El potencial del sargazo: cuando el gran problema del Caribe se convierte en materia prima | América Futura | EL PAÍS América. EL PAÍS ofrece en abierto la sección América Futura por su aporte informativo diario y global sobre desarrollo sostenible. Si quieres apoyar nuestro periodismo, suscríbete aquí. El año 2011 marcó un antes y un después en los paisajes caribeños. La proliferación sin precedentes de algas sargassum pelágicas, el sargazo arrastrado por las corrientes oceánicas, empezó a quedar varado en las playas de toda la región, con un impacto catastrófico en los medios de vida costeros y en las economías nacionales, muchas sustentadas por el turismo. Pero, donde algunos solo ven una amenaza, otros han hallado una oportunidad, como los tantos emprendedores y equipos de investigación que utilizan el sargazo como recurso primario para diferentes beneficios.
La aplicación de la macroalga como materia prima para una amplia gama de industrias no es novedosa: se estima que cada año 12 millones de toneladas de algas son aprovechadas en todo el mundo, particularmente en Asia y el Pacífico. The man who grew his own Amazon rainforest - BBC World Service. Ecosystems: Restoring habitat and wildlife. Global Soil Week | Where people who care about soil and land gather to exchange knowledge and experience, and act now! Let's Talk About Soil - English. Let's Talk About Soil - Spanish. -- UN-REDD Programme - home -- An ecosystem services framework to support both practical conservation and economic development.
Author Affiliations Edited by Gretchen C. Daily, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved February 8, 2008 (received for review October 5, 2007) A correction has been published Abstract The core idea of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is that the human condition is tightly linked to environmental condition. Poverty and environmental problems are both children of the same mother, and that mother is ignorance.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) contains a compelling argument that human well-being depends on the services provided by nature, and that these services have recently become so imperiled that we can expect negative feedbacks to people (1). Although the MA was a bold contribution that exposed huge gaps in the science of ecosystem services, the reality is that both the conservation and economic development communities have embraced ecosystem services for at least a decade, without explicitly labeling them as such. Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Table 1. The Quito Water Fund.
Watershed Markets. Watershed Markets. Ecuador –FONAG Water Conservation Fund in Quito - watershed protection contracts & land acquisition Summary Maturity of the initiative Active in 2011. Pilot project agreed in 1998 when negotiations began. Driver NGO, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and government were interested in increasing the funds available for management of the Cayambe - Coca and Antisana reserves in order to safeguard the hydrological environmental services provided by the reserves, on which Quito’s water supply depends.
Stakeholders Supply Public reserve inhabited by local communities (sellers). Demand Pooled demand from various users. Intermediary Intermediation is done through a trust fund made up of several stakeholders involved. Facilitators The initiative was kick-started by TNC, an international NGO and the local municipality; recently SDC has also begun supporting the initiative. Market design Service Water quality and quantity, although particular interests could vary according to the different water users. Commodity. Ecosystem services. Humankind benefits in a multitude of ways from ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are regularly involved in the provisioning of clean drinking water and the decomposition of wastes. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, the ecosystem services concept itself was popularized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s.[1] This grouped ecosystem services into four broad categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits.
To help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being assigned economic values. §History[edit] In 1956, Paul Sears [7] drew attention to the critical role of the ecosystem in processing wastes and recycling nutrients. §Definition[edit]