2. Nature’s Sinking Ark

Chapter 2, Nature’s Sinking Ark, outlines some of the hard realities of the modern world and the prognoses for eroding natural capital. The concept of socio-ecological systems, central to this understanding, defines the systemic interdependencies between people and other aspects of natural systems. Socio-ecological systems can be in a cycle of degradation, wherein declining ecosystem health and functioning inevitably limits human opportunity. Alternatively, a regenerative cycle can occur where protection or restoration of foundational ecosystem processes supports future human wellbeing. Oversight of the wider unintended ramifications of narrowly exploitative uses of supportive ecosystems, though otherwise laudable in their intent to efficiently meet our needs, very often drives ‘degenerative landscapes’ in which narrowly-framed uses inadvertently degrade ecosystems and, with them, interlinked human prospects.