SEPA
EPA/600/R-09/093
July 2009
Development and Evaluation of Sustainability Criteria
for Land Revitalization
Revitalization Research Program
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268
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DISCLAIMER
This document has been reviewed in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
policy and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not
constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
ABSTRACT
Land revitalization offers the opportunity to reconsider the functional roles that individual land
parcels can contribute to sustaining environmental systems. Although the ability of individual
parcels to make these systems more resilient and move more toward sustainability may be
limited, their influence can be substantial when considered collectively. This report identifies
criteria for land revitalization and how these criteria would need to be applied so as to support
sustainable environments.
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CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGURES iv
PREFACE v
AUTHORS AND REVIEWERS vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vii
1. INTRODUCTION 1
GOAL OF THIS REPORT 1
2. CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABILITY 3
2.1 SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN EP A'S MIS SIGN 3
3. CONNECTION OF LAND REVITALIZATION TO SUSTAINABILITY 4
3.1 SPATIAL REQUIREMENTS OF SUSTAINABILITY 4
3.1.1 Sites 4
3.1.2 Systems 5
3.2 SHORT AND LONG TERM REQUIREMENTS OF SUSTAINBILITY 5
3.2.1 Losses are due to land development 5
3.2.2 Temporal context of sustainability 9
4. CRITERIA THAT LINK LAND REVITALIZATION TO SUSTAINABILITY 11
4.1. THEORY OF SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA 11
4.2. DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA 11
4.3. A THEORY OF CRITERIA APPLICATION 17
4.3.1. Criteria Application: Example 1 - Provisioning Services 18
4.3.2. Criteria Application: Example 2 -Regulating Services 19
4.3.3. Criteria Application: Example 3 -Regulating Service 20
4.3.4 Criteria Application: Example 4 - Cultural Services 20
4.3.5. Criteria Application: Example 5 - Supporting Services 21
4.4. THEORETICAL EVALUATION OF CRITERIA USE 22
4.4.1. Evaluation of Sustainability Criteria 24
4.4.2. Feasibility of Using Planning Criteria 24
4.4.3. Sufficiency of criteria 25
5. CONCLUSIONS 27
in
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APPENDIX 31
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4- 1 Example of search for criteria 15
Table 4-2 Criteria for Sustainable Natural Systems 16
Table 4-3 Criteria for Sustainable Social Systems 17
Table 4-4 Criteria for Sustainable Economic Systems 17
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure3 -1 - Timeframe to Make Land use Decisions to Protect Natural Systems 6
Figure 3-2- Impact of Future Mega-cities on Ecoregions 7
Figure 3 - 3 - Impact of Future Agriculture on Ecoregions 8
Figure 3 - 4 - Impact of Agriculture and Urban Development on Ecoregions 9
IV
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PREFACE
The mission of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the
environment. Because changes in land use for meeting human needs present one of the greatest
challenges to meeting this mission, it is essential that land uses are explored within concepts of
protection and sustainability. Spent land uses and sites that may be contaminated by prior uses,
e.g., brownfields, offer the opportunity to consider how land might be revitalized to meet new
uses and achieve sustainable environments. EPA regulations1 and ASTM Standards2 that address
green cleanup practices on sites should be considered with this report.
The information presented in this report supports the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Research and Development strategic goals 3 (Land Preservation and
Restoration) and 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems).
1
2 http://www.astm.org/DATAB ASE.CARTAVORKITEMS7WK23495.htm
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AUTHORS AND REVIEWERS
The Remediation and Redevelopment Branch of the Land Remediation Pollution Control
Division of EPA Office of Research and Development's National Risk Management Research
Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio was responsible for preparing this document.
AUTHOR
Verle Hansen, PhD
Land Remediation Pollution Control Division
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268
REVIEWERS
This report benefited greatly from reviews by Albert Venosa, Randy Parker, Heidi
Paulsen and Bill Shuster who provided excellent suggestions for additions, clarifications, and
references.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Development of a planning process to focus on sustainable land use was encouraged by
Bob Olexsey, Annette Gatchett, Ann Vega, and Randy Parker who realized its potential
contribution to achieving EPA's mission of protecting the environment. These people recognized
that a different starting point might enable science to guide the redevelopment of compromised
land.
VI
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is not possible to meet human needs, build societies, and expand economies without
consuming natural capital. However, these activities would also not be possible unless natural
systems remain sufficiently intact to provide goods and services that sustain them and human
life. Developed parcels of land that have outgrown their useful life offer the opportunity to
breathe new vitality into society and economy. However, that new vitality would be short lived if
the environment is not adequately maintained to sustain it. Because a sustained environment
retains much of the integrity of natural systems, conditions that would maintain this integrity can
be used as planning criteria. These criteria inform how land is to be used so that the environment
still performs and functions as it must to sustain human life. Development of these sustainability
criteria for land uses is guided by seven points:
The definition of sustainability
What must be sustained
The immediacy of the need to achieve sustainability
Limitations of the human-environment relationship
The need to focus at regional, continental, and global levels to achieve local sustainability
The limited role that any particular land site can contribute toward sustainability
Sustainable environmental conditions
This report provides a set of criteria that enables land use decisions that revitalize previously
developed sites while keeping intact the natural systems that sustain human life and economic
development; and establishes a sound basis for developing science relating to human-
environment relationships.
vn
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1. INTRODUCTION
GOAL OF THIS REPORT
Because all land uses affect finite natural systems3 that are essential for human life,
human activities should protect and restore natural systems and the effects of land use should be
counteracted. Aldo Leopold (1949) made this point in his 'Land Ethic' asking us to change our
activities to conform with environmental capacities. Establishing a harmonious human-
environment relationship became U.S. policy as part of the National Environmental Policy Act
of 19694. Among the earliest attempts to address this objective is illustrated in the work of Ian
McHarg (1992) who developed a system of map overlays to represent attributes of nature that
should be retained. Land areas that were not required by nature were deemed appropriate
locations for development. This relationship between humans and the environment was a
primary subject of the Rio Summit (UN 1992); and subject of development principles including:
The Precautionary Principle5; The Earth Charter (UN 1999); The Bellagio Principles6; The
Aalborg Commitments7; The Ahwahnee Principles8; and The Natural Step9.
Application of these principles has tended toward minimizing the environmental effects of
development through evolving programs such as the US Green Building Council's Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)10, Smart Growth Network11, New Urbanism12, Green
Globes13, and the Sustainable Sites Initiative14. Although these provide a good foundation a
sustainable human-environment relationship, prospects for achieving this sustainable relationship
at the individual site are limited.
3 Finite components of functioning natural systems include the amount of biomass that can be sustained, habitats,
biodiversity, land surface and soils, water resources, the physical space habitable by human life, the amount of
pollutants that can be attenuated without added technologies, etc.
4 42 U.S.C. 4321-4347 Sec.2
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionarv_principle
6 http://www.iisd.org/measure/principles/progress/bellagio.asp
7http://www.aalborgplusl0.dk/default.aspx?m=2&i=307
8 http://www.walkablestreets.com/ahwah.htm
9 http://www.naturalstep.org/
10 http://www.usgbc.org/
11 http://www.smartgrowth.org/sgn/default.asp
12 http://www.cnu.org/
13 http://www.greenglobes.com/design/homeca.asp
14 http://www.sustainablesites.org/report/
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The problem is that effects of land uses cannot be resolved solely by decisions focusing
on the site alone. This is especially true for sites that are subject to remediation where
opportunities to consider environments beyond the site are not established. Because the effects of
land use radiate outward from and well beyond any project site, but cannot be reversed by any
decision made at the project site, additional decisions must be made to address effects of human
activities. However, if the effects of proposed land use change on natural systems were addressed
at and beyond the site, environmental qualities necessary for human life could be preserved and
protected. This report will provide a framework for making decisions that would align new land
uses on previously developed sites with environments that would also be sustainable.
