by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer
As far back as 12,000 years ago, humans were living on and interacting with three-quarters of the earth’s land, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using the most up-to-date mapping of global land use, the researchers found that by 10,000 BCE, “
all human societies employed varying degrees of ecologically transformative land-use practices, including burning, hunting, species propagation, domestication, cultivation.”
In other words: people have been interacting with nature for thousands of years, and for most of that time, it wasn’t destructive. This long-term perspective adds to the evidence that the current biodiversity crisis is tied to appropriation, colonization, and more intense land use.
PNAS) shows that land use by human societies has reshaped ecology across most of Earth s land for at least 12,000 years. The research team, from over 10 institutions around the world, revealed that the main cause of the current biodiversity crisis is not human destruction of uninhabited wildlands, but rather the appropriation, colonization, and intensified use of lands previously managed sustainably.
The new data overturn earlier reconstructions of global land use history, some of which indicated that most of Earth s land was uninhabited even as recently as 1500 CE. Further, this new
PNAS study supports the argument that an essential way to end Earth s current biodiversity crisis is to empower the environmental stewardship of Indigenous peoples and local communities across the planet.
Indigenous stewardship linked to biodiversity
Research confirms that human land use doesn’t have to be at nature’s expense.
Indigenous villagers in the heavily forested state of Odisha, India.
Humans have inhabited and influenced the majority of the Earth’s land for over 12,000 years, according to a new study – but not always to the detriment of the environment.
The study, led by Erle Ellis from the University of Maryland in the US, combined global patterns of population and land use over the past 12,000 years with today’s biodiversity data. It reveals that nature as we know it has been shaped by humans for thousands of years, and that the land practices of traditional and Indigenous peoples have historically helped sustain biodiversity.
Los humanos no siempre han destruido el medio ambiente europapress.es - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from europapress.es Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pandemic brought challenges and required new approaches to help, expert says
Ames Tribune
Sexual assault nurse examiners on call in the early days of the pandemic sat by their phones, only for them not to ring odd to these nurses who serve around 700 patients a year in Polk and Story counties.
Something was off, certified sexual assault nurse examiner Shannon Knudsen said she thought at the time.
The nurses checked if their phones worked, fearing a call for help was missed, Knudsen said, but these were the first signs of a drop in survivors seeking medical services.
“That was kind of the initial shock,” Knudsen said. “Yes, we know there’s a pandemic, and we know that services may look different.” But she said advocates seeing fewer cases felt that something was off.