Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-cf6xr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T14:37:39.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Shifting Baselines and Backsliding Benchmarks: The Need for the National Environmental Legacy Act to Address the Ecologies of Restoration, Resilience, and Reconciliation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Thomas T. Ankersen  and
Kevin E. Regan
Edited by
Alyson C. Flournoy  and
David M. Driesen
Alyson C. Flournoy
Affiliation:
University of Florida
David M. Driesen
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
Get access

Summary

A BASELINE IS A POINT OF DEPARTURE; A BENCHMARK, A POINT along a continuum that marks progress toward a goal. Central to the design of the National Environmental Legacy Act (Legacy Act or Act) is the collection of baseline data about natural resources, the definition of the nature and quality of the environmental legacy to be preserved, and ongoing monitoring to ensure preservation of the desired legacy. If the goal of the Legacy Act is to ensure the intergenerational transfer of a legacy, then a baseline must be set, benchmarks for success established, and current ecological realities confronted. None of these are simple tasks, and they have been made infinitely more complicated by the accelerated pace of anthropogenic change, which has resulted in both shifting and already-shifted baselines. We use the term “shifting baselines” to describe the phenomenon of how humans' perception of normal or baseline environmental conditions can shift dramatically over time, particularly between generations. The pitfall of shifting baselines is that environmental degradation often goes unrecognized by successive generations, which may not appreciate the degraded state of what they perceive as a pristine and functional ecosystem.

The shifting-baselines phenomenon poses several major challenges to designing an effective Legacy Act. First, if we fail to consider historical environmental conditions and set conservation goals based on already-shifted baselines, we may constrain – even doom – the resource legacy we seek to transfer.