A broad literature helps to identify a basis for making land use decisions. Natural capital
accounting (Wackernagel, et al. 1999) and ecological accounting (Heal 2007) utilize the concept
of maintaining natural capital when making decisions, corporate investments, and consumer
choices to achieve sustainability and utility to humanity. The use of ecosystem science helps to
identify prerequisites for maintaining energy and material flows, their dynamics, and spatial
scales of natural systems (Chapin, et al. 2002). Natural resource restoration and management
(The Bay Institute 1998) provide references to ecosystem attributes and indicators of ecosystem
health. Issues related to protection stem from the work of MacArthur and Wilson (1967) who
showed biodiversity and characteristics of land were related. Criteria are generally defined for
maintaining soil function, i.e., biomass production, filtration, buffering and materials
transformation, and habitats to ensure space for housing, industry, infrastructure, mineral
extraction, and cultural heritage (Blume, et al. 1998). Land use responses based upon biological
sciences are illustrated by works of Lyle (1999), Duerksen (1997), Randolph (2003), and The
Land and Natural Development Code (Balmori and Benoit 2007).
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2. CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABILITY
2.1 SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN EPA'S MISSION
Sustainability has diverse meanings that have been debated and analyzed since the concept
was initiated in the Brundtland Commission report. Because of EPA's mission to protect human
health and to safeguard the natural environment upon which life depends, sustainability and
protection are synonymous. The purpose of these goals is ultimately to provide some long-term
assurance that the environment will be able to sustain human life. This assurance will require
EPA to anticipate threats to human health and the environment and make certain that options and
opportunities for humanity to meet its needs and expectations always exist so that humanity can
remain and adapt in place (Benyus 1997). However, the geologic record shows that 99% of the
species that ever lived are now extinct proving that there are no assurances. Because we have no
control over natural forces that can alter the fate of humanity, the assurance that we seek is that
humanity does not become the cause of our demise. Because we must simultaneously use and
protect the environment, Gilbert White (2006) suggested a rational approach, "People will not be
able to completely avoid any alteration in the natural ecosystem, but they can order their
activities so as to avoid serious decrease in environmental quality." The challenge is to identify
the essential qualities of functioning natural systems so that these qualities can be integrated into
human activities, especially land use decisions.
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3. CONNECTION OF LAND REVITALIZATION TO SUSTAINABILITY
3.1 SPATIAL REQUIREMENTS OF SUSTAINABILITY
Land that is to be redeveloped is typically cleansed of pollutants that could pose risks to
human health and the environment. However, this alone will not sustain human life or the
environment if natural systems remain compromised. Cleansing, reducing risks, and minimizing
further environmental impacts may be all that is possible on many urban sites. When land parcels
are platted and developed for human uses, they are typically removed from their connection to
many of their ecological systems. Their functional roles in supporting natural productivity,
biodiversity, soils, water, and air are altered. Although some of these roles can be partially
reversed, cleaning and reuse of an individual site will seldom restore its functional roles in
ecological systems. This would be sustainable if enough of natural systems remain intact to
provide ecosystem services to fulfill demands for them, but the human footprint on the
environment exceeds its capacity. Because sustainability is valued and nearly all the natural
environment has been affected by human activities, it is essential to find ways to revitalize
scarred lands. Eliminating risks will necessitate that a site be clean. However, to breathe vitality
into the land will require that it be restored to its functional roles in its ecosystem so that it
contributes to environmental functions at local, regional, landscape, continental, and global
scales.
3.1.1 Sites
Cleaning and redevelopment of an individual site offers few opportunities to restore a
site's functional roles in ecosystems, but sites can integrate with proximate sites to restore
systemic vitality. This would work best if all proximate sites were revitalized simultaneously, but
this is seldom possible. Because sites are usually remediated and redeveloped incrementally, they
must be revitalized within a natural systems framework that will eventually be applied to all
proximate sites that affect and support the same natural systems. Although each individual patch
or a small cluster of revitalized sites do not contribute much toward sustainability, over time, by
including neighboring sites, they can function as a sustainable ecosystem.
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3.1.2 Systems
Because individual land users incrementally and cumulatively erode the natural systems
that sustain human life, individual land parcels must become instrumental in keeping these
systems intact. This is possible if additional neighboring sites are incorporated and if
fundamental traits of functioning ecosystems are well defined to guide land use decisions. These
criteria of functioning ecosystems can be used as criteria for sustainable land use at all scales.
Communities present an opportunity to reconsider existing and future development at a
large enough scale to envision a new and sustainable future15. This would require that
ecosystems be defined so that changes to individual land uses throughout the community can
play vital roles in restoring natural structures, functions, and processes. Land-revitalization can
contribute toward sustainability if land use decisions are made within this ecosystems context.
3.2 SHORT AND LONG TERM REQUIREMENTS OF SUSTAINBILITY
3.2.1 Losses are due to land development
Sustainability must be applied daily and focus on long-term impacts. It compels us to
measure the impact of current development on future generations. This is possible if we
implement a strategy to protect ecosystems in the near future. Figure 1 illustrates that the greatest
land use change due to population growth began c. 1950 and is expected to continue through
2050. If ecosystems are to continue to provide services to humanity, land use decisions will need
to meet human needs and maintain environmental qualities that provide viable ecosystem
services. Land use change during the first 60 years of this period was most often developed
without consideration to sustaining the natural systems and the services they provide. We must
now provide the information that enables decision-makers to be develop the built environment in
a manner that sustains the environment.
15 Primary application of this concept is possible at the community scale as illustrated in the EPA planning of Stella,
Missouri in 2006/07.
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Figure 1.
Time to Successive Billions in World Population: 18OO-2O5O
The sixth billion accrues to world population in record time! opportunity
exists
Population in billions ^^^ Total world population
1800 1850 1900 1950 Opportunity 2000 2bSQ
missed.
Source: United Nations < 199Sb): U.S. Census Bureau, International Programs Center, International DataBase and unpublished cables.
-J
Figure 3-1 -Timeframe to Make Land Use Decisions to Protect Natural Systems.
If development to meet this predicted population increase of 100 million (USCensus
2002) follows traditional patterns of urban sprawl (Lang 2006) and agriculture doubles (Tilman,
et al. 2002) from year 2000 levels, the capacity of large portions of ecoregions to provide
ecosystem services to people could be severely diminished and potentially unrecoverable. An
overlay of future mega-cities on Robert Bailey's (1995) map of ecoregions (see figure 3-2)
reveals that five ecoregions of the United States will be predominantly covered by urban
development by 205016. Comparing Bailey's ecoregions with U.S. Department of Agriculture's
(2007) map of percentage of land used for crops (see figure 3-3) reveals four additional
ecoregions are significantly altered by land uses17. Because land use change causes
environmental losses and is more intense in these nine ecoregions, ecosystem services are likely
to be lost unless anthropogenic land uses can be planned so as to keep natural systems intact and
Ecoregion 221- Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Oceanic) Province; Ecoregion 242 - Cascade Mixed Forest
Coniferous ForestAlpin Meadow Province; Ecoregion 255 - Prairie Parkland (Subtropical) Province; Ecoregion
261 - California Coastal Chaparral Forest Shrub Province; and Ecoregion 411 - Everglades Province.
