CONSERVATION IN AN URBAN

WORLD
- Mending Conservation Schism

Farah Afidah Burhanuddin P88524

Mohd Amin Ghazali P88525
Mohd Rashdan Topa P87964
Nur Aimie Nadiah Mazlan P93387
Nur Atikah Syahidah Rosli P93794
Nur Imanina Nabilah Azman P93763
 ANALYSIS AND THE INTERPRETATION
OF THE ISSUES
In an increasingly urbanised world where ecosystem
degradation had been identified as an emerging security
concern, especially in terms of the threat to human
health that it poses, the urgency to strike a balance
between conservation and exploitation is even more
pressing than ever. In a common strive towards
sustainable development, which is formally supported
by the legal regime relating to the environment, natural
resources, and environmental sustainability in general,
how would the notion of a rambunctious garden offers a
fresh perspective in the way we view conservation of
nature, and expand our understanding of how we could
live in harmony, and co-exist in peace, with nature?
 Balance
between Overcome
Conservation Ecosystem
and Degradation
Exploitation

Legal Regime

New Conservation Approach

 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
URBAN
VS Impact of
NATURE Urbanization
towards
Importance of Biodiversity
Urban Areas to Restoration
Sustainable vs Urban
Conservation Biodiversities
vs Novel Conservation
Exploitation Ecosystem Approach:
Principles of Challenges and
International Law that Recommendations
Legal Regime
and concept of
Promotes
Environmental Conservation
Law

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Urban Conservation Approach

 The natural landscape together with Not all human
all of its non-human features,
characteristics and processes
landscapes are
necessarily
Can even abhorrent
provide for a
During TED Talk at TED Summit lot of
in Banff, Canada, Marris said, ecosystem
she think that nature is functions
anywhere where life thrives,
anywhere that’s green and blue
and thriving, and filled with life
and growing (Drake 2016)

Human dominated
Often closely related to notions of countryside and cities
wilderness and of pristine landscapes can be attractive and
that have not been influenced – or at beautiful
least have been imperceptibly
influenced by human activities

• Nature as being apart and away from human

• Pristine is a myth; Human has altered the globe
Distorted
View of • Disconnecting from nature discourage coexistence
Nature
• Nature is everywhere, conservation can happen
- Wuerthner, G., 2012
everywhere
- Marris, E., 2011
Based on the idea by Diana Balmori in
which how parks should be long and
skinny and thread through the city as
part of it rather than big blocks of
separateness, it seems potentially more
inclusive and more harmonizing
between nature and human than the
block model (Green J. 2012).
Marris also stated that humans are
invited to reconcile and integrate with
the living world which considered as a
task for us to consider how we can leave
the environment better than we found it
(Marris E. 2011).
CONSERVATION
Preservation of the environment
without the presence of human
being (Serrano, 2013)
Conservation is focused on the
preservation, management and
protection of natural
environment and resources,
ecosystem, vegetation and
wildlife. It allows human to
exploit the nature but comes
with conservation effort and use
the natural resources
sustainably.
Emma Marris mentioned that
conservation can happen
everywhere and proposed nature
conservation to be associated
with the human inspiration that
are made of the land set aside for
conservation.
EXPLOITATION
The use of natural
resources for economic
growth (Cronin, 2009)
Increasing rate of human
activity , great demands for
natural resources and large
scale of consumption has
resulted in deteriorating,
weakening and exhaustion
of precious resources (Gutti
et al, 2012)
Human’s manipulation, overuse
and over consume of natural
resources for their benefit to
sustain growing human
populations and at the end it
causing the environmental crisis.
 • We can protect the environment through maintaining natural areas free of the presence
of humans and their production (Cronin,2009).
• However, Emma Marris state that to protect the nature, is to work with it. The
Protection of the degradation of nature still happen even without the presence of human touch. Thus the
environment best way is just to work with nature so that nature grows along with humans.

• According to Emma Marris, the presence of human has drastically changed our planet
and we must adjust accordingly.
• Ensuring the uses of biodiversity and natural resources are not consumed faster and can
Maintain and be replaced because human greediness can will lead to the destroy of nature (Gaston,
improve biodiversity 2005) also sufficient quantities are maintain for our future generation.

