The 5M Principles of Sustainability Dynamics: Ecosystem-Level Measuring, Monitoring, Mapping, Modeling and Managing of Natural Capital

Abstract

Ecosystems are interacting open systems of abiotic and biotic components at a given spatio-temporal scale that function in a selfsustaining and -organizing manner in the absence of major anthropogenic disturbances and provide humans with life-support productive, regenerative, protective, regulative and informative services (aka ecosystem services) [1]. The root causes of endangered sustenance of ecosystem services include rapid growth of human population and consumption, poverty, unequal economic growth, uses of ecologically incompatible technologies, and misuse, overuse and undervaluation of natural capital [2]. The basic premise of ecosystem sustainability regardless of how it is defined is the inevitable dependence of humans on the natural capital as the source and sink of ecosystem services, and thus, is to keep socio-economic throughput load within the biophysical limits of the continued productivity of the earth’s natural capital [3,4]. The global value of total ecosystem services in 2011 was estimated at $125 trillion yr-1 based on the monetary terms of 2007 $US [5]. Building and securing ecosystem sustainability call for not only living in harmony with but also enhancing carrying capacity (biophysical limits) of local, regional and global natural capitals [1]. However, with the globally increasing magnitude and severity of human-induced disturbances of the environment, nations have been facing great challenges of adopting better yardsticks than Gross National Product (GNP) that would signal trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in all public decisions and/or valuation towards ensuring sustainability [2,4,6].