17 Ecoregion 222 - Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Continental) Province; Ecoregion 332 - Great Plaines Steppe
Province; Ecoregion 251 - Prairie Parkland (Temperate) Province; and Ecoregion 262 - California Dry Steppe
Province.
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functioning. For example in Texas (ecoregion 255 of figure 3-2), the water level of the Edwards
Aquifer18 has dropped significantly, and if this resource fails to meet use requirements, it will
have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy and agriculture. As decades pass and natural
systems are degraded, preservation of natural systems will take on increased urgency, but the
capacity to address them may be largely gone because natural systems will be less intact and
resilient. Therefore, a strategy to align land uses with intact natural systems is necessary.
242 M242
M242
Ecoregions of the United States
r\ Pufjer Sound
i " i
fil >'**=!» T£-?l
- v5? * fc/
< ' -**'«' S,-. r.
Provinces
1 Willamette Valley ' ,,;
vTir^"" ''">>''!3i T£3£S£B£ ilnl.nn. » ilh .iliil.i.lm.,1
Tlwxc pun jnuM ute
named fut the >jxxtmm H'
Booadarlei:
Domain Division Province
Figure 3-2- Impact of Future Mega-cities on Ecoregions
18
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/
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Acres of Total Cropland
as Percent of Land Area in Acres: 2007
Percent
Less than 5
5-14
15-29
30-49
50-74
75 or more
Uilrs
Q7-MC65
US D»wrtmeniof AgrcUnrs, NstwraiAflricUtural
Figure 3 - 3 - Impact of Agriculture on Ecoregions
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242 M242
M242
Ecoregions of the United States
..
Souttiern Califofnia l^.*
Boundaries: Dnmuin Division - Province
Used with permission of Robert Bailey, US Forest Service
Figure 3-4- Impact of Agriculture and Urban Development on Ecoregions
3.2.2 Temporal context of sustainability
Sustainability should be based upon the science of human-environment relationships and
developing criteria to guide decision-making. Because this science is incomplete, adaptive
management provides some direction (Gunderson and Rolling 1996; Hurni 2000; Hollander, et
al. 2007). Adaptive management can be used to make initial land use decisions because it offers
the ability to shift the focus: from outputs to inputs and processes; from industrial production to
mimicking natural processes and productivity; from consideration of single output to placing
importance on all species and natural services; from avoiding product shortage to avoiding
biodiversity loss and soil degradation; from viewing part of the environment as a production
system to viewing ecosystems and their services; and from economic efficiencies to cost
effectiveness (Chapin, et al. 2002). These principles can represent the sought-after environmental
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qualities that should be ordering human activities to avoid their serious degradation19, but they
need to be defined to enable land remediation. Therefore, these criteria are developed in the
following sections. These criteria can be used in adaptive management, especially for
remediating lands surrounded by healthier land uses. The alternative to adaptive management is
to manage human land uses so that our activities do not interfere with ecosystem structures,
functions, and processes and makes them more robust. Because sustainability is a product of
maintaining a conditional relationship between human objectives and environmental qualities,
the criteria of these environmental qualities can guide land use decisions so that natural systems
and the ecosystem services they provide remain intact.
19 Refer to quote by Gilbert White in Section 2.1.
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4. CRITERIA THAT LINK LAND REVITALIZATION TO SUSTAINABILITY
4.1. THEORY OF SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA
All development erodes the ability of this planet to meet human needs. As agriculture and
urban areas convert natural landscapes to human-made landscapes, native productivity is
reduced, habitats and their ability to support native biodiversity are compromised, and hard
surfaces block water infiltration and increase runoff and erosion, etc. As development continues,
ecosystem services decline as the human need for them increases. Therefore, it will be necessary
to manage the environment and/or manage human activities with regard to the environment as
explained in this report. If land is to be used without compromising the provisioning, regulating,
and supporting capabilities of natural systems, it is essential to have in place a structure that
enables decision-makers to examine the larger environmental contexts that these decisions affect.
If it can be presumed that natural systems would manage themselves in the absence of
humanity, then it can be hypothesized that they would also manage themselves with human
presence as long as natural structures20, processes21, and functions22 remain intact. This makes
land uses conditional upon keeping natural systems intact23 or returning them to fully functional
states. If these characteristics of intact natural systems can be identified, they can be used as
planning criteria to explore alternative land uses with regard to desired environmental qualities
and environmental performance.
4.2. DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA
If the assumption is correct that natural systems would manage themselves if natural
structures, functions, and processes remain intact, criteria for making land use decisions should
incorporate environmental attributes that protect or enhance these qualities. This is supported by
research that largely relates to natural productivity, biodiversity24 and habitat size (Franklin
1993), soil health (Doran and Zeiss 2000; Herrick 2000), water quantity and quality (Baron and
Poff 2004), and energy requirements (Hoehler 2004).
20 Species geographical range, spatial dispersion, age distribution, and carrying capacity
21 Evolution, migrations, speciation, succession, replacement, competition, and life-cycles
22 Photosynthesis, energy flows, evapotranspiration, atmosphere-organism cycles
23 Intact natural systems consist of interacting components described in the above footnotes.
24 Biological diversity or biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem. Because the goal of
sustainable land use in this report is self-managing ecosystems, biodiversity typically refers to native life forms
within a given ecosystem.
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The vocabulary that defines the attributes of a desirable natural environment is evolving.
The Swedish Ministry of the Environment identified 16 goals within the context of sustainable
ecosystem services (Deutsch, et al. 2003). Six of these directly relate to ecosystem performance
or prerequisites of their continued functionality: sustainable lakes and watercourses; flourishing
wetlands; a balanced marine environment and a healthy coastline and archipelago; living forests;
and a rich agricultural landscape. The general terms that describe these prerequisites, e.g., clean,
high quality, sustainable, flourishing, balanced, rich, majestic, good, and safe require accurate
definition to be useful, but they begin to catalogue this important conditional relationship
between humanity and the natural environment. Conservation International, in its attempt to
define wilderness areas, developed requirements that describe areas that maintain biodiversity
and ensure intact natural systems retain the capacity to provide ecosystem benefits to people
(Mittermeier, et al. 2002). Such areas should be a distinct biogeographic unit (or composite)
within a biome type, contain at least 70% native vegetation, a human density about 5 or fewer
inhabitants per square kilometer, and more than 1500 endemic vascular plant species.
Coordination or alignment of the built environment with natural systems requires the use
of numerous sets of principles that align human activities relative to nature25 and social,
economic and ecological integrity. These principles define sustainable responses rather than
define the environmental conditions that must be in place for these systems to remain intact.
