Biodiversity and global health-hubris, humility and the unknown
Biodiversity and global health-hubris, humility and the unknown
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生物多样性和全球健康——傲慢、谦逊和未知
DOI：
10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/011008
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Stephens C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Stephens C
2011年11月，在巴布亚新几内亚附近的一个偏远岛屿上，植物学家发现了一种兰花的新物种--独特而神秘的夜间开花[1]。对于科学来说，这是一种新事物，而且有太多需要了解的东西，这种花受到了森林砍伐的威胁。同样在2011年11月，一项对583名保护科学家的调查报告称，一致(99.5%)的人认为“生物多样性可能正在全球范围内严重丧失”，对科学家来说，“保护生物多样性的文化和精神价值以及它对人类的用途是次要的，这表明许多科学家并不完全支持生态系统服务的功利主义概念”[3]。在管理方面，一些科学家现在提倡有争议的保护策略，如分类(对向生态系统提供独特或必要功能的物种进行优先排序)[4，5]。与此同时，许多科学家认为，迫切需要提高我们对生物多样性对人类健康和福祉的重要性的理解，他们认为，只有在“生态系统服务”范式中以人类为中心的生物多样性观点才能使决策者优先考虑这一主题[6-9]。2011年的一份联合国报告认为，在脆弱和脆弱的生态系统中，这种理解的需要尤其迫切，因为社区直接依赖于其环境的资源[10]。这里有一个悖论：国际环保科学家认为，我们不能基于生物多样性的文化和精神价值，也不能基于它对人类的用途来保护生物多样性。其他科学家认为，使用功利性的生态系统服务框架是让人类保护生物多样性的唯一途径。与此同时，直接依赖生物多样性生态系统的社区往往是那些最了解和保护生物多样性的社区，正是出于这些使用和精神联系的原因，但他们对自己的环境及其多样性并不只持有功利主义的观点。这些社区常常把自己的“健康”定义为与生态系统的“健康”紧密相连，他们认为自己是生态系统的一个组成部分[11]。人们普遍认为，国际上对生物多样性生态系统的破坏不是由直接依赖这些生态系统的社区造成的，而是来自外部人类需求所产生的毁林、采矿、资源开采和生物掠夺等过程[12-16]。富裕国家及其人口目前对对生物多样性和当地社区福祉产生负面影响的资源开采负有特别责任[17]。然而，每个国家的城市人口对生物多样性地区的资源和产品的需求越来越大，随着城市人口的增加，这种威胁可能会增加。为了说明这一点，我们可以举一个例子。亚马逊是地球上最重要的生物多样性热带潮湿森林生态系统之一。当亚马逊森林到达安第斯山脉时，它变成了一个连续的、同样重要的生态系统：云雾森林[18]。这两个姐妹森林是世界上生物多样性最丰富的生态系统之一，横跨几个拉丁美洲国家(包括巴西、阿根廷、秘鲁、玻利维亚、委内瑞拉、哥伦比亚和厄瓜多尔)，面积超过700万平方公里[18，19]。几千年来，跨越现代
In November 2011, botanists on a remote island off Papua New Guinea discovered a new species of orchid—uniquely and mysteriously night-flowering [1]. New to science, and with so much more to understand, this flower is threatened by deforestation [2]. Also in November 2011, a survey of 583 conservation scientists reported a unanimous (99.5%) view that ‘it is likely a serious loss of biological diversity is underway at a global extent’and that, for scientists,‘protection of biological diversity for its cultural and spiritual values and because of its usefulness to humans were low priorities, which suggests that many scientists do not fully support the utilitarian concept of ecosystem services’[3]. In terms of management, some scientists now advocate controversial conservation strategies such as triage (prioritization of species that provide unique or necessary functions to ecosystems)[4, 5]. Meanwhile, there are many scientists who contend that there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the importance of biodiversity for human health and well-being, arguing that only an anthropocentric view of biodiversity within a paradigm ‘ecosystem service’will enable decision-makers to prioritize the theme [6–9]. A 2011 UN report argues that this need for understanding is especially urgent in fragile and vulnerable ecosystems where communities depend directly on the resources of their environment [10]. Here we have a paradox: international conservation scientists think that we cannot protect biodiversity on the basis of its cultural and spiritual value, nor its usefulness to humans. Other scientists argue that using a utilitarian ecosystem services framework is the only way to get humans to protect biodiversity. Meanwhile, communities directly dependent on biodiverse ecosystems are often those who best understand and protect biodiversity, for exactly these reasons of use and spiritual connection, but they do not hold only a utilitarian view of their environment and its diversity. These communities often define their own ‘health’as integrally linked to the ‘health’of the ecosystem, and they see themselves as an integral part of the ecosystem [11].It is generally accepted that the destruction of biodiverse ecosystems internationally is not by communities directly dependent on these ecosystems, but from processes such as deforestation, mining, resource extraction and biopiracy, generated by external human demand [12–16]. Rich countries and their populations are currently particularly responsible for the resource extraction that impacts negatively on biodiversity and on the well-being of local communities [17]. However, increasingly, urban populations in every country demand resources and products from biodiverse regions, and with rising urban populations this threat is likely to increase. To illustrate, we can take one example. Amazonia is one of Earth’s most important biodiverse tropical moist forest ecosystems. As the Amazonian forest reaches the Andes it becomes a contiguous and equally vital ecosystem: the Yungas or Cloud Forest [18]. These two sister forests are amongst the most biodiverse ecosystems of the world, spanning several Latin American countries (including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador), and over 7 million square kilometres [18, 19]. For millennia, across modern