Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Biodiversity Synthesis ecosystemshumanw05kuma Year: 2005 Given the characteristic response times for human systems (political, social, and economic) and ecological systems, longer- term goals and targets—say, for 2050—are needed in addition to short-term targets to guide policy and actions. Biodiversity loss is projected to continue for the foreseeable future (S10). The indirect drivers of biodiversity loss are related to economic, demographic, sociopolitical, cultural, and technological factors. Consumption of ecosystem services and of energy and nonre- newa
Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Biodiversity Synthesis ecosystemshumanw05kuma Year: 2005 Given the characteristic response times for human systems (political, social, and economic) and ecological systems, longer- term goals and targets—say, for 2050—are needed in addition to short-term targets to guide policy and actions. Biodiversity loss is projected to continue for the foreseeable future (S10). The indirect drivers of biodiversity loss are related to economic, demographic, sociopolitical, cultural, and technological factors. Consumption of ecosystem services and of energy and nonre- newable resources has an impact, directly and indirectly, on bio- diversity and ecosystems. Total consumption is a factor of per capita consumption, population, and efficiency of natural resource use. Halting biodiversity loss (or reducing it to a mini- mal level) requires that the combined effect of these factors in driving biodiversity loss be reduced (C4, S7). Differences in the inertia of different drivers of biodiversity change and different attributes of biodiversity itself make it difficult to set targets or goals over a single time frame. For some drivers, such as the overharvesting of particular species, lag times are rather short; for others, such as nutrient loading and, especially, climate change, lag times are much longer. Addressing the indirect drivers of change may also require somewhat longer time horizons given political, socioeconomic, and demographic inertias. Population is projected to stabilize around the middle of the century and then decrease. Attention also needs to be given to addressing unsustainable consumption patterns. At the same time, while actions can be taken to reduce the drivers and their impacts on biodiversity, some change is inevitable, and adaptation to such change will become an Figure How Much Biodiversity Will Remain a Century from Now under Different Value Frameworks? The outer circle in the Figure represents the present level of
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