From Restoration to Sustainable Ecosystems

Abstract

Vast areas of the world have been laid waste by destructive human activities: poor agricultural practices, industrial pollution, warfare, etc. (WCED 1987; Smil 1993; Edwards 1994). It has been estimated that at present there are approximately 2000 million ha of degraded land (approximately the combined size of Canada and the United States) and that this number increases by 5–7 million ha each year (Wali 1992). Mining and smelting have contributed heavily to these losses, being responsible for more than 20 million ha of some of the most severely damaged areas (Moore and Luoma 1990). These losses of productive lands and waters and the interferences with the health of natural systems on which they depend are continuing to occur at the same time that the need for ecological services (i.e., food, water, fibers, natural medicines, microbial decomposition of waste products, etc.) accelerates because of increasing individual demands for resources and a world human population that doubles approximately every 40 years (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1991). For example, in China, a country expected to contain 1.25 billion people by year 2000, approximately 40 million ha of arable land (30–40% of the national total) has been lost in the past 50 years by soil erosion, urbanization, transportation, and industrial pollution (Smil 1993).

This paper was prepared by the synthesis group that consisted of representatives of government resource management and environmental agencies, the mining industry, municipal government staff, and the university. The group reviewed all previous chapters from the Sudbury case history before preparing this discussion paper.