reactor, physiological and morphological changes have occurred. Negative effects on ecosystem services have been observed, including the contamination of water, soils, and wild food supplies. Informed policy decisions on nuclear energy require a greater understanding of the consequences of accidents, including effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on our review, we recommend to (1) fully incorporate risks for biodiversity and ecosystem services into policy debates; (2) develop a coherent information chain regarding such risks; (3) use proactive planning strategies to be prepared for potential accidents; and (4) develop a coherent research agenda on the consequences of nuclear accidents for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2011.00217.x

Ecosystem Service Valuation Making Strides

A. Cherson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:29:57 +0000

The value of ecosystem services typically goes unaccounted for in business and policy decisions and in market prices. For commercial purposes, if ecosystem services are recognized at all, they are perceived as free goods, like clean air and water. So it’s not surprising that much of the degradation of ecosystems is rooted in what the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an independent group of U.S. scientists and engineers, describes as “widespread under-appreciation of the importance of environmental capital for human well-being and . . . the absence of the value of its services from the economic balance sheets of producers and consumers.”7 PCAST and other groups are working to build recognition of ecosystem services and, importantly, to valuate them—that is, calculate values for these services to help policy makers and resource managers make rational decisions that factor important environmental and human health outcomes into the bottom line.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.120-a152

Natural Products As Sources of New Drugs over the 30 Years from 1981 to 2010

A. Cherson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:55:35 +0000

This review is an updated and expanded version of the three prior reviews that were published in this journal in 1997, 2003, and 2007. In the case of all approved therapeutic agents, the time frame has been extended to cover the 30 years from January 1, 1981, to December 31, 2010, for all diseases worldwide, and from 1950 (earliest so far identified) to December 2010 for all approved antitumor drugs worldwide. We have continued to utilize our secondary subdivision of a “natural product mimic” or “NM” to join the original primary divisions and have added a new designation, “natural product botanical” or “NB”, to cover those botanical “defined mixtures” that have now been recognized as drug entities by the FDA and similar organizations. From the data presented, the utility of natural products as sources of novel structures, but not necessarily the final drug entity, is still alive and well. Thus, in the area of cancer, over the time frame from around the 1940s to date, of the 175 small molecules, 131, or 74.8%, are other than “S” (synthetic), with 85, or 48.6%, actually being either natural products or directly derived therefrom. In other areas, the influence of natural product structures is quite marked, with, as expected from prior information, the anti-infective area being dependent on natural products and their structures. Although combinatorial chemistry techniques have succeeded as methods of optimizing structures and have been used very successfully in the optimization of many recently approved agents, we are able to identify only one de novo combinatorial compound approved as a drug in this 30-year time frame. We wish to draw the attention of readers to the rapidly evolving recognition that a significant number of natural product drugs/leads are actually produced by microbes and/or microbial interactions with the “host from whence it was isolated”, and therefore we consider that this area of natural product research should be expanded significantly.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/np200906s

Climate-regulation services of natural and agricultural ecoregions of the Americas

A. Cherson — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 02:34:19 +0000

Here, we quantify how biogeochemical11 and biophysical processes combine to shape the climate regulation values of 18 natural and agricultural ecoregions across the Americas. Natural ecosystems generally had higher climate regulation values than agroecosystems, largely driven by differences in biogeochemical services. Biophysical contributions ranged from minimal to dominant. They were highly variable in space, and their relative importance varied with the spatio-temporal scale of analysis. Our findings reinforce the importance of protecting tropical forests7, 10, 12, 13, show that northern forests have a relatively small net effect on climate5, 10, 13, and indicate that climatic effects of bioenergy production may be more positive when biophysical processes are considered14, 15. Ensuring effective climate protection through land management requires consideration of combined biogeochemical and biophysical processes7, 8. Our climate regulation value index serves as one potential approach to quantify the full climate services of terrestrial ecosystems.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1346

Biophysical Valuation of Ecosystems

A. Cherson — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 02:17:32 +0000

Ecosystems regulate climate through biogeochemistry and biophysics, but current policies only recognize biogeochemical influences. A new proposal to include biophysical effects changes the climate value of ecosystems, and sets the stage to expand the suite of climate regulation services considered in global policies and carbon markets.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1398

Integrating Ecological, Carbon and Water footprint into a “Footprint Family” of indicators: Definition and role in tracking human pressure on the planet

A. Cherson — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:25:13 +0000

In recent years, attempts have been made to develop an integrated Footprint approach for the assessment of the environmental impacts of production and consumption. In this paper, we provide for the first time a definition of the “Footprint Family” as a suite of indicators to track human pressure on the planet and under different angles. This work has been developed under the 7th Framework Programme in the European Commission (EC) funded One Planet Economy Network: Europe (OPEN:EU) project. It builds on the premise that no single indicator per se is able to comprehensively monitor human impact on the environment, but indicators rather need to be used and interpreted jointly. A description of the research question, rationale and methodology of the Ecological, Carbon and Water Footprint is first provided. Similarities and differences among the three indicators are then highlighted to show how these indicators overlap, interact, and complement each other. The paper concludes by defining the “Footprint Family” of indicators and outlining its appropriate policy use for the European Union (EU). We believe this paper can be of high interest for both policy makers and researchers in the field of ecological indicators, as it brings clarity on most of the misconceptions and misunderstanding around Footprint indicators, their accounting frameworks, messages, and range of application.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.06.017

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