Principle 5c of The Earth Charter (UN 1999), i.e., "Promote the recovery of endangered species
and ecosystems", is a response rather than a condition. Similarly, The Natural Step principles
used by John Cairns Jr. (1997) generated 10 goals of sustainability with 21 conditions and sub-
conditions. Because these conditions relate more to sustainability goals rather than natural
systems, they are too general for making land use decisions that would meet human needs and
keep natural systems intact. Planning decisions require specific statements that either describe
the limitations on land use or how the system is to perform, e.g., 'habitats must exist that will
sustain minimum viable populations of native species'. Land use criteria such as this provide
planners the ability to evaluate whether any proposed decision is acceptable. Because we want
The Brundtland/UNCED Principles of Sustainable Development, the 12 Principles of Green Engineering by the
Green Chemistry Institute, The Earth Charter, IUCN, UNEP, and WWF Caring for the Earth, The Natural Step
Environmental Institute, the Bellagio Principles, the Hannover Principles, the Aalborg Commitments, the Ahwahnee
Principles, and numerous others.
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ecosystem services to remain intact, we can identify criteria that will assure their performance
and criteria that define parameters within which their performance is possible.
Development of these criteria, outlined in the Appendix, is based upon why ecosystems
must be sustainable, their functions, and the conditions that must exist for them to fulfill these
roles. Assuming ecosystem integrity exists when/where productivity, biodiversity, soils, and
water exist in near-natural conditions (Forman 1995), then a list of criteria can be derived for
these four near-natural conditions. They can also be defined by what is known about ecosystem
structure. Ecosystem integrity requires complete biotic communities, abiotic physical and
chemical factors of environments, interactions between biotic-biotic and biotic-abiotic
components, and energy flows and cycling of nutrients and chemicals. Additionally, the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) identified four groups of services that human life
requires: a) ecosystem provisioning services; b) ecosystem regulating services; c) ecosystem
cultural services; and d) ecosystem supporting services. Because these services must continue to
meet human needs, each of these services becomes an objective. Examination of each objective
within the context of the goals of sustainability and the main assumption for achieving those
goals reveals a set of prerequisites for meeting these objectives.
1. The reason that humans are interested in sustainability is that we want some assurance
that this planet will be able to sustain human life indefinitely. We remain and adapt here
or we perish (listed in column 1).
2. Because the environment is composed of complex and dynamic systems that we did not
create, but within which humanity evolved, this assurance is best provided if nature is
managed26 to maintain natural structures, functions, and processes. This assumption is a
prior condition to the sustainability goal listed above (listed in column 2).
3. Assurances that human life will be sustained is dependent upon ecosystem services as
identified in the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment (MEA 2005) (provisioning,
regulating, supporting, and cultural services), and intact social and economic systems
(listed in column 3).
4. The ecosystems services and social and economic systems listed above are co-dependent
and each is conditional upon the other five being intact. Therefore, adjacent to each
service and system is listed the other five ecosystem services (listed in column 4). The
26 This management could be achieved by Adaptive Management or natural systems managing themselves.
13
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continued functioning of each of these is dependent upon a subset of conditions. For
example an ecosystem provisioning service is the product of food stocks remaining
secure, which in-turn is the product of secure crops, livestock, capture fisheries,
aquaculture, and wild food products (these, too, are listed in column 4).
5. Column 5 aside each of the sub-set conditions listed above are the preconditions that
must be met to achieve these sub-set conditions. For example, crops are secure (column
4) and require that soil regeneration and renewal are greater than or equal to soil erosion
and depletion.
6. However, soil regeneration/renewal also depends upon soil parent material to provide
new materials and minerals. Therefore, preconditions of achieving items listed in column
5 are listed in column 6.
7. Each column to the right identifies preconditions to conditions listed in columns to the
left. These culminate in a list of criteria that can apply to land use (column 7). Often more
than one criterion will apply to an individual condition listed in columns at the left.
The above procedure identified an extensive list of criteria that apply to maintaining natural
systems so they continue to provide ecosystem services. Their use within the context of land-
remediation is to provide a structure for making sustainable land use decisions that integrate
environmental qualities and effectively manages human activities with regard to them. An
example of this search for criteria is illustrated in table 4-1 and more fully in the Appendix.
Because the ' Sustainability Goal' and the 'Assumption' that natural systems must remain intact
and able to manage themselves or be managed to mimic natural structures, functions, and
processes remains constant throughout, columns 1 and 2 that these topics occupy are omitted
from this example, but shown in the Appendix.
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Table 4-1 Example of search for criteria
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
Ecosystem
provisioning
services are
intact (MEA).
Column 4
Conditions of
column 3
Ecosystem regulating
services, ecosystem
supporting services,
ecosystem cultural
services (MEA),
social systems, and
economic systems
remain intact
Column 5
Condition of
column 4
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Condition of requirement listed in column 3
Food stocks remain
secure.
"The integrity of
interactions between
species is critical . . .
(Hassan, et al. 2005)"
Habitats exist that will
sustain minimum viable
and effective populations
of native species.
Connectivity between
habitats exist.
Criteria are determined from evaluating each
of the sub-objectives of this sub-objective. -
see below
Sub-condition to above condition
Crops are secure
Livestock is secure.
Soil regeneration and
renewal ( erosion +
depletion +
contamination
Range vegetation
provides adequate
feed.
Rangeland has
adequate vegetative
cover.
Genetic diversity is
maintained.
Adequate water is
available.
Soil parent material
provides new material and
minerals
Soil organisms (fungi,
bacteria) exist to
decompose organic and
inorganic matter. Plant
crops are not vulnerable to
widespread infestations
and diseases.
Livestock is not vulnerable
to widespread infestation
and disease.
- Soil is renewed by deposition of weathered
soil and rock.
- Adequate moisture exists to make nutrients
soluble.
- Soil chemistry and pH sustains native soil
microorganisms and plants.
- Growing trees and plants bring nutrients
from deep soils to form cellulose at the surface
where it decomposes.
- Organic natural wastes are abundant.
- Genetic diversity exists (Andersen 2006).
- Native and non-native species are isolated
from each other.
All of above criteria +
- Livestock genetic diversity exists.
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Table 4-2 - Criteria for Sustainable Natural Systems
System
Component
Productivity
Biodiversity
Soils
Water
Air/Atmosph
Energy
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Prerequisite of Intact Natural System
Productive biomass of any land area is at near-natural levels.
Native plants predominate the ecosystem
Growing trees and plants bring nutrients from deep soils to form cellulose at the surface where
they decompose.
Native coastal mangroves, wetlands, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are intact.
Water chemistry of sea-water is sufficient to maintain photosynthesizing plankton.
Genetic diversity exists.
Native and non-native species are isolated from each other.
Fragments of truly native environments remain intact.
Natural disturbance regimes exist or are simulated when they can not exist.
Distribution of redundant species is maintained across multiple time and space scales.
Habitats exist in configurations, sizes, and quality that meet physiological and behavioral needs
of native populations and communities.
Habitats are refreshed/renewed with clean water.
Native spawning/birthing/hatching sites continue to exist in useful condition.
Connectivity between spawning/birthing/hatching sites and maturation areas and return is open
and accessible (including migration).
Individual species and communities are widely dispersed beyond the range of any disturbance
regime.
Connectivity between habitats is redundant and grain is appropriate for native species.
Unique environments remain intact.
Soil minerals are renewed.
Adequate moisture exists to make nutrients soluble.
Soil chemistry and ph sustains native soil bacteria, microorganisms, and plants.
Organic natural wastes are abundant.
Ground water recharge ( withdrawals.
Surface water recharge ( all combined water uses.
Wetlands exist to purify waters.
Avenues for groundwater recharge are clean.
Air and water must be clean enough for autotrophs to live.
Water quantity and speed of surface flows meet historic cycles, durations, and intensities.
