## **What is an ecosystem?** An ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms, their physical environment, and the forces that act on them. Every organism, whether it's a plant, animal, microbe, or human, depends on the flows of energy within the system to survive. We live within a single ecosystem: planet earth. However, breaking down the planetary ecosystem into smaller components, such as a pond, forest, ocean, city or [bioregion](https://www.oneearth.org/bioregions/), can help us understand it better. ## **What is ecosystem health?** A healthy ecosystem [has the ability to maintain its structure (organization) and function (vigor) over time in the face of external stress (resilience).](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226191019_What_is_a_healthy_ecosystem) This involves the interrelationship between organisms (biodiversity), the ability to complete essential processes (productivity), and the capability to adapt under pressure (adaptability). Maintaining ecosystem health is essential for ensuring the continued flow of energy, vital services and resources, therefore supporting the well-being of all life on Earth. - Organisation: Bio(cultural)diversity, the interrelationship between creatures. A diverse system generally has more adaptive capacity and is therefore more likely to cope with change. - Vigor: what is its ability to complete essential processes, the productivity of a system. - Resilience: to what extent can health be maintained under pressure, capability to adapt. ### Ecosystem health as a human value Ecosystem health is a metaphor that helps us understand and act on the general condition of a system. Although science can act as a guide, human values are essential in determining how to determine ecosystem health. > *They define ecosystem health as the preferred state of ecosystems modified by human activity (e.g., farmland, urban environments, airports, managed forests). In contrast, ecosystem __integrity__ is defined as an unimpaired condition in which ecosystems show little or no influence from human actions. > > “The phrases ecosystem health and ecosystem integrity are not simply subtle semantic variations on the accepted connotations of the words health and integrity. Health and integrity are not inherent properties of ecosystems” > >  [Kapustka and Landis (1998)](javascript:;) exhort against using the metaphor because it is misleading and based on values and judgments, not on verifiable scientific reality, whereas [Callicott et al. (1999)](javascript:;) classify the concept as an “ill-defined normative concept” that reflects the “occurrence of normal ecosystem processes and functions.” Conversely, [Callicott (1995)](javascript:;) concludes that ecosystem health is intellectually defensible and heuristically valuable, but he concedes that the value, thus the calibration, of ecosystem health is subjective. >   >  A number of implicit, but highly contested, value-based assumptions masquerade as science ([Lancaster 2000](javascript:;)) in the ecosystem health debate. Such “science” is often dubbed __normative__ science, whereby facts are interpreted through the filter of an assumption that implies an inherent policy preference ([Lackey 1999](javascript:;)). >   >  The most direct alternative to using normative science is to cease using words such as __ecosystem health__ and simply and clearly describe what is proposed. More specifically, rather than proposing an objective of, say, managing a forest for health, policy proponents should express exactly and clearly the public policy and management objective. > >  Public involvement should be the essence of using normative concepts because those concepts require __inherent__ value judgments.* >  Robert T. Lackey, [Values, Policy, and Ecosystem Health: Options for resolving the many ecological policy issues we face depend on the concept of ecosystem health, but ecosystem health is based on controversial, value-based assumptions that masquerade as science](https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/51/6/437/240640#126027255) ## **How do we ensure healthy ecosystems?** ### Regeneration, Rewilding, Restoration  > _“Restoration is, by definition, active: it is an attempt to intervene in the fate of a species or an entire ecosystem. If preservation is the desire to hold nature in time and conservation is the desire to manage nature for future human use, restoration asks us to do something more complicated: to make decisions about where and how to heal. To repair and to care. To make amends for the damage we have done, while learning from nature even as we intervene in it... Who benefits from restoration? Who is harmed? Who does the work of care, and who is cared for? Whose vision of wildness is acted on?”_ [Source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/06/22/1074268/rewilding-movement-books) How can we restore ecosystem productivity, biodiversity and adaptability is order to foster healthy ecosystems for ages to come? ### Case Studies & Ideas - [Loess Plateau](https://rethink.earth/turning-desert-to-fertile-farmland-on-the-loess-plateau) - Community-based forest management - [Nepalese Forests](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150937/how-nepal-regenerated-its-forests) - Santiago Xiacuí, Oaxaca, Mexico has stopped illegal logging and deforestation while supporting a local economy based on wood and natural resources. ([Source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/06/22/1074268/rewilding-movement-books)) - Rewilding - Beavers in Europe & North America - Reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park created positive ripple effects such as reduced overgrazing by elk and increased beaver populations. - The centrality of water flows - Permaculture - Funding the regeneration of landscapes ### Organizations - [Regenerate Barichara](https://www.regeneratebarichara.org/) - [Refai Sicilia](https://www.rifaisicilia.com/) - [Regenerative Resources](https://regenerativeresources.co/) - [Design School For Regenerating the Earth](https://design-school-for-regenerating-earth.mn.co/) - [Commonland](https://commonland.com/) - [Really Regenerative](https://reallyregenerative.org/) - [Ecosystem Restoration Communities]([https://www.ecosystemrestorationcommunities.org](https://www.ecosystemrestorationcommunities.org/) ### Further Reading [Science Direct](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/ecosystem-health)