<
https://theconversation.com/fewer-people-doesnt-always-mean-better-outcomes-for-nature-just-look-at-japan-259414>
"Since 1970, 73% of global wildlife has been lost, while the world’s population
has doubled to 8 billion. Research shows this isn’t a coincidence but that
population growth is causing a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.
Yet a turning point in human history is underway. According to UN projections,
the number of people in 85 countries will be shrinking by 2050, mostly in
Europe and Asia. By 2100, the human population is on course for global decline.
Some say this will be good for the environment.
In 2010, Japan became the first Asian country to begin depopulating. South
Korea, China and Taiwan are following close behind. In 2014, Italy was the
first in southern Europe, followed by Spain, Portugal and others. We call Japan
and Italy “depopulation vanguard countries” on account of their role as
forerunners for understanding possible consequences in their regions.
Given assumptions that depopulation could help deliver environmental
restoration, we have been working with colleagues Yang Li and Taku Fujita to
investigate whether Japan is experiencing what we have termed a biodiversity
“depopulation dividend” or something else.
Since 2003, hundreds of citizen scientists have been collecting biodiversity
data for the Japanese government’s Monitoring Sites 1,000 project. We used 1.5
million recorded species observations from 158 sites.
These were in wooded, agricultural and peri-urban (transitional spaces on
outskirts of cities) areas. We compared these observations against changes in
local population, land use and surface temperature for periods of five to 20
years.
Our study, published in the journal
Nature Sustainability, includes birds,
butterflies, fireflies, frogs and 2,922 native and non-native plants. These
landscapes have experienced the greatest depopulation since the 1990s.
Due to the size of our database, choice of sites and the positioning of Japan
as a depopulation vanguard for north-east Asia, this is one of the largest
studies of its kind."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