Soil compaction/impermeability and soil cover do not increase runoff above near-natural levels.
Trees/plants break the force of falling rain and loosen soil to allow absorption and slow runoff.
Sufficient forests exist to generate Hydro xyl radicals to process pollutant levels in the
atmosphere.
New deciduous forests and crops exist in higher latitudes and old forests exist to consume CO2.
Forests exist in sufficient contiguous sizes to translate and moderate energy influx.
Site
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Regional
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Criteria often apply to multiple objectives and sub-objectives as shown in column 7 of the
Appendix. This creates duplicates that were eliminated by re-arrangement of criteria into system
components, i.e., natural productivity, biodiversity, soils, water, air/atmosphere and climate,
energy, social systems, and economic systems. Criterion 44 (Resource use is linked with
investment in resource renewal.), for example, is applicable to meeting nearly all objectives at
both regional and site scales. Tables 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4 illustrate this re-arrangement to simplify
their application to land uses in the planning process. This enables land use decisions that assure
the protection of ecosystem services. It graphically illustrates which criteria must be addressed at
the site and/or regional scales to maintain ecosystem services. Boxes marked "X" identify the
scales at which criteria are applied.
16
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Table 4-3 Criteria for Sustainable Social Systems
System
Component
Social
No
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
Prerequisite of Intact Social System
A history and progression of how people faced problems is evident and transparent.
Places that provoke spiritual feelings remain intact.
Plant and animal taxonomy is documented.
People are able to freely interact and share ideas, labor, and resources.
Individuals have a voice in matters that affect them.
Risks to human life/health are known.
Human life is isolated from stochastic events.
Institutions exist to serve collective society.
Health risks are monitored and potential risks are made public.
Site
X
X
X
X
Regional
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Table 4-4 - Criteria for Sustainable Economic Systems
System
Component
Economic
No
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Prerequisite of Intact Economic System
Materials are efficiently used and reused as much as possible.
Waste is attenuated by environmental processes.
Resource use is linked with investment in resource renewal.
Qualitative community resources are improved.
Net economic effects > costs incurred to natural systems.
Net economic effects > costs incurred to social systems.
Consumption of natural resources is counted as a cost.
All costs are calculated before being incurred.
Financial resources are sufficient to maintain community infrastructures, institutions, and
services.
Site
X
X
X
X
X
X
Regional
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
The criteria of natural (Table 4-2), social (Table 4-3) and economic (Table 4-4) systems are
interrelated. Although the focus of this compilation is on criteria of intact natural systems, social
and economic systems are addressed because if they do not remain intact, natural systems will be
compromised.
4.3. A THEORY OF CRITERIA APPLICATION
The planning process enables us to meet human objectives within a set of conditions, and
concepts of sustainability and protection define these relationships. Typically, these conditions
are defined in non-environmental terms: budgets constrain how much money or time can be used
to meet objectives, building codes constrain how the building is designed to be structurally sound
and safe for occupants, and structural requirements place limits on strength and properties of
materials. Because sustainability is also a conditional relationship between human needs and
ecosystem services that largely fulfill those needs, these conditions define the environmental
constraints within which land use is possible without compromising the natural systems that
sustain human life. The use of these conditions as planning criteria provides a structured
methodology for meeting human land use objectives while retaining the environmental
conditions that also meet needs of future generations.
17
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4.3.1. Criteria Application: Example 1 - Provisioning Services
Ecosystem provisioning services supply food, fiber, materials, genetic resources, and
biochemicals and medicines. Because essential providers of these services are plants and
animals, it is essential that these survive. However, survival of species depends upon their having
the natural resources that they have evolved to utilize and require. If human land uses require
these same resources, either native species or humanity will suffer. The appendix and table 4.1
illustrate how these criteria based upon these relationships were derived. This example explains
how they are applied to land use decisions.
Nature controls whether a species will survive, but people can control whether the
opportunities for species survival exist. The challenge to those who plan land uses and make land
use decisions is to assure that land uses do not compromise the resources that are required to
sustain native species. Decision-makers can respond to criteria that relate to these species in
several ways; and land uses can take several forms:
i. The built environment should be planned to occupy land that does not affect stream flows
or quality.
ii. Dams and the need for dams that block migrating fish can be eliminated.
a. Landscapes and agriculture can consist of plants that do not need stored water
from streams/rivers to irrigate.
b. Fish ladders can be created to enable fish migrations.
iii. The built environment can be created so that surface runoff volume, velocity, intensity,
and duration are no greater than without development.
iv. The built environment can assure that water quality is maintained in all stream flows.
a. Landscape barriers between development and streams can be created so that all
runoff is filtered before it enters streams and water quality is maintained.
b. Waste water can be processed before entering streams.
c. Activities that block fish migrations by increasing stream temperatures can be
avoided.
v. The built environment can be created using environmentally friendly materials and
processes that do not pollute waters.
vi. Timber production, road construction, and building construction can avoid creating
sediments in streams.
18
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vii. Agriculture can avoid excessive use of nitrates that leach into streams and create hypoxia
zones at sea.
4.3.2. Criteria Application: Example 2 - Regulating Services
Ecosystem regulating services maintain air, atmosphere, soil, and water qualities. They also
control pests and diseases, assure pollination, and moderate natural hazards. We do not have the
ability to provide these services sufficient to meet human needs and nature gives them freely.
This example illustrates one of these services, air quality.
Condition or sub-objective: Air quality regulation occurs.
1st level Condition: Atmospheric CC>2, methane, nitrous oxide, and other green-
house gases remain balanced.
2nd level Condition: Natural quantities of hydroxyl radicals exist in the
atmosphere to convert pollutants into less harmful chemicals (Hassan, et
al. 2005).
3rd level Condition: Sufficient forests exist to generate hydroxyl
radicals to process pollutants in the atmosphere.
This third level condition can be used to affect land use change during the planning process. The
challenge to planners is to create the built environment that keeps these forests intact or reduces
the amount of forests that are needed to compensate for the effects of the built environment.
Planning responses that change land uses can take several forms.
i. The built environment can be planned to occupy land where forests do not grow.
ii. Land within such forests can be used in a manner that keeps forest intact.
iii. Agricultural lands can be reconfigured to restore units of forest.
iv. Land no longer used by people can be reclaimed as forests.
v. The built environment can be planned so that sufficient acreage of forest land remains
intact.
a. Transport vehicles can be designed to use non-polluting fuels.
b. Communities can be designed to be walkable so that fewer polluting vehicles are
needed.
c. Mass transit can be implemented to reduce the number of polluting vehicles.
d. Buildings can be designed to use renewable energy.
e. Food can be produced locally so that fewer vehicle miles are needed for transport.
19
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4.3.3. Criteria Application: Example 3 - Regulating Service
This second example of regulating services addresses climate change.
Condition or sub-objective: Climate is naturally regulated and unaffected by people.
1st level Condition: Greenhouse gases do not accumulate in the atmosphere
beyond their ability to return to normal background levels.
2nd level Condition: Rooted plants pump water from soil and release it into
air as water vapor (Prugh, et al. 1999).
3rd level Condition: Native plants predominate across the
landscape27.
4th level Condition: Minimum viable habitats exist beyond
the range of stochastic events
4th level Condition: Obligatory dependent species exist.
