4. Ecosystems

In the last several decades exploitative human activity has degraded ecosystems at an unprecedented rate, leaving us with an unpredictable future that demands collective responsibility. Ecosystems are complex interacting systems composed of organisms and their abiotic environments.¹ These networks of interactions are fundamental to our survival, and with 75% of terrestrial ecosystems and 66% of marine ecosystems reported as severely altered, we can no longer afford to view healthy ecosystems as something that is nice-to-have.² Now more than ever, they are an urgent priority as we face global threats such as climate change, food insecurity and species extinction.³

Ecosystem health and human wellbeing

This priority is even more pressing when we recognize just how deeply our own health is intertwined with the health of our environment. We rely on stable and biodiverse ecosystems for the most foundational aspects of our health and safety, including access to clean air, food, medicines, and shelter, as well as protection against climate change, natural disasters and disease.^{2, 3}Ecosystems also have an undeniable impact on our mental health, as access to nature influences our sleep quality, stress levels, and overall state of emotional well-being.^4,5 Alongside these basic physical and mental health needs, biodiverse environments are essential for the cultural and spiritual well-being of many communities.²

In a rural context, the impacts of ecosystem health are further amplified because rural communities are closely tied to their surrounding environment for resources, livelihoods, and cultural practices.⁵ As a result, rural communities are more vulnerable to the negative health impacts of ecosystem degradation, not only due to their enhanced reliance on natural resources, but also due to certain remote conditions, such as limited transportation and health infrastructure, that increase their risk for health complications because of their limited social and physical infrastructure. Despite these vulnerabilities, rural communities also possess remarkable strengths, including strong social networks, place-based knowledge and active community participation, which enable self-organization and leadership in environmental stewardship. Unfortunately, these strengths have been widely overlooked in ecosystem project planning and management.⁶

Instead, efforts to promote healthy ecosystems, whether through conservation, restoration or resource management, have historically assumed a top-down approach to ecological care.^6,7,8 This approach stems from a Westernized view that sees people as separate from nature and, rather than recognizing the complex social-ecological relationships, it places ecosystems as isolated systems that can only be subjected to human intervention or harm.^9,10 A prime example of this is the establishment of protected areas that displace local Indigenous and rural communities, completely overlooking the deep relationships local people have with the land, and the ways in which their stewardship is beneficial.⁶ For example, Indigenous stewardship through cultural burning practices can promote ecosystem health through a variety of ways, including enhanced species biodiversity, improved soil health, and high-intensity wildfires prevention.¹¹¹² By ignoring the dynamic web of multidirectional interactions and interdependencies that exist between ecosystems and their surrounding communities, many ecological efforts have fallen short on their promises for a sustainable and equitable future.¹³

However, a growing emphasis on social-ecological resilience marks a recent shift in our understanding of how to support ecosystem health amidst continuous change. Central to the concept of social-ecological resilience is the recognition that the values and behaviours of people deeply influence ecosystems and, conversely, that communities are greatly impacted by the state of an ecosystem’s resources and services.^7,13 Recognizing this interdependency, social-ecological resilience refers to a community’s ability to withstand a range of shocks, including environmental, political, economic and social disruptions.¹⁴ Rather than trying to prevent change or return to a set of historical conditions, social-ecological resilience equips a system with the ability to adapt to change.^15,16

Community stewardship and resilience

As we plan to face a future that we cannot assume will resemble the past, community stewardship provides a flexible and adaptive strategy for strengthening resilience and navigating change.^7,10,15 Although expressed through a range of practices, stewardship at its core refers to accountability and responsibility to care for the land and the ecological communities we belong to.^10,17 Contrary to conventional ways which have positioned ecosystem managers as external agents who intervene only temporarily to restore an ecosystem, stewardship involves actively engaged participants who sustain long-term, caring relationships with the land.¹⁰

One of the ways in which community stewardship strengthens social-ecological resilience is through the creation of social memory.¹⁴ Social memory refers to a community’s collective knowledge surrounding how social-ecological systems have historically responded to and adapted to change. By actively engaging in stewardship, communities are preserving existing ecological knowledge while also generating new understandings of ecosystem dynamics through lived-experiences. This co-creation of knowledge supports resilience by allowing communities to draw upon a range of adaptive strategies when faced with change, while also building shared values amongst community members.^14,18

While decentralized bottom-up approaches to ecological care are increasingly being promoted, it’s important to recognize the ways in which Indigenous peoples have stewarded their land for millennia.^10,19 Cultural food taboos, sustainability-informed harvesting practices, and the safeguarding of sacred sites are all ways that Indigenous communities have stewarded their land through managing resources and promoting biodiversity. Guided by values of reciprocity, respect, and responsibility, these practices created a legacy of biodiverse and productive ecosystems prior to colonial disruption.^19,20 Learning from Indigenous ways of knowing and being is therefore a promising first step towards developing authentic engagements and sustainable relationships between people and ecosystems.

Given the diverse and culturally-informed ways that communities can practice stewardship to care for their ecosystems, this chapter aims to highlight different examples of rural community stewardship in action. If you would like to read more about reconnecting with nature and approaches to sustainability, please visit Chapter 5 and Chapter 8 of Volume 1.