biodiversity is rather ambiguous at the moment (OECD 2014; Underwood 2014;
Salzman et al. 2018).
Many websites about offset and net gain strategies describe how human development, the growth of settlements and industries, and the damage of natural habitats
can be linked with benefits for the biodiversity at another place or in another
landscape.
The problem of increasing pressure here and a biodiversity offset there is that
many of the threatened habitats cannot simply be recreated elsewhere. Furthermore,
even if the whole landscape afterwards shows more species in total than before—net
gain—this effect does not necessarily have to be a benefit for the native biodiversity,
since for example every cemetery harbours more native species than a pristine bog.
The elimination of a bog with a history and peat accumulation of 10,000 years
cannot be compensated by any biodiversity offset programme or with a lot of money.
Thus, the comparison of counts and numbers alone is not enough.
Top priority should not be a net gain of species or the offset of the damage in a
landscape or country but the downgrading of as many as possible threatened species
and habitat types in the Red Lists.
3.6 National Parks and Other Types of Protected Areas
The history of nature-protection areas includes taboo zones in a religious context,
landscapes and regions for hunting, landscapes of outstanding natural beauty, and
regions with rare, endemic and/or threatened species. However, protection of areas
for biodiversity conservation is a consequence of the growing human population
combined with an increasing pressure on the biota during the last 200 years.
Meanwhile, more than 160,000 protected areas in the world cover between 10 and
15% of the terrestrial land and 1–2% of the sea surface on Earth.
The establishment of protected areas became an important instrument in nature
protection policies. Nevertheless, protected areas including National Parks often do
not reach their targets because diverse human influences are still allowed and illegal
activities are often profitable (Soutullo 2010; Mora and Sale 2011).
3.7 Zero Human Influence Strategies and Wilderness
The idea behind the zero human influence strategy is that the overall effect of
humans on nature was and is extremely negative, and that human beings are not a
natural part of most ecosystems. Humans destroy ecosystems and threaten tens of
thousands of species on Earth through their exploitation of resources. The agreed
international aspiration of National Parks and nature conservation supported by
organisations like the WWF—World Wildlife Fund until 1986, World Wide Fund
For Nature now—still is pristine wilderness and the hope that nature is managing
Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies
169
Salzman et al. 2018).
Many websites about offset and net gain strategies describe how human development, the growth of settlements and industries, and the damage of natural habitats
can be linked with benefits for the biodiversity at another place or in another
landscape.
The problem of increasing pressure here and a biodiversity offset there is that
many of the threatened habitats cannot simply be recreated elsewhere. Furthermore,
even if the whole landscape afterwards shows more species in total than before—net
gain—this effect does not necessarily have to be a benefit for the native biodiversity,
since for example every cemetery harbours more native species than a pristine bog.
The elimination of a bog with a history and peat accumulation of 10,000 years
cannot be compensated by any biodiversity offset programme or with a lot of money.
Thus, the comparison of counts and numbers alone is not enough.
Top priority should not be a net gain of species or the offset of the damage in a
landscape or country but the downgrading of as many as possible threatened species
and habitat types in the Red Lists.
3.6 National Parks and Other Types of Protected Areas
The history of nature-protection areas includes taboo zones in a religious context,
landscapes and regions for hunting, landscapes of outstanding natural beauty, and
regions with rare, endemic and/or threatened species. However, protection of areas
for biodiversity conservation is a consequence of the growing human population
combined with an increasing pressure on the biota during the last 200 years.
Meanwhile, more than 160,000 protected areas in the world cover between 10 and
15% of the terrestrial land and 1–2% of the sea surface on Earth.
The establishment of protected areas became an important instrument in nature
protection policies. Nevertheless, protected areas including National Parks often do
not reach their targets because diverse human influences are still allowed and illegal
activities are often profitable (Soutullo 2010; Mora and Sale 2011).
3.7 Zero Human Influence Strategies and Wilderness
The idea behind the zero human influence strategy is that the overall effect of
humans on nature was and is extremely negative, and that human beings are not a
natural part of most ecosystems. Humans destroy ecosystems and threaten tens of
thousands of species on Earth through their exploitation of resources. The agreed
international aspiration of National Parks and nature conservation supported by
organisations like the WWF—World Wildlife Fund until 1986, World Wide Fund
For Nature now—still is pristine wilderness and the hope that nature is managing
Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies
169