How would the results of global designs be managed?

Ecological design is not finished with the completion of an ecosystem design. The system may need to be managed as a result of the design. A general kind of adaptive management, noninterference matrix management is proposed as a technique for design.

An ecosystem exists as part of matrix of many interacting elements. Any activity in the matrix can have some effect on these elements. The whole matrix needs to be managed with the whole ecosystem in mind.

Understanding of the principles of ecology can lead to better management. One critical message of ecology is that if we diminish variety in the natural world, we debase its—and our own—stability and wholeness. Many ecosystems have been simplified and degraded. Perhaps we do not have sufficient knowledge to manage a complex landscape because it is too complex to understand scientifically. But we can understand the pattern and drive it in a healthy direction with minimal intervention. We must do all that we can to restore its richness and the natural processes that created the richness.

A noninterference approach to ecosystem management (the essence of a Taoist way) is to let system take its own course. Therefore, once the temporary constructs were in place, whether planting or cutting or any other manipulation, the ecosystem would be allowed to develop without further interference.

Noninterference matrix management is not indifference, which is diffuse. It is caring. Noninterference will not lead to chaos, poverty, and stagnation. The technocratic vision strives for “life under control,” but the ecosystem is self-managing, productive, efficient, and orderly. We need to practice the rule of noninterference so that all beings can enhance themselves. In nature, noninterference means letting be. Noninterference can be derived from nonviolence (or taoistic nondoing). This attitude would entail using what is necessary, exploiting parts of some ecosystems, changing a place to fit human aspirations, and killing plants and animals for sustenance. But it would also mean limiting humanity and its technological effects, limiting human use to local impacts, and letting other beings live without interference. It is not necessary to dominate or terraform the ecosystem completely to save it. Noninterference matrix management weaves people back into the fabric that supports them and in a sense makes them subject to the constraints of ecosystem processes. NIMM would:

• manage the system with minimum subsidies

• manage activities that could upset equilibrium

• manage sustainable conditions

• align human activities with natural processes

• work with system instead of attacking it

• restore context

 

According to Garrett Hardin, many of the ideas necessary to fitting humanity into the pattern of nature are known, but not very popular. For instance, exponential population growth (or economic growth) cannot be maintained very long. Human communities cannot grow at four percent per year without disastrous consequences to the infrastructure and the quality of life. Growth cannot be continued because the landscape is limited, in terms of productivity, energy, and resilience. Thus, we need to fit our population into the limits of the landscape (although some limits can be expanded by technology or by lowered expectations). The carrying capacity of the area is not only a function of the limits of the community, it is equal to the number of people multiplied by the level of comfort (quality of life style). Having more energy and space means having fewer people.

Ecological design may be costly. For example, grassland restoration costs about $1500 per acre per year, based on the first two years. Forest restoration costs more. Design may take a long time— longer than human lifetimes. So, the plan has to be a long-term thing.

The ecosystem may be too complex to design. Management has to recognize the limits of design. Limits of ecological design include:

• Ecosystems are wild, we have no real control

• The scale of ecosystems is too large to manage everything

• The longevity of ecosystems is too long, we will never complete the design in human lifetimes

• The costs may be prohibitive—indeed, we have depended on the free goods of ecosystems for centuries for economic advantages

• Other human limitations apply to our ability to see and understand ecosystems.