Post by radovic on May 9, 2008 9:57:07 GMT -5
An American comes to Montenegro to help save the planet
Thursday, 08 May 2008 22:30
!Mike McGinnis hesitates when asked if humans are destroying the planet. He ponders the question for a minute or so, searching for an answer. Most other environmentalists would answer in the affirmative in very hasty manner but not McGinnis. Finally, McGinnis repeats the question, or at least what he thought was the question, “Who is destroying the planet?”
Evidently the telephone connection between The Montenegro Times office and McGinnis is not sound.
“No, no. Are humans destroying the planet?”
“Ah. Well, there are six billion people on the planet and we are eating and using the planet to death,” McGinnis answers, this time without hesitation.
The technical difficulty turned out to be advantageous because it revealed a fair bit about Mike McGinnis that likely otherwise might not have been learned at all. Activists are, as a rule, very quick to point the finger of blame. They will tell you that such and such companies are destroying the planet, or that so and so dictators are suppressing human rights. It’s often difficult to argue with them but those who are being attacked always offer spirited defenses of their alleged crimes. There are many sides to every issue and it’s rare to find a ‘simple’ question. Tempers flare, confusion results, communication breaks down and action is delayed. So McGinnis seemed genuinely relieved to discover that he was not being asked to play the blame game, suggesting that he is trying to fully understand the complexities of the environmental problems we, as a species, face. And his answer is clever but not disingenuous – we are all contributing to the environmental degradation of earth.
McGinnis believes that we all must start to change the way we think if we are to avert what many are saying is a looming ecological nightmare of Biblical proportions. “We need to think in ecological terms when it comes to transportation, urban design, the things that we produce and consume. We need to think ecologically, period, because we are connected to more than the human community. We are part of a broader circle of animals, plants and insects that we share the planet with,” says McGinnis.
McGinnis, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, has been in Montenegro for the past four months conducting research for an academic paper on the decline of Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) on the planet. There are five MTEs in the world – in southern Africa, the Mediterranean Basin (including the Adriatic), California, Chile and Australia. “I am focusing on both the ecology and culture of these fragile, and endangered places. In particular, I am focusing on the impacts of human beings and climate-related change on the people and places of these regions of the world.”
MTEs are characterized by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers and are extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. They cover only 2.25% of the earth’s land surface but these unique bioregions contain 20 percent of the planet’s named vascular plant species. MTEs face greater immediate threats per unit of area than any other species-rich regions on earth.
McGinnis’s project is being conducted as a Fullbright Scholar and financed by the European Commission. McGinnis describes his work in Montenegro as a, “comparative study of the regulatory policies that are developing in California, US and the EU to address biodiversity loss in the context of anthropogenic climate change.”
The professor explains the importance of his work here thus, “Both California and the Mediterranean Basin of the EU are recognized as two of the top 15 hot spots for threatened biodiversity in the world. Scientists have shown that climate-related changes in large, complex socio-ecological systems is due to natural and human factors that are often nonlinear rather than incremental, abrupt rather than gradual, irreversible rather than reversible, and nasty rather than benign in terms of social and ecological welfare.”
The California and Mediterranean Basin MTEs share many problems related to their climate, says McGinnis, including, “sensitivity to climate change and desertification, air pollution, overdrawing of groundwater, degradation of fresh water resources, coastal marine ecosystem decline and associated loss of biodiversity, and particular threats to cultural and historical resources.”
The Californian warns, “There will be economic impacts from climate change, including the loss of coastal tourism and the loss of important coastal and marine resources.
„Rampant urbanization, habitat degradation, and climate change are the main threats to biodiversity in these MTEs, and represent major threats to the health and well-being of the people who live in them. It is also important to recognize that these MTEs include significant cultural and historical sites that warrant protection; the coastal and inland areas of MTEs have been inhabited by people for thousands of years.”
McGinnis is not completely convinced that Montenegro is fully prepared to address the issues he is concerned about. “It is important to understand that environmental problems, like climate change or poor water quality, are primarily human resource problems. How Montenegrins organise will determine their shared fate. It remains unclear to me that the region has the social and institutional capacity to make the necessary changes in lifestyles and economic development to support the promise of the world’s first declared ‘ecological state’. Development seems to be taking a major priority over ecological awareness and environmental protection.”
However, McGinnis says that the country is showing promise, “There are a number of specific plans that have recently been published that are encouraging, including:
National Strategy of Integrated coastal area management (NS ICAM) of the Republic of Montenegro (Final Working Version draft February 2008).
