Coexistence of people and wild species

Coexistence of people and wild species: A new approach to conservation derived from ecological competition theory

A paper by Martyn Murray

Link to Journal Article

Abstract

An approach to stemming the Anthropocene decline in nature is derived from ecological competition theory by seeking conditions for coexistence between people and wild species. It shows how coexistence is attained through a reciprocal process of ‘nature exchange’ in which people’s needs are met from ecosystem services and nature’s needs from conservation services. Nature exchange takes place within the ‘bioscape’, a landscape, seascape or cityscape, in which the human-nature relationship is balanced. The bioscape has several distinguishing features: (a) it introduces competition theory to the exploration of social-ecological systems; (b) it scales in size from local to global; (c) it integrates with other forms of land-use such as protected areas, urban and industrial areas, farmland and wilderness; (d) it contributes to greening of the local economy; (e) it brings people together in managing conflicts over nature; (f) it provides a platform for harmonising intrinsic and utilitarian values of nature; and (g) it constitutes a new tool for halting the global decline in wild species by reducing competition between people and nature.

Fig. 1. Cycles of growth (positive or negative) in nature and the human economy (A to C). Ecosystem services (A), conservation services (B) and a balanced system (C) in which services are adjusted in the bioscape to avoid decline in nature or the local economy. The scale of ecosystem services is represented by the width of the green arrow and that of conservation services by the yellow arrow; in (C) their equivalence in size indicates that the human-nature interaction is balanced. The annual cycle of nature is the net outcome of births and deaths or growth and senescence. The annual growth cycle of the economy is not the business cycle, which is marked by phases of expansion and contraction in a nation, but rather business performance over the course of a year. It is worth noting that the actual human economy has been growing and nature contracting over many millennia due to excessive extraction of ecosystem services and minimal provision of conservation services.