• Sustainable development is suggested to be development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of the future to meet their own needs (Iwuji
et al, 2016)
• To conserve the basic needs of life and also to enable all people to achieve economic
success, and to strive towards social justice (Iwuji et al, 2016)
Promote integration • Emma Warris makes the point that nature is everywhere and everything from a
of all with backyard garden. Thus rather we focus on the protected area, everyone could conserve
development process
our nature all around us by cherish it and protect it.
• So, The involvement and participations of all organizations to develop sustainability is
important and play their own role towards development is the key of success
 CONSERVATION SCHISM
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION
• Restore natural areas to a historical
baseline
• Remove introduced and invasive species
• Use collected data and records to make
natural areas look and function like
several hundred years ago
ISSUES
• Rewinding time requires massive amounts • providing ‘ecosystem services’ such as
of money, labor, and time
• Require great effort to maintain
• Some species have gone extinct and there
is no way of replacing them
• Some species require large areas to roam
• Challenge of Continual Change
NOVEL ECOSYSTEM
• represent the latest changes on a dynamic
Earth, heavily influenced by humans but is
not under human management (Marris, E.,
2011)
• part of the human environment
including urban, suburban and rural
• some novel ecosystems seem to provide a
habitat for native species
filtering water in wetlands, controlling
erosion on hillsides, sequestering carbon
from the atmosphere and building soil.
ISSUE
• Cause extinction of indigenous species
• Altered land covers and land use
 • Wildlife stewardship programs • Protect and restore natural areas that
• Promote urban greenspaces connected with each other/larger landscape
programs that provide the public a by incorporating networks of greenspaces
local opportunity to enjoy wildlife and trails into park programs
and open space • provide excellent opportunities for building
fish and wildlife habitat, contributing to
Need for people’s recreational opportunities and
• Encourage Additional Limited quality of life
stakeholders Education Natural Areas
involvement through and Outreach
dialogue sessions
• Focus on local issues
to keep people • Innovative campaigns
engaged and awareness programs
Stakeholder Wildlife • Develop wildlife friendly
Involvement Hazards policies

• Develop and
• Build partnerships
expand outreach,
between Need to People- education and
researchers Integrate Wildlife engagement
• Build effective Social and Conflicts programs
conservation Ecological
strategies and Concerns
public support Need for Altered
Innovative Hydrology
Restoration Prevents • maintaining important natural areas
Techniques Filtering of (e.g., riparian corridors, wetlands,
• Provide technical and financial support Pollutants floodplains, and upland forests)
for projects that gives significant • Incorporating sustainable stormwater
opportunities for habitat protection and management strategies into the built
improvement environment
URBAN REGION
• Presents a mosaic of fragmented
habitats that differ conspicuously in
their history and their pace and level
of transformation from pristine to
urban ecosystems. (Serrano, 2013)
• Have large ecological footprint
resulted from anthropocentric
activities (Cronin, R., 2009)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Eco-Health Relationship

Health Science
Browser”: http://www.epa.gov/research/healthscience/browser/
URBAN SUBURBAN RURAL

• Is a contraction of biological diversity

• Reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms
including diversity within species (genetic diversity), between
species (species diversity) and between ecosystem (ecosystem
diversity) (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment 2006).
Biodiversity boosts Biodiversity effects
ecosystem productivity economic growth (Alpizar
where each species have F. & Bovarnick A. 2010).
an important role to play
(Shah A. 2014). For
example:
A large number of plant
species means a greater
variety of crops.
Greater species diversity
ensures natural
sustainability for all life
foms.
Healthy ecosystems can
better withstand and
recover from a variety of
disasters.
IMPACT OF URBANIZATION TOWARDS
BIODIVERSITY
• habitat loss
• habitat fragmentation
• introduction of new species indirectly by
changing urban climate, soils, hydrology, and
biogeochemical cycles
• affect biodiversity patterns by setting filters for
species selection and dispersal
• affect the overall species richness in urban
settings
• lead to compositional changes in urban biota
 URBAN ECOSYSTEM CONSERVATION
• Conservation planning must include consideration and assessment
of the degree of alteration of particular patches of land and the
intervention options available (historical, hybrid, novel ecosystem)
• Where degradation is reversible and where historical continuity is
possible through management, conservation and restoration can
be used to maintain or recover particular characteristics, such as
key species or habitat
• Where the patches of the area are no longer following its historical
ecological trajectory, an assessment should be made to see
whether the changes are reversible, hence restoration approach. If
ecological thresholds have been crossed and a return to a previous
state is no longer possible; interventions must be made according
to individual area.
• If it can be determined that the whole ecosystem changes are
irreversible (ie a threshold has been crossed), then options for
management as a novel ecosystem can be considered.
 PRINCIPLES OF LAW THAT PROMOTES
CONSERVATION