The use of these conditions as planning criteria prescribes and measures the impact of alternative
land use decisions related to climate. Planning responses to these criteria can be to:
i. Use native plants to landscape the built environment.
ii. Configure the built environment in the voids between contiguous viable habitats.
iii. Develop more compact built environments to protect native landscapes.
iv. Eliminate the use of fuels that pose risks to native plants in the form of acid rain.
4.3.4 Criteria Application: Example 4 - Cultural Services
Ecosystems are valuable to human culture because they create cultural diversity provide
knowledge systems, inspire us, provide a sense of place and recreation, and are integral to
spiritual, religious, and education values. This example examines cultural diversity.
Condition or sub-objective: Cultural diversity.
1st level Condition: A cultural memory exists from which to learn how to live so
that the resource base is sustained.
2nd level Condition: A history and progression of how people faced past
problems is evident and easily interpreted.
Planning responses to this second level condition or criterion can be:
27 Because native plants are well-adapted to local environments, they provide some assurance that the level 3
prerequisite can be met.
20
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i. Land uses conform to local climate, geology, habitat requirements of native species, plant
and animal community ecology, natural disturbance regimes, etc.
ii. Buildings are shaped by local climate and materials availability, and the physical form of
the built environment reflects the combination of local influences that reflect uniqueness
of place.
4.3.5. Criteria Application: Example 5 - Supporting Services
Ecosystem supporting services are ecological processes that maintain the integrity and
functionality of the environment.
Condition or sub-objective: Geochemical cycling, storage, mineral-gaseous cycles, and
water and air quality is maintained.
1st level Prerequisites: Raw materials are extracted from the ground without
increasing concentration or byproducts in the ecosphere (Rosenblum 1999a), and
manufactured or disposed materials do not become concentrated in the ecosphere
(Rosenblum 1999b).
2nd level Prerequisites to both of the above:
Materials are efficiently used and reused.
Wastes are released into the environment-at-large in amounts that
can be transformed or attenuated by extant environmental
processes.
Environmental impacts are systematically counteracted to the
extent possible.
Planning responses to this criterion can be:
i. Minimizing disturbances to land during development of the built environment
ii. Use of renewable resources rather than mined resources
iii. Developing the built environment on already disturbed land while minimizing
disturbance of natural areas
iv. Use of recycled materials rather than new materials
v. Reclaiming damaged lands
vi. Employing trees and plants (phytoremediation) to extract geological and produced
chemicals from soils
21
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vii. Planing the built environment so that less material is needed and less embodied energy is
required to produce materials
4.4. THEORETICAL EVALUATION OF CRITERIA USE
An evaluation of the use of the criteria developed above is based upon three outcomes.
1. Is EPA's mission to protect and safeguard human health and the environment closer to
being realized?
2. Is the vitality of these sites increased?
3. Is the environment more sustained and able to sustain human life and activities?
The first measures of the criteria developed above are whether the intent of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Environmental Protection Agency's central objectives
are realized: (a) Has a productive and enjoyable harmony between humanity and environment
been achieved? A harmonious relationship requires that the needs of one party to the relationship
are reflected in the actions of the other party. Because Nature is a non-negotiating party to this
relationship, only humanity can adjust its actions to conform to the needs of nature. The criteria
in this report establish the conditions of this relationship and enable people to integrate these into
land use decisions, (b) Are efforts promoted that will prevent or eliminate damage to the
environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of people? The only way to
prevent damage and provide protection is to anticipate and evaluate possible outcomes of
activities before actions are implemented. Because the criteria in this report are applied in the
planning process, these criteria allows for prior evaluation . The health and welfare of people are
interwoven with the health of the economy and the environment. Conditions of all three of these
were used to develop the criteria in this report. Their use as planning criteria enables prior
consideration and integration into human land use activities, (c) Has the understanding of the
ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation been enriched? Criteria
developed in this report are based on relationships between society, the economy, and the
environment within a dual context, that humanity both affects ecosystem services and is the
beneficiary of them. Application of these criteria within the planning process is pivotal to
understanding how Nature and Nation are interconnected.
Secondly, these criteria should measure whether sites to which they have been applied have
more value. If valuable, these criteria should enhance a site's contribution toward more robust
economic, social, and environmental systems. Applied to land that is subject to cleanup and
22
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reuse, these criteria provide human, economic, and environmental contexts for infusing new life
into lands where life has waned. Because opportunities for application of these criteria are fewer
on sites that are already developed and contained within the urban fabric, sites to be revitalized
require renewal of the site within larger spatial and temporal contexts.
Land use decisions are predominantly issued within the context of a bounded parcel of land.
These are addressed by programs such as LEED28, Green Globes29, Sustainable Sites Initiative30,
New Urbanism31, and Smart Growth32. They provide decision support tools that minimize the
environmental impacts of land use decisions. These tools are essential to enable environmentally
responsible site development. However, minimizing environmental impacts are not enough to
sustain the environment. Effects of those land uses will radiate from the site into the broader
local, regional, landscape, continental, and global environments where site owners and users
have no authority. This presents those involved in land remediation with three issues to resolve if
land remediation is to be instrumental in environmental sustainability. First, land is typically
revitalized one site at a time so that there are seldom any decisions that can be made off site or at
a regional scale. Although individual sites are included in regional environments, the regional
context of land use decisions is not subject to change. Second, because the land is already
impacted by the proximate built environment, the option to resolve environmental impacts before
development is not available. Third, land remediation does not determine whether progress
toward sustainability33 occurs; sustainability is the product of how land is used after remediation.
These land remediation issues can be resolved as follows:
1. Cleaning a site to remove or isolate its risks to human life and the environment is the
starting point. Because procedures for site remediation exist, they are not addressed here.
28 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building program by the US Green Building Council.
http://www.usgbc.org/
29 Green Globes is a green building program by the Canadian equivalent of the LEED program (see above).
http://www.greenglobes.com/design/homeca.asp
30 Sustainable Sites Initiative is a program by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center, and the US Botanic Garden to measuring how a site can protect, restore and regenerate
ecosystem services, http://www.sustainablesites.org/report/
31 The Congress of New Urbanism is establishing new standards for green design at the neighborhood
http://www.cnu.org/
32 The Smart Growth Network us a partnership between the US EPA and several non-profit and government
organizations to encourage development that serves the economy, community and the environment.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/about/default.asp
33 One Cleanup Program (OCP) is an EPA initiative promoting cross-program coordination in EPA's Land
Revitalization Office to ensure that cleaned sites remain clean.
http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/tools/lts fs 10 2006.pdf
23
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2. The site's functional roles in natural systems must be restored. After remediation, land
revitalization sites must be addressed individually within a natural systems framework.
Because nature's response to how we use land is the ultimate measure of our land use
decisions, this natural systems context is essential.
3. New land uses on the site must retain the site's restored natural system structures,
functions, and processes. The criteria for re-establishing a natural systems framework
will enable these land use decisions to be made. Because new development will also
impact the broader environment, a community-wide program that enables land users to
participate in counteracting the broader effects of land uses on individual sites must be
enacted.
Third, as the title of this report suggests, an important measure of these criteria is whether the
restored environment is more sustained and better able to sustain human life and activities.
Development of these criteria is based upon protecting and perpetuating the ecosystem services
that sustain human life. If human activities are also planned to keep natural systems intact, then
the environment should also be more sustained.
4.4.1. Evaluation of Sustainability Criteria
Questions concerning these criteria may relate to the feasibility of their use and whether
this list is accurate, complete, and sufficient to enable land use decisions that also keep natural,
social, and economic systems intact. Because these criteria will be used before they are verified
by science, it is likely that these criteria are incomplete. Their application should reveal that
some criteria developed here are not useful, need refinement, or new criteria will be required.