Montenegro’s Spatial Plan for Special Purpose Coastal Zone (2007)
National Strategy of Sustainable Development of Montenegro (2007).”
Alas, McGinnis again expresses his fear that good plans mean nothing if they are not implemented, “I fear that these plans may not live up to the promise of environmental protections or sustainable development or the promise of the ‘ecological state’. Thinking ecologically requires a deeper emphasis on the connection between people and place, between predator and prey, between habitat and biodiversity. Without this deeper understanding of the connection and relationship between human beings and the ‘more than human community’, the notion of the ‘ecological state’ will remain purely rhetorical or worse yet, a marketing ploy for tourism and international economic development.”
According to McGinnis the three primary problems facing Montenegro’s environmental policymaking are:
“a. Lack of democratic processes and administrative law – there is a serious lack of enforcement of existing environmental laws in this country and people often raise the problem of political corruption. There is, for example, illegal fishing and the continued use of dynamic (dynamite) fishing off the southern coast of Montenegro. There does not seem to be a number of important elements of sustainable development of coastal and marine areas, including the lack of due process; the lack of an independent, non government network in the country; the lack of community buy-in, in public processes and decision-making; the lack of access to government policymaking; the lack of local or municipal authority to carry out environmental laws and the general lack of ecological and socio-economic information on Montenegro’s coastal and marine ecosystems.
“b. There remain significant problems of pollution, illegal coastal development; the spread of non-native invasive species (e.g., in the Bay of Kotor); poor water quality (and poor water quality testing); habitat degradation of important coastal wetlands (the nurseries of the sea) and the over-use of important aquatic ecosystems, such as the use of Skadar Lake for water. In particular, given the importance of the wetlands of southern Montenegro (such as the salt works in Ulcinj) it is absolutely essential that these areas not be over-developed for tourism and that the areas are protected. It really is not a question of ‘balancing’ environmental needs with economic development, but rather a question of ‘integrating’ the protection of basic ecosystem services with local, economic needs. There is simply no enforcement of existing laws or programs, so I don’t know whether Montenegro can support the development and implementation of future programs.
“c. The lack of the institutional and social capacity to develop and implement environmental programs. Montenegro lacks educational programs that support professional resource management in higher education and often contracts out to consultants to complete necessary plans. It is very important that educational programs at the university level be developed at the University of Montenegro to support the development and implementation of plans and policies. Also, there is a lack of an ‘environmental ethic’ and public support for conservation, preservation and restoration (CPR) of the unique ecosystems of Montenegro. It is not enough to encourage ecotourism, ecovillages, or recycling programs without a greater emphasis in education, public outreach, and ecological understanding of the relationships between the regions, mountains, rivers, coastal and marine areas of the people who depend on these areas for survival. It remains unclear to me whether Montenegro has the institutional capacity to implement the plans and programs that it is currently developing.”
McGinnis understands that Montenegro is not alone in over-fishing the world’s oceans. “It’s a problem the world over,” he says. Interestingly, McGinnis says Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Society and one of the most revered and loathed environmentalists on the planet, is a hero of his. Watson is famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, for taking direct action to stop over-fishing and whaling. Watson, a Canadian who was one of the first ‘stars’ of Greenpeace in the early 1970s, has rammed drift-netters on the high seas and sunk whaling boats while in harbour (no one has ever been killed or seriously injured during any of Watson’s direct actions). Watson maintains that he is policing the world’s oceans, enforcing international laws and treaties that signatory nations can’t be bothered with once the ink has dried. At an Earth Day presentation at the US Embassy’s American Corner in Podgorica, McGinnis said that the work of Watson’s Sea Shepherd Society is just as important as that done by the world renowned Cousteau Society.
Exploration is being done off the southern coast of Montenegro to determine whether or not there are significant enough petro chemical resources under the Adriatic to warrant exploitation. McGinnis states that there are better ways for Montenegro to address its energy deficiencies than to extract whatever petroleum products may be lying off its coast. “There are more pressing issues than offshore oil and gas development in the Adriatic.” Asked if hydro power is a solution, McGinnis replied, “Energy production that models itself after China - which has built the most environmentally destructive dam in the world at the Three Gorges site – or the United States - where there are 75,000 hydro power dams – is dangerous. If the future of Montenegro is in hydro power, it has a lot to learn about the pitfalls of plotting such a course. I’d be very wary, if I were a Montenegrin, of any development that fosters the misuse of water, particularly from wild rivers like the Tara, for energy production.”
Thursday, 08 May 2008 22:30
!Mike McGinnis hesitates when asked if humans are destroying the planet. He ponders the question for a minute or so, searching for an answer. Most other environmentalists would answer in the affirmative in very hasty manner but not McGinnis. Finally, McGinnis repeats the question, or at least what he thought was the question, “Who is destroying the planet?”
Evidently the telephone connection between The Montenegro Times office and McGinnis is not sound.
“No, no. Are humans destroying the planet?”
“Ah. Well, there are six billion people on the planet and we are eating and using the planet to death,” McGinnis answers, this time without hesitation.
The technical difficulty turned out to be advantageous because it revealed a fair bit about Mike McGinnis that likely otherwise might not have been learned at all. Activists are, as a rule, very quick to point the finger of blame. They will tell you that such and such companies are destroying the planet, or that so and so dictators are suppressing human rights. It’s often difficult to argue with them but those who are being attacked always offer spirited defenses of their alleged crimes. There are many sides to every issue and it’s rare to find a ‘simple’ question. Tempers flare, confusion results, communication breaks down and action is delayed. So McGinnis seemed genuinely relieved to discover that he was not being asked to play the blame game, suggesting that he is trying to fully understand the complexities of the environmental problems we, as a species, face. And his answer is clever but not disingenuous – we are all contributing to the environmental degradation of earth.
McGinnis believes that we all must start to change the way we think if we are to avert what many are saying is a looming ecological nightmare of Biblical proportions. “We need to think in ecological terms when it comes to transportation, urban design, the things that we produce and consume. We need to think ecologically, period, because we are connected to more than the human community. We are part of a broader circle of animals, plants and insects that we share the planet with,” says McGinnis.
McGinnis, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, has been in Montenegro for the past four months conducting research for an academic paper on the decline of Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) on the planet. There are five MTEs in the world – in southern Africa, the Mediterranean Basin (including the Adriatic), California, Chile and Australia. “I am focusing on both the ecology and culture of these fragile, and endangered places. In particular, I am focusing on the impacts of human beings and climate-related change on the people and places of these regions of the world.”
MTEs are characterized by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers and are extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. They cover only 2.25% of the earth’s land surface but these unique bioregions contain 20 percent of the planet’s named vascular plant species. MTEs face greater immediate threats per unit of area than any other species-rich regions on earth.
McGinnis’s project is being conducted as a Fullbright Scholar and financed by the European Commission. McGinnis describes his work in Montenegro as a, “comparative study of the regulatory policies that are developing in California, US and the EU to address biodiversity loss in the context of anthropogenic climate change.”
The professor explains the importance of his work here thus, “Both California and the Mediterranean Basin of the EU are recognized as two of the top 15 hot spots for threatened biodiversity in the world. Scientists have shown that climate-related changes in large, complex socio-ecological systems is due to natural and human factors that are often nonlinear rather than incremental, abrupt rather than gradual, irreversible rather than reversible, and nasty rather than benign in terms of social and ecological welfare.”
The California and Mediterranean Basin MTEs share many problems related to their climate, says McGinnis, including, “sensitivity to climate change and desertification, air pollution, overdrawing of groundwater, degradation of fresh water resources, coastal marine ecosystem decline and associated loss of biodiversity, and particular threats to cultural and historical resources.”
The Californian warns, “There will be economic impacts from climate change, including the loss of coastal tourism and the loss of important coastal and marine resources.
„Rampant urbanization, habitat degradation, and climate change are the main threats to biodiversity in these MTEs, and represent major threats to the health and well-being of the people who live in them. It is also important to recognize that these MTEs include significant cultural and historical sites that warrant protection; the coastal and inland areas of MTEs have been inhabited by people for thousands of years.”
McGinnis is not completely convinced that Montenegro is fully prepared to address the issues he is concerned about. “It is important to understand that environmental problems, like climate change or poor water quality, are primarily human resource problems. How Montenegrins organise will determine their shared fate. It remains unclear to me that the region has the social and institutional capacity to make the necessary changes in lifestyles and economic development to support the promise of the world’s first declared ‘ecological state’. Development seems to be taking a major priority over ecological awareness and environmental protection.”
However, McGinnis says that the country is showing promise, “There are a number of specific plans that have recently been published that are encouraging, including:
National Strategy of Integrated coastal area management (NS ICAM) of the Republic of Montenegro (Final Working Version draft February 2008).