1) State Sovereignty
2) Sustainable Development
3) Inter-generational And Intra-generational Equity
4) Common Concern Of Mankind [Responsibility For
Transboundary Harm], And Common But
Differential Responsibilities
5) Precaution Principles
6) Right Of Public Participation
 Principles
(1) STATE SOVEREIGNTY
• Sovereignty right of states to
exploit resources exists
alongside the responsibility to
ensure that activities within
their jurisdiction or control do
not cause damage to the
environment of other states or
areas beyond the limits of
national jurisdiction
Provision in CBD
Article 3 – Principle
“States have, in accordance with the
Charter of the United Nations and the
principles of international law, the
sovereign right to exploit their own
resources pursuant to their own
environmental policies, and the
responsibility to ensure that activities
within their jurisdiction or control do
not cause damage to the environment
of other States or of areas beyond the
limits of national jurisdiction”.
 Principles
(2) SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
(3) INTER-GENERATIONAL AND
INTRA- GENERATIONAL EQUITY
• Focusing on protection of environment and
develop sustainably for present and future
generations
Provision in CBD
Article 10
Conservation of Biodiversity and the
Sustainable Use of its Components
Article 8
ARTICLE 8(a) : In-situ Conservation
• Establish a system of protected areas
or areas where special measures
need to be taken to conserve
biological diversity
Article 9
ARTICLE 9(e) : EX-SITU CONSERVATION
• Cooperate in providing financial and
other support for ex-situ
conservation particularly in the
establishment and maintenance of
ex-situ conservation facilities in
developing countries
 Principles
(4) COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIAL
RESPONSIBILITES OF STATES
• Recognizes the need for shared
obligations to address common concerns
Provision in CBD
Article 20 (4)-Financial Resources
“The extent to which developing
country Parties will effectively
implement their commitments under
this Convention will depend on the
effective implementation by
developed country Parties of their
commitments under this Convention
related to financial resources and
transfer of technology and will take
fully into account the fact that
economic and social development
and eradication of poverty are the
first and overriding priorities of the
developing country Parties”
 Principles Provision in CBD

(5) PRECAUTION PRINCIPLE Article 14

Impact Assessment and Minimizing

• Essential to protecting the environment Adverse Impacts

• Consultation and exchange of

information under national
jurisdiction

• Notification to potentially affected

states of damage or danger, thus
initiate action

• National arrangement for

emergency response
 Principles Provision in CBD

(6) RIGHT OF PUBLIC ARTICLE 12(c) : Research And Training

PARTICIPATION • Cooperate in the use of scientific advance in

• Access to information important
to public participation
• Public participation is essential to
good governance
• Empowerment: access to
effective judicial and
administrative proceedings
biological diversity research for conservation and
sustainable use of biological resources
• Relation to Article 16, Article 18 and Article 20
Articles 13
Public Education and Awareness
• Encourage understanding of the importance of
conserving biological diversity through media
and educational programmes
• Cooperate internationally in developing
educational and public awareness regarding
conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity

Articles 14
Impact Assessment and Minimizing Adverse
Impacts
 CONCLUSION
• Nature does not end where built-up areas begin
• Nature conservation is part of the urban identity
• Fate of cities depends on eco-services of nature; fate of
nature and conservation movement depends on what
happened in the cities
• Understanding, assessing, and enhancing urban
biodiversity is of paramount importance, from both
conservation and social perspectives
• Urban Ecosystem Restoration: Making every square
foot counts
 REFERENCE
• Alpizar, F. and Bovarnick, A. 2010. Introduction. The Importance of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Economic Growth
and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: An economic valuation of ecosystems, pp. 2-5. New York: United
Nations Development Programme.
• Cronin, R. 2009. “Natural Resources and the Development-Environment Dilemma”. Exploiting Natural Resources.
The Henry L. Stimson Centre. P.63
• Drake, V. 2016. Environmental Writer Emma Marris Defines “New Nature”. The Yellow Jacket. Retrieved from
https://www.yjpaper.org/single-post/2016/11/18/Environmental-writer-Emma-Marris-defines-new-nature
• Gaston,K.J. 2005. ‘Biodiversity and extinction: Species and people’, Progress in Physical Georaphy, vol.29, no.2,
pp.239-247
• Green, J. 2011. Interview with Emma Marris, Author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.
The Dirt. http://dirt.asla.org/2011/12/14/interview-with-emma-marris-author-of-rambunctious-garden-saving-nature-in-
a-post-wild-world/. [14 April 2018].
• Gutti, B., Aji, M.M. and Magaji, G. 2012. Environmental Impact of Natural Resources Exploitation in Nigeria and the
Way Forward. Journal of Applied Technology in Environmental Sanitation. 2: 95-102
• Iwuji, C.C., Okeke, O.C., Ezenwoke, B.C., Amadi, C.C. & Nwachukwu, H. 2016. Earth Resources
Exploitation and Sustainable Development: Geological and Engineering Perspectives. 8: 21-33
• Marris, E. 2011. Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World. USA: Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005. Biodiversity: What is it, where is it, and why is it important?. Ecosystem
and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis, pp. 18. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 2006. The Earth Living Heritage. Biodiversity in Malaysia, pp. 2-5.
Putrajaya: Conservation and Environmental Management Division.
• Shah, A. 2014. What Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?. Global Issues.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares. [14 April 2018].
 REFERENCE
• Serrano, J.A.S. 2013. Environmental Conservation and Agricultural Expolitation: The Case Study of the Los
Carrizales Agricultural Natural Park. pp.487-490
• Yuen, I. 2013. Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.
http://ekostories.com/2013/03/15/rambunctious-garden-marris/. [14 April 2018].
• Wuerthner, G. 2012. Book Review of “Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World” by Emma Marris.
The Wildlife News. Retrieved from http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/06/12/book-review-of-rambunctious-garden-
saving-nature-in-a-post-wild-world-by-emma-marris/

comprise of varied factors that affect the quality
of life and its sustainability for future
generations.
constituted by a number of related but distinct
set of regulatory subjects
(The core environmental law regimes address
environmental pollution)

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

While laws have developed piecemeal and for a

has developed in response to emerging
variety of reasons, some effort has gone into
awareness of and concern over issues impacting
identifying key concepts and guiding principles
the entire world
common to environmental law as a whole

https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/520713/mod_resource/content/1/Cap.
3_International%20Environmental%20Law%20%281%29.pdf [15/04/2018]
 ENVIRONMENTAL
GOVERNANCE

Includes the
Addresses the principles and rules The means by rules, both
Appropriate
of International law legal
which society formal and
frameworks
• relating to the protection of the determines informal, that
on the global,
environment and acts on govern human
regional,
goals and behavior in
• including the conservation of natural national and
priorities decision-
resources local level are
related to the making
a prerequisite
Has developed between two management processes as
for good
of natural well as the
apparently contradicting principles resources. decisions
environmental
governance.
• First, states' have sovereign rights over themselves.
their natural resources
• Second, states should not cause damage
to the environment
 Climate • United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
Change • Kyoto Protocol Global Warming
Convention on the Prevention of
Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Wastes and Other Matter

Marine Sustainable
Pollution • established after the UN’s Development
Stockholm Conference on
the Human Environment
The Rio Declaration on
(1972) Environment and Development
• the leading global
environmental authority
• sets the global
environmental agenda
Convention on International Trade in • promotes the coherent
Endangered Species (CITES)
implementation of the
environmental dimension of
Endangered sustainable development Biodiversity
Species • serves as an authoritative
advocate for the global
environment. Convention on Biological Diversity

• Basel Convention on the Control of Trans- Hazardous

boundary Materials and
• Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal Activities
CONSERVATION SCHISM
• Restore natural areas to a historical
baseline
Old • Remove introduced and invasive species
Conservation
Approach • Use collected data and records to make
natural areas look and function like several
hundred years ago

• Rewinding time requires massive amounts of

money, labor, and time
• Require great effort to maintain
Issue • Some species have gone extinct and there is
no way of replacing them
• Some species require large areas to roam
• Challenge of Continual Change

• Pleistocene Rewilding
New
Conservation • Assisted Migration
Approach • Novel Ecosystem
• Designer Ecosystem