4.4.2. Feasibility of Using Planning Criteria
Applications of criteria that relate to intact natural systems are feasible because they
merely add another layer of conditions to a planning process that already exists and to which all
participants are familiar.
A first question about the feasibility of using criteria relates more to whether sufficient
information exists to enable good decisions. Many of the gaps in our knowledge of ecosystems
(Heinz 2002) could inhibit the ability of planners to adequately meet some of these criteria.
These gaps are important but do not paralyze one's ability to make land use decisions. These
criteria define environmental qualities that we want to maintain; therefore, all potential land uses
24
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can be evaluated before they are made. These criteria instruct how to make decisions and
measure them.
A second question regarding feasibility relates to economic considerations. Because of
the costs of delaying a project, adding a review to address natural systems will undoubtedly cost
more than not doing so. However, low impact development procedures, e.g., how to handle
storm water (PBS 2008), can be less expensive than more traditional engineered solutions.
Concerns over costs often evaluate short and immediate costs and neglect long-term costs. If
these environmental costs are considered, the importance of using criteria to plan land uses that
eliminate environmental impacts becomes readily apparent.
A third question of feasibility relates to whether anyone can be required to meet these
preconditions. Washington State recently required that new home developments reduce the flow
of polluted storm water to local water systems (PBS 2008). This may eventually be tested in the
courts; however, numerous precedents exist that impose legal requirements on land uses. Zoning
codes have been formalized since 1916, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld zoning in 1926 in
Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company. This case challenged that zoning constituted a taking of
property rights.
A similar challenge could be made against any regulation that required the imposition of
these criteria in making land use decisions. However, these criteria do not infringe on property
rights. They merely state that an individual can use owned property as current laws allow as-
long-as such use meets certain criteria. The fact that meeting these criteria would also align such
land uses with the rights of downstream property owners and all of society who also have rights
and would be affected by such land uses should strengthen the legal case for using these criteria.
4.4.3. Sufficiency of criteria
As land use development to meet human needs continues without considering natural
systems, these systems will be compromised. If humans are to avoid serious decrease in
environmental quality, they must consider the impacts their actions will have on the
environment. The value of these criteria is that they provide a means to consider functioning
natural systems in the decision-making process well in advance of impacting land.
If every planning team were to ask how to meet human needs within these preconditions
of natural systems, meeting these criteria within the planning process will enable us to meet both
objectives. Compiling the results of implemented plans will form a catalogue of responses that
25
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will be applicable to many land uses and different environmental conditions. Even if this set of
criteria is insufficient, it enables consideration of natural systems during current land use
decisions. Attempts to use these criteria constitute experiments that will generate data to improve
them and to test the hypothesis presented earlier in this report. These experiments will help to
develop a firm scientific basis for creating a sustainable human-environment relationship.
26
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5. CONCLUSIONS
Land uses often become outmoded leaving under-utilized and sometimes polluted sites
that have little value and impose costs to these communities. Communities must pay for urban
infrastructures that bypass these sites without obtaining revenue from them and must add
infrastructures to newly developed lands. These costs could be eliminated and revenues
generated if outmoded sites were revitalized with new uses. The question is how these sites can
be renewed so that they will be sustained by environmental, social, and economy systems, that
will be able to sustain human life. The interrelationships among these three systems make each
conditional upon the others. Because meeting conditional human objectives is achieved in the
planning process, these relationships can be accommodated if the essential attributes of these
intact systems can be identified. This report identified the criteria for making land use decisions,
but their application to sites subject to land remediation requires that these criteria be applied
within the spatial and temporal contexts of land remediation on proximate sites. Remediation and
redevelopment of any individual site may contribute to a local economy and society, but little to
sustaining the ecosystem within which it is contained. This will require that natural structures,
functions, and processes that usually reside on or in the land be renewed and reconnected to the
ecosystem. This is possible if land use decisions made on each site are made within an
ecosystems context, so that decisions made on all sites over time will be made using the same
ecosystem references or criteria. This report developed the criteria for making sustainable land
use decisions and established the natural systems contexts that give order to land use decisions
on sites subject to land-revitalization.
27
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APPENDIX
Essential Attributes of Natural Systems
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
Ecosystem
Provisioning
services are
intact
(Sarukhan and
Whyte2005).
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Ecosystem Regulating
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem Supporting
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Social systems remain
intact (see column 3).
and
Economic systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Natural processes exist:
Energy flux, dissipation, climate
modulation.
Hydrological flux, hydrological cycle, water
quality.
Biological productivity, plant pollination.
Biogeochemical cycling, storage, mineral-
gaseous cycles, water-air quality.
Decomposition, weathering, soil
development-stability, soil quality.
Biological diversity.
Absorbing, buffering, diluting, detoxifying
pollutants-zenobiotics.
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Condition of requirement listed in column 3
"
"
"
-
-
"
"
-
Food stocks remain secure
"The integrity of interactions between
species is critical for the long-term
preservation of human food production on
land and in the sea (Hassan, et al. 2005)."
Habitats exist that will sustain minimum viable
and effective populations of native species and
connectivity between habitats exist.
See criteria below
Sub-condition to above condition
Crops are secure.
"
"
Livestock is secure.
Capture fisheries are
secure.
-
"
"
-
Soil regeneration and renewal < erosion +
depletion.
"
"
Range vegetation provides adequate feed.
Rangeland has healthy vegetative cover.
Genetic diversity is maintained.
Adequate water is available for livestock.
Viable populations of native fishes exist.
-
"
"
-
Soil parent material provides new material and
minerals.
"
Soil organisms (fungi and bacteria) exist to
decompose organic and inorganic matter.
Plant crops are not vulnerable to widespread
infestations and diseases.
Livestock is not vulnerable to widespread
infestations and diseases.
Native communities are sufficiently intact to fend
off non-native invasive species, or invasive
species are artificially controlled.
Fishes have the ability to repopulate after their
population has been decimated by capture or
stochastic events.
Fish capture s population renewal and
replenishment.
Viable populations of native anadromous fishes
have access to spawning beds.
Pelagic habitats sustain minimum viable
populations of native fishes.
Pelagic resources are sufficient to sustain
reproducing fish populations + predations +
harvests.
-
Freshwater habitats exist
1 . Deposition of weathered soil and rock occurs on site.
2. Growing trees and plants bring nutrients from deep soils
to cellulose where it decomposes on site.
3. Soil chemistry and pH sustains native soil bacteria,
microorganisms, and plants.
4. Plant genetic diversity exists (Andersen 2006).
See notes above
5. Livestock genetic diversity exists.
6. Fish habitats exist in sizes, and configurations that are
able to sustain fish populations.
7. Habitat connectivity and interaction exists
8. Rivers and stream are negotiable to migrating fishes in
upstream and downstream directions.
9. Native spawning beds continue to exist in useful
condition.
10. Water chemistry of sea-water is sufficient to maintain
photosynthesizing plankton.
1 1 . Viable pelagic fish populations must exist in habitats
beyond the range of stochastic or man-made event that
would risk loss of any population .
12. Supply of clean water is available to renew freshwater
habitats.
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
-
11
11
-
"
-
"
11
-
"
11
11
Column 4
Condition of column 3
-
Aquaculture is secure.
