Nick Ashton-Jones, with Oronto Douglas and Susi Arnott

“ The Ecological Problem in the Niger Delta, as in the entire earth, is that Modern Society is able to exploit ecosystems for resources beyond the level of sustainability. Moreover, it can exploit them in such a way that the ecosystems are damaged and unable to continue to produce the resources that people need. Our demands for resources are continually increasing because our population is growing all the time, and not being limited by any restriction upon our ability to exploit resources. ”

“ The moon is very cold because it is a long way from the sun, and yet, the Earth, which is the same distance, is warm. This is largely because of the carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Heat from the sun passes through the carbon dioxide to the surface of the earth. But, when the earth radiates this heat back out into the atmosphere, it is absorbed by the carbon dioxide which then re-radiates in all directions: some goes out into space but some goes back to the earth. As a result the earth is 30-40°C warmer than it would be if there was no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. ”

“ Civil disorder is often met with oppressive military backed governments which are careless of human rights and which get no nearer to finding a solution to the Ecological Problem.
More insidious than a breakdown in civil order is ecological degradation and breakdown, which causes a rapid decline in the yields of forest products, and in agricultural and fisheries production. These problems encourage people to leave the countryside to seek work in the towns, which in turn causes rapid urbanisation: another serious environmental problem threatening the viability of surrounding ecosystems. ”

“ It is Modern Society's exploitation of resources which tends to break resource cycles. For short periods Modern Society can manipulate an ecosystem to produce resources at a level which is not sustainable, so that eventually the resource disappears. ”

“ For instance, elephants obtain the elements which they need by breathing, by eating plants, by licking the minerals from dry lakes and riverbeds, and by drinking. Subsequently, for example, they return carbon and oxygen (as carbon dioxide molecules) with every breath, but the calcium in their bones is not returned until they die and their bones decay.
People are just another animal and Natural Human Society is not very different from elephants in their relationship to ecosystems. However, as Viable Society, our use of resources becomes more sophisticated. ”

“ Moreover, the relationship of an animal species with its ecosystem is dynamic. The species is not just a passive occupant of an ecosystem: it influences the ecosystem and changes it for its own survival. ”

“ How ever well resources are managed, this need remains. The need for life-dependant resources, such as water, is a basic human right.
A defiance of ecological laws So that human populations are growing exponentially beyond the level at which they can be supported by ecosystems without damaging them. (An ecological law demands that as the population of any animal becomes too large for the ecosystem of which it is part, food will become scarce so that the animal becomes stressed and easy prey for other animal species.) ”

“ ERA is not making a moral judgement here, it is merely stating the reality of humanity’s condition, as an animal species living on earth: an animal which has gained an unnatural dominance over all other forms of life. ”

“ Development Methods, an especially important consideration because rarely can a particular development be avoided altogether, however inconvenient it may seem at the time. For instance the Niger Delta must produce more food in the future, but it is important that the right development method is chosen so that ecological needs and the needs of Local People are met. The best development methods are found through thorough Strategic Environmental Assessment (15.1.7) . Ecological needs, so that the viability of ecosystems is maintained. ”

“ However, given modern technology, Modern Society is able to maintain high cattle numbers in the Sahel longer during the dry period of the natural climatic cycle. This is usually achieved by sinking bore holes to mine water deposits that are part of a much longer resource cycle - water laid down during wetter geological periods. As a result vegetation is constantly grazed out and not given a chance to recover when the wet period of the climatic cycle comes around again. ”

“ Has become so large that what happens in one part of the world affects ecosystems elsewhere and can affect the entire Biosphere. For instance: pollution in the Niger Delta can damage the fishing industries of all the countries which fish in the Bight of Guinea; pollutants from refrigerators and air-conditioners anywhere in the world damage the upper atmosphere over all the earth. ”

“ The total amount of biomass is fixed ultimately by those elements that make up the bulk of living matter (such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) , and the elements that are micro-nutrients but nonetheless essential to life, such as iron. People are no exception, although in the evolutionary battlefield we have gained a dominant position by developing the technology to exploit the entire biosphere to the extent that, for the time being, we seem able to defy ecological laws.
10.2 RESOURCE CYCLES AND PEOPLE
All species exploit the resources of ecosystems in order to survive. ”

“ The grass in the Sahel savannah ecozone is a resource which Viable Society exploits very efficiently. In wet years when rainfall is plentiful and when the Sahara shifts north, the numbers of grazing animals increase. ”

“ Termites are a wonderful example: they build complex shelters in which they store detritus for the culture of fungi upon which they feed; in the process they turn over large quantities of soil, fundamentally influencing their ecosystem and many of the other species that live in it. ”

“ The recycling of resources is facilitated by both living and non-living processes. For instance, water is re-cycled through plants by transpiration which is a living process, but taken up into the air from the surfaces of leaves to become clouds by evaporation which is a non-living process. ”

“ Just as with atoms, molecules have chemical properties resulting from their electronic make-up that may cause them to interact with other atoms or molecules. For example, individual water molecules attract each other slightly, giving water the physical property of surface tension that holds a raindrop intact upon a leaf or allows a light insect to walk upon its surface. More complex interactions bring about change in the participating molecules and atoms; for example, water 'dissolves' salt by separating out the sodium and chlorine atoms that make up its molecules. ”

“ In this example we can see how Viable Society is forced to accept ecological realities, and thereby is able to consistently exploit what resources the Sahel savannah ecosystems have to offer. The resource cycles, and ecological balance and stability are maintained, so that people's use of the ecosystem is sustainable. ”

“ A simple example is hunting: a specific animal can be hunted in small numbers indefinitely (assuming that its habitat is not damaged) but once a certain number is exceeded hunters discover that they are having to travel further and further to find the animal and ultimately the animal may become extinct. ”

“ The high numbers of cattle ensure that grass and other vegetation is rapidly eaten so that a large proportion of the total biomass in the Sahel ecosystems is contained in domestic animals.
In dry years the Sahara moves south and grass becomes scarce: cattle have to be moved south or slaughtered for meat, otherwise they die of starvation. Usefully then, just as the Sahel ecosystems are being put under pressure by reduced rainfall, cattle grazing pressure is relieved. ”

“ Moreover, a solution to the Ecological Problem is made especially difficult because while some ecological problems are entirely local and can be solved locally, most involve much wider national or international interests and will have to be solved in a wider political arena. ”

“ Animal species can change ecosystems to suit them, but in the end they remain subject to the fact that biomass is limited, and to the fact that they must compete with other animal species for use of the biomass. ”

“ But these uses, while they alter the resource cycles, do not break them: the food grown on the soil is eaten and the elements returned to the ecosystem as human faeces; a tree cut and used to build a house eventually returns to the local ecosystem when it has served its purpose and decays. ”

“ Living processes such as photosynthesis involve very specific changes in molecules and atoms; they are carried out by large, complex molecules that have very particular chemical properties allowing them to 'direct' change in their chemical environment that would not normally happen. ”

“ Rarely are these conflicts efficiently resolved and the most obvious manifestation of this lack of resolution is social discontent and even a breakdown of civil order. The recent problems in Burundi and Rwanda arise from resource conflicts in an area which has one of the highest human population densities in Africa. ”

“ This process is called the Greenhouse Effect because it works just like a greenhouse in cold climates. The glass panes of the greenhouse allow the short waves of the sun's heat to pass into the building, but the long-wave heat radiating from the warmed surfaces inside cannot pass out again. ”