Human activity has shaped ecosystems for most of our history, and biodiversity does not always increase when people leave. Traditional farming, forest management, controlled burning and other forms of land care have created habitats for species that evolved alongside humans. As rural depopulation and industrial land use change these environments, conservation efforts may need to support carefully managed human intervention rather than treating protected areas as places where people must be excluded.
The belief that humanity is separate from the rest of the planet is persistent but inaccurate.1 Many landscapes that European settlers regarded as wilderness were managed by Indigenous peoples. Examples include the wildflower-rich oak savannahs of North America and fire-maintained ecosystems in Australia.
Traditional agricultural practices, some of which have been used for thousands of years,2 created ecological niches for insects, amphibians, birds and plants. Many of these species co-evolved with human communities.
When people leave, habitats can change
People have always cultivated land, but the scale of land conversion has been unprecedented since industrialization began in the mid-18th century, particularly with the rise of industrial agriculture. Intensive conversion of land is the largest cause of biodiversity loss.
That is why countries agreed four years ago to protect 30% of their land and water habitats by 2030, a goal commonly known as the 30 × 30 target. The objective was not explicitly to turn protected areas into places where humans could not go.3
Evidence reported by Nature suggests that biodiversity does not necessarily flourish in landscapes simply because people have abandoned them. In Japan, entire villages are being deserted as rural populations decline. The loss of traditional rice cultivation and forest management is reducing habitat for birds, insects and plants that depend on rice paddies, field margins and open-canopy forests.
These examples indicate that people may need to carry out specific tasks in protected areas. Such work can include environmentally sensitive forestry, water management, maintaining grazing animals and prescribed burning to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires like those increasingly occurring around the world. The United States, Europe and Australia are expected to need thousands of trained fire professionals in the coming decades.
Supporting traditional land care
Land stewardship can also include traditional foraging and planting, constructing clam gardens along the coast, and removing trees and shrubs to thin forests and encourage new growth. Research into these practices should be grounded in modern ecology and conservation biology while incorporating ecological knowledge developed through thousands of years of practical experience in some communities.
Such work requires funding. Traditional farming and land-management methods are more expensive than industrial agriculture, which uses less labor and produces very large yields. If societies want to maintain long-standing relationships with land and support the biodiversity associated with them, governments will need to provide direct subsidies.
Limited versions of this approach already exist through payments to farmers and agro-biodiversity programs. Countries should consider offering broader and more comprehensive support. One possible model is the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, established during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Any modern version would need updated standards to improve diversity and equity, and its activities would need to be guided by evidence.
At a time of mass unemployment in the private sector, the Corps served as a publicly funded job-creation program and employed 3 million young people. From 1933 to 1942, its teams planted trees, built terraces, roads and trails, erected fire towers and carried out other work to care for America’s natural resources.
Preparing for technological change
Artificial intelligence is raising concerns beyond its environmental effects.4 It could also contribute to a new period of high unemployment. Governments developing programs to protect workers from job losses linked to technological change should consider investing in people’s relationships with land, water and biodiversity.
Source: www.nature.com