Type
Chapter
Information
Beyond Environmental Law
Policy Proposals for a Better Environmental Future
 , pp. 53 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Folke, Carl, Carpenter, Steve, Walker, Brian, Scheffer, Marten, Elmqvist, Thomas, Gunderson, Lance & Holling, C.S., Regime Shifts, Resilience, and Biodiversity in Ecosystem Management, 35 Ann. Rev. Ecology, Evolution & Systematics557–81 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, James R., Restoration, Reconciliation, and Reconnecting with Nature Nearby, 127 Biological Conservation356, 357 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, James R., 20 Biodiversity Conservation and the Extinction of ExperienceTrends Ecology & Evolution430, 431 (Aug. 2005)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pauly, Daniel, Anecdotes and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome of Fisheries, 10 Trends Ecology & Evolution430 (1995)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knowlton, Nancy & Jackson, Jeremy B. C., Shifting Baselines, Local Impacts, and Global Change on Coral Reefs, 6(2) Plos Biology (2008)Google Scholar
Davidson, Mary Gray, Protecting Coral Reefs: The Principal National and International Legal Instruments, 26 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 499, 504 (2002)Google Scholar
Carlton, James, 12(6) Apostrophe to the Ocean, Conservation Biology1165, 1166 (Dec. 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, Charles, The Shifting Baseline Syndrome, 30(12) Marine Pollution Bulletin, 766 (1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sáenz-Arroyo, Andrea et al., Rapidly Shifting Environmental Baselines among Fishers of the Gulf of California, 272 Proc. Royal Soc'Y Bulletin 1957 (August 2005)Google ScholarPubMed
Baum, Julia K. and Myers, Ransom A., Shifting Baselines and the Decline of Pelagic Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, 7 Ecology Letters135 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClenachan, Loren et al., Conservation Implications of Historic Sea Turtle Nesting Beach Loss, 4(6) Frontiers Ecology & Environment290 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Jeremy B. C., 16(Supp.) Reefs since Columbus, Coral ReefsS23–S32 (Jan. 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Jeremy B. C. et al., Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems, 293 Science629, 636 (July 2001)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruiz, J.M., Oil Spills versus Shifting Baselines, 282 Marine Ecology Progress Series307 (Nov. 16, 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PYLE, ROBERT M., The Thunder Tree: Lessons From An Urban Wildland (Houghton Mifflin 1993)Google Scholar
Kahn, Peter H. & Friedman, Batya, Environmental Views and Values of Children in an Inner-City Black Community, 66 Child Dev. 1403 (1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Peter H., The Child's Environmental Amnesia – It's Ours; 17(2) Children, Youth & Envt's199, 203 (2007)Google Scholar
Manning, Adrian D. et al., Stretch Goals and Backcasting: Approaches for Overcoming Barriers to Large-Scale Ecological Restoration, 14(4) Restoration Ecology487 (Dec. 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengstsson, Janne et al., Reserves, Resilience and Dynamic Landscapes, 32(6) Ambio389 (Sept. 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PYLE, ROBERT M., The Thunder Tree (Houghton Mifflin 1993)Google Scholar
Harris, James A. et al., Ecological Restoration and Global Climate Change, 14 Restoration Ecology170, 172 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgs, Eric S., What Is Good Ecological Restoration? 11 Conservation Biology338 (1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgs, Eric S., Nature By Design: People, Natural Processes, Ecological Restoration128 (Mass. Inst. Tech. Press 2003)Google Scholar
Walker, Brian S., Holling, C.S., Carpenter, S.R. & Kinzig, A., Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social-Ecological Systems, 9(2) Ecology & Soc'Y5 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaston, Kevin J. & Spicer, John I., Biodiversity: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2d. ed. 2004)Google Scholar
Ruhl, J.B., Thinking of Environmental Law as a Complex Adaptive System: How to Clean Up the Environment by Making a Mess of Environmental Law, 34 Houston L. Rev. 933 (1997)Google Scholar
BOTKIN, DANIEL, Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology For The 21St Century (Oxford University Press 1997)Google Scholar
Anand, Madhur & Tucker, Brian, Defining Biocomplexity: An Ecological Perspective, 8(4–5) Comments On Theoretical Biology497–510 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michener, William K., Baerwald, Thomas J., Firth, Penelope, Palmer, Margaret A., Rosenberger, James L., Sandlin, Elizabeth A. & Zimmerman, Herman, Defining and Unraveling Biocomplexity, 51(12) Biosci. 1018–23 (Dec. 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Richard O., Jones, Ross & Virginia, Ross A., Law And Ecology: The Rise of the Ecosystem Regime (Ashgate 2002)Google Scholar
O'Riordon, Timothy & Cameron, James, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan 1994)Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, M.L., Loss of Speciation Rate Will Impoverish Future Diversity, 98 Proc. Nat'L Acad. Sci. USA 5403–10 (2001)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ROSENZWEIG, M.L., Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in The Midst of Human Enterprise (Oxford University Press 2003)Google Scholar
Turner, Will R., Nakamura, Toshihiko & Dinetti, Marco, Global Urbanization and the Separation of Humans from Nature, 54(6) Biosci. 585–87 (June 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, Robert R. et al., The Pigeon Paradox: Dependence of Global Conservation on Urban Nature, 20(6) Conservation Biology1814–16 (2006)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piraino, S., Fanelli, S., & Boero, F., Variability of Species' Roles in Marine Communities: Change of Paradigms for Conservation Priorities. Marine Biology 140: 1067–74 (2002)Google Scholar
Ankersen, Thomas T., Regan, Kevin E. & Mack, Steven A., Towards a Bioregional Approach to Tropical Forest Conservation: Costa Rica's Greater Osa Bioregion, 38 Futures406–31, 410 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinote, H., Framework for Integrated Ecosystem Management: The Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere Cooperative, in Ecosystem Management for Sustainability: Principles and Practices Illustrated By a Regional Biosphere Reserve Cooperative at 88 (Pein, J.D ed., Lewis 1999)Google Scholar
Batisse, M., Developing and Focusing the Biosphere Reserve Concept, 22(3) Nature & Resources2–11 (1986)Google Scholar
Solecki, W.D., Putting the Biosphere Reserve Concept into Practice: Some Evidence of Impacts in Rural Communities in the United States, 21(2) Envtl. Conservation242 (1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garratt, K., The Relationship between Adjacent Lands and Protected Areas: Issues of Concern for the Protected Area Manager, in National Parks, Conservation and Development: The Role of Protected Areas in Sustaining Society (McNeely, J. & Miller, K. eds., Smithsonian Inst. Press 1984)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×