Wild food products are
secure.
11
11
"
-
11
Column 5
Condition of column 4
-
Aquaculture relieves pressures on wild
fishes.
Nature's diversity is more sustained
(Moiling 2000).
Diverse forms of native life thrive in viable
communities
11
11
-
"
-
"
11
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Fish nurseries exist in nutrient rich coastal
areas.
Genetic diversity is conserved and
integrity of aquatic communities are maintained
(Gaard 1998).
Minimum viable populations (MVP) of native
species exist.
Minimum genetically effective populations of
native species exist.
Environmental dependencies are met, and
obligate and symbiotic relationships are fulfilled.
11
11
-
"
-
"
The environment exists in forms to which
behaviors of different species have adapted.
The environment exists in forms that meet
physiological needs of native species.
Soil renewal/generation < depletion / loss.
Native seed stock and genetic material exists.
Column 7
Criteria
13. Native coastal mangroves, wetlands, sea grass beds,
and coral reefs remain intact or are restored.
1 4. Aquaculture and native fishes are isolated from each
other.
15. Habitats exist that will maintain MVP beyond the range
of stochastic events.
16. Habitat connectivity meets native species requirements
and is redundant.
17. Native habitats exist in forms that sustain minimum
dynamic populations of native species in native
communities.
18. Resources exist to support migratory species.
19. Unique environments are protected.
20. Natural disturbance regimes exist or are simulated
where they can not exist.
21 . Nursery and spawning areas remain undisturbed.
22. Migration routes remain open between maturation areas
and birth/spawning areas, and between summer and winter
feeding areas.
23. Distribution of redundant species is maintained across
multiple time and space scales (Albert! 2005 from Nystrom
and Folke 2001).
24. Connectivity between habitats is redundant and grain is
appropriate for native species.
25. Environment meets behavioral requirements for native
species, e.g., night light over oceans is greater than land so
as to attract young turtles to the ocean upon hatching.
(species specific)
26. The environment meets physiological needs of native
species, e.g., soil moisture content is sufficient to sustain
native plants (species specific).
See 1,2, and 3.
See 15-26.
Sub-conditions to above condition
Water replenishes living
cells with nutrients,
regulates and renews
bodily fluids and
temperature, and removes
wastes.
-
"
Fiber
Timber
Water quantity is sufficient to hydrate
living cells.
Damaging forces of water are limited to
background levels except for catastrophic
events.
Water quality poses no risk to life.
Earth forming sculpting capacity is
maintained.
Soils are fertile.
Soils are fertile.
Water use (direct + indirect + amount needed to
sustain other essential life) s water
replenishment (natural hydrological cycles +
technology + recycling)
All surface and ground water is free of
contaminates
See above
See above
27. Projected water demand is calculated prior to use and
use is limited to availability.
28. Trees/plants break the force of falling rain and loosen
soil to allow absorption and slow runoff (Prugh, etal. 1999)
29. Avenues for groundwater recharge are clean
30. Water quantity and speed of surface flows meet historic
cycles, durations, and intensities.
See above
See above
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
11
11
Ecosystem
Regulating
services are
intact
(Sarukhan and
Whyte2005).
"
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Cotton, hemp, silk
Wood fuel
Genetic resources
Biochemicals, natural
medicines, and
Pharmaceuticals
Ecosystem provisioning
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem supporting
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Social systems remain
intact (see column 3).
and
Economic systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Soils are fertile.
Soils are fertile.
The cumulative environmental impact of
obtaining food, fiber, and energy s the
capacity of the environment to renew
these resources.
Native biodiversity is intact
See food and wild genes above.
Energy is exchanged in trophic regimes.
1st level -Primary producers or native
green plants
2nd level - Primary consumers or
herbivores (animals and insects)
3rd level - secondary consumers or
carnivores
4th level - tertiary consumers or carnivores
that feed on other carnivores
5th level - decomposers or organisms
such as fungi and bacteria that break
down dead or dying matter in to nutrients.
Energy gradients are neutralized.
Column 6
Condition of column 5
See above
See above
Species composition is maintained.
Native plant communities exist in viable dynamic
populations.
Species have the ability to repopulate after
decimated by stochastic events.
Environments that native species are adapted to
remain intact.
See food and wild genes above.
Native plant and animal species exist in native
communities.
Energy is translated and moderated (Mollison
2001).
Column 7
Criteria
See above
See above
See 46-48,
31. Habitats are capable of supporting minimum dynamic
populations of native species.
32. Habitats exist in sizes and distributions that can sustain
native populations beyond the range of disturbance
regimes.
See 15-26.
See 20.
See 1,3, 6-13, 15-32.
See 1,3, 6-1 3, 15-32.
33. Forests exist in sufficient contiguous sizes to translate
and moderate the amount of energy that is incoming.
Conditions of requirement listed in column 3
-
-
-
-
Air quality regulation
-
Atmospheric gas
regulation
-
-
Atmospheric C02, methane, nitrous oxide,
and other GHG remain balanced.
The process of soil respiration oxidizes
carbohydrates
Plant growth results in a net withdrawal of
C02 from the atmosphere and sequesters
C in plant tissues.and releases 62 to the
atmosphere (Prugh, etal. 1999).
Photolysis uses high UV radiation to break
down water and nitrite into component
atoms H and N and allows them to escape
into space leaving 62 in the atmosphere.
Bacteria keep nitrogen, sulfur, and
phosphorus in circulation (Prugh, etal.
1999).
Natural quantities of Hydroxyl radicals exist in
the atmosphere to convert pollutants into less
harmful chemicals (Hassan, etal. 2005)
Denitrifying bacteria frees nitrogen from wastes
and returns it to the atmosphere.
Natural productivity is at near-natural condition.
Oceans sustain photosynthesis.
34. Sufficient forests exist to generate Hydroxyl radicals to
meet pollutant levels in the atmosphere.
See 3.
35. Productive biomass of any land-area meets historic
levels.
See 38.
See 3.
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
-
"
"
-
-
"
11
-
11
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Climate regulation (global)
Climate regulation
(regional and local)
Carbon cycle is
maintained.
"
Nitrogen cycle is
maintained.
11
Water cycle is maintained.
-
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Ecosystems modulate the gaseous
composition of the atmosphere (Prugh, et
al. 1999).
Evapotranspiration and energy flux
remains at historic patterns.
Climate is naturally regulated and
unaffected by human influences.
Carbon cycle is maintained in the
atmosphere.
Carbon is maintained in the biosphere.
Carbon is maintained in the ocean
Nitrogen compounds (proteins and nucleic
acids) are available to all living things.
Nitrogen is incorporated into compounds,
e.g., nitrate ions, ammonia, and urea.
-
"
11
-
Hydrologic system is intact.
-
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Ecosystem structures, functions, and processes
remain intact.
Rooted plants pump water from soil and release
it into air as water vapor (Prugh, etal. 1999).
Greenhouse gases do not accumulate in the
atmosphere beyond its ability to return to
threshold levels.
Photosynthesizing plants convert C02 into
carbohydrates and release 62.
Autotrophs produce organic compounds using
CCMrom air or water.
Photosynthesizing forests on land and
phytoplankton in oceans produce 62.
Long term carbon storage and release is through
natural processes and unaffected by human
acts.
No human influences on carbon exchange
between ocean and atmosphere.
Lightning breaks nitrogen molecules enabling
their atoms to combine with 62