Investing in ecological infrastructure: a framework for sustainable development

Abstract

Economic growth-driven development has resulted in the degradation and loss of ecosystem services on a global scale. One of the more widely recognized approaches to addressing this issue is based on the idea of valuing ecosystems in terms of the economic benefits they provide for humans. This ‘ecosystem services approach’ is being adopted by researchers, governments and organizations around the world. The concept of ecosystem services cannot, however, robustly account for the ‘public’ nature of ecosystem functioning. This represents a serious gap in the knowledge required for the sustainable use of nature’s ‘gifts’ by growing human populations. This thesis argues that ecosystem services are only one aspect of ‘ecological infrastructure’, which also includes landscape elements, ecosystems and most importantly, the connectivity among and within these components. It then locates the ecosystem services approach within a broader and deeper conceptual framework for ecologically sustainable development that is based on the concept of ‘investing in ecological infrastructure’. Case study methodology, constituted by an historical analysis and a series of focus group interviews, was employed to test the robustness of the conceptual framework. The Lower Burdekin region in North Queensland Australia was selected as the study site. Since the arrival of humans in the Lower Burdekin, the environmental history of the region has been shaped by two distinctly different approaches to natural resource management. Prior to European settlement the Bindal people sought to maintain ecological integrity, whereas the European approach was driven by a ‘nature-conquering’ world view that regarded ecological infrastructure strictly in terms of the exploitable resources it produced. The latter approach has resulted in widespread environmental changes and increasing environmental degradation. While built infrastructure investment in the Lower Burdekin totals many hundreds of millions of dollars, apart from investing in maintaining the integrity of the Burdekin delta aquifer system, there has been comparatively little provision for the region’s ecological infrastructure since European settlement. Data from the focus group discussions provide strong evidence that the concept of investing in ecological infrastructure is regarded by key Lower Burdekin stakeholders as “essential” for the sustainability of the region. The data also demonstrate that most stakeholders found investing in ecological infrastructure readily applicable to their particular social-ecological context. The case study results therefore show that the concept of investing in ecological infrastructure provides an ecologically robust, economic framework for sustainable development. Moreover, because of its strong focus on connectivity, this conceptual framework is spatially and temporally scalable. It can also be adopted immediately, within existing socio-political contexts. These features are vital ones, given the increasing global demand for ecosystem services and the diminishing capacity of global ecological infrastructure to produce those services. ‘Investing in ecological infrastructure’ not only deals with the public nature of ecosystem services, it provides a viable alternative to the current economic growth-based development paradigm.