Montenegro’s Spatial Plan for Special Purpose Coastal Zone (2007)
National Strategy of Sustainable Development of Montenegro (2007).”
Alas, McGinnis again expresses his fear that good plans mean nothing if they are not implemented, “I fear that these plans may not live up to the promise of environmental protections or sustainable development or the promise of the ‘ecological state’. Thinking ecologically requires a deeper emphasis on the connection between people and place, between predator and prey, between habitat and biodiversity. Without this deeper understanding of the connection and relationship between human beings and the ‘more than human community’, the notion of the ‘ecological state’ will remain purely rhetorical or worse yet, a marketing ploy for tourism and international economic development.”
According to McGinnis the three primary problems facing Montenegro’s environmental policymaking are:
“a. Lack of democratic processes and administrative law – there is a serious lack of enforcement of existing environmental laws in this country and people often raise the problem of political corruption. There is, for example, illegal fishing and the continued use of dynamic (dynamite) fishing off the southern coast of Montenegro. There does not seem to be a number of important elements of sustainable development of coastal and marine areas, including the lack of due process; the lack of an independent, non government network in the country; the lack of community buy-in, in public processes and decision-making; the lack of access to government policymaking; the lack of local or municipal authority to carry out environmental laws and the general lack of ecological and socio-economic information on Montenegro’s coastal and marine ecosystems.
“b. There remain significant problems of pollution, illegal coastal development; the spread of non-native invasive species (e.g., in the Bay of Kotor); poor water quality (and poor water quality testing); habitat degradation of important coastal wetlands (the nurseries of the sea) and the over-use of important aquatic ecosystems, such as the use of Skadar Lake for water. In particular, given the importance of the wetlands of southern Montenegro (such as the salt works in Ulcinj) it is absolutely essential that these areas not be over-developed for tourism and that the areas are protected. It really is not a question of ‘balancing’ environmental needs with economic development, but rather a question of ‘integrating’ the protection of basic ecosystem services with local, economic needs. There is simply no enforcement of existing laws or programs, so I don’t know whether Montenegro can support the development and implementation of future programs.
“c. The lack of the institutional and social capacity to develop and implement environmental programs. Montenegro lacks educational programs that support professional resource management in higher education and often contracts out to consultants to complete necessary plans. It is very important that educational programs at the university level be developed at the University of Montenegro to support the development and implementation of plans and policies. Also, there is a lack of an ‘environmental ethic’ and public support for conservation, preservation and restoration (CPR) of the unique ecosystems of Montenegro. It is not enough to encourage ecotourism, ecovillages, or recycling programs without a greater emphasis in education, public outreach, and ecological understanding of the relationships between the regions, mountains, rivers, coastal and marine areas of the people who depend on these areas for survival. It remains unclear to me whether Montenegro has the institutional capacity to implement the plans and programs that it is currently developing.”
McGinnis understands that Montenegro is not alone in over-fishing the world’s oceans. “It’s a problem the world over,” he says. Interestingly, McGinnis says Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Society and one of the most revered and loathed environmentalists on the planet, is a hero of his. Watson is famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, for taking direct action to stop over-fishing and whaling. Watson, a Canadian who was one of the first ‘stars’ of Greenpeace in the early 1970s, has rammed drift-netters on the high seas and sunk whaling boats while in harbour (no one has ever been killed or seriously injured during any of Watson’s direct actions). Watson maintains that he is policing the world’s oceans, enforcing international laws and treaties that signatory nations can’t be bothered with once the ink has dried. At an Earth Day presentation at the US Embassy’s American Corner in Podgorica, McGinnis said that the work of Watson’s Sea Shepherd Society is just as important as that done by the world renowned Cousteau Society.
Exploration is being done off the southern coast of Montenegro to determine whether or not there are significant enough petro chemical resources under the Adriatic to warrant exploitation. McGinnis states that there are better ways for Montenegro to address its energy deficiencies than to extract whatever petroleum products may be lying off its coast. “There are more pressing issues than offshore oil and gas development in the Adriatic.” Asked if hydro power is a solution, McGinnis replied, “Energy production that models itself after China - which has built the most environmentally destructive dam in the world at the Three Gorges site – or the United States - where there are 75,000 hydro power dams – is dangerous. If the future of Montenegro is in hydro power, it has a lot to learn about the pitfalls of plotting such a course. I’d be very wary, if I were a Montenegrin, of any development that fosters the misuse of water, particularly from wild rivers like the Tara, for energy production.”