In a world in which biodiversity is increasingly under threat, and nature itself under siege, the role of human activities in driving ecosystem change has never more been apparent.
In a world in which biodiversity is increasingly under threat, and nature itself under siege, the role of human activities in driving ecosystem change has never more been apparent. But is all human activity bad for ecosystems? An international team of researchers suggests not.
Professor Nicole Boivin, Director of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, is part of an international initiative to examine the implications of past land use for contemporary conservation efforts.
The multi-disciplinary team, which includes archaeologists, ecologists, anthropologists and conservation managers, has reconstructed ancient population and land use to show that already by 12,000 years ago, humans had re-shaped much of the terrestrial biosphere.
Their data challenge the idea that conservation is about returning lands to their natural and pristine state.
Read more at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Image: Terraced rice landscapes near Pokhara, Nepal (Credit: Erle Ellis)
