Human carrying capacity estimation in Brazilian Amazonia as a basis for sustainable development

Abstract

Sustainable development requires that population and consumption remain within the limits of carrying capacity, while preventing a decline in the carrying capacity of an area requires that productive systems implanted through development be sustainable. Zoning can be a valuable tool in influencing land-use decisions, but we cannot expect government decrees to be capable of causing the landscape to evolve toward the sustainable patterns which have been recommended through zoning. A prerequisite for influencing land-use change is understanding the social processes involved in land-use decisions, beginning with deforestation dynamics. Work to estimate carrying capacity needs to embrace the wide variety of production systems used and contemplated for Amazonia and to be able to interpret this information at scales ranging from local communities to the region as a whole. This will require not only studies of different land-use systems in rural areas, but also integration with studies of energy use and support limits of urban populations. Risks of environmental impacts must be quantified under different development scenarios, and limits of acceptable risk identified and integrated into analyses of carrying capacity.Tapping the value of environmental services of standing forest represents a promising means of sustaining Amazonia's population over the long term, but numerous obstacles exist. These include halting deforestation before opportunities are lost and supporting the population in non-damaging ways while the institutional groundwork is laid for using the environmental services involved. Research is needed to quantify the magnitude of services and the appropriate monetary value per unit of service. Diplomatic agreement must be reached on these values, which can be expected to be quite different from estimates of the 'true' values based on research. A series of social arrangements must be proposed and implemented if the value derived from environmental services is to fulfil its dual role of maintaining both the forest and the human population in Amazonia.

Modelling of carrying capacity in National Park - Fruška Gora (Serbia) case study

“…Considering the ongoing and extremely progressive increase of the population [24][25][26][27][28], the most important conclusion of this study is the importance of the conceptualization of the capacity principles, because the ability to express the carrying capacity in terms of setting a standard measure, is required to facilitate planning of tourism [53,54]. The study on the limits of the concept of carrying capacity has a long tradition in biology, forestry, sociology and geography [29,[55][56][57].…”

“…In recent years, there has been some discussion concerning the carrying capacity of the earth for humans, and the ultimate limit to global carrying capacity for economic development. There are numerous papers that discuss qualitatively the relationships of environment to carrying capacity [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], and a few quantitative studies [32,33]. The concept of carrying capacity relates to the concept of sustainable development [33,34].…”

“…The concept of carrying capacity relates to the concept of sustainable development [33,34]. Sustainable development requires that population and consumption remain within the limits of carrying capacity, while preventing a decline in the carrying capacity of an area requires that the productive systems implanted through development be sustainable [27]. Carrying capacity can be measured either at the level of a tourist destination as a whole, with all its associated contents or at the level of individual, specific services and facilities.…”

Conservation Policy in Brazilian Amazonia: Understanding the Dilemmas

“…Extractive reserves have been criticized as condemning their residents to poverty and as financially unviable due to the low price of extractive products such as rubber and Brazilnuts (Homma, 1996). However, it is important to realize that the rationale for creating extractive reserves is environmental, rather than a means of supplying cheap rubber or of supporting a large human population (Fearnside, 1997a). This is why extractive reserves are created as conservation units by the Ministry of the Environment, rather than as settlements by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in the Ministry of Agrarian Development.…”

Using Urban-Carrying Capacity as a Benchmark for Sustainable Urban Development: An Empirical Study of Beijing

“…Human carrying capacity is largely determined by the resilience of a region, i.e., the capacity to absorb intervening influences without causing structural changes on the condition and functioning of the environment. Fearnside (1986) contended that, "in addition to its system orientation, modeling carrying capacity focuses attention on the reality of limits dispelling the illusion that infinite resources and agricultural potential exist" [28] (p. 155). The negative impacts of global overpopulation combined with the intense exploitation of environmental resources have altered the ability of humans to dwell within the limit of carrying capability according to its natural resource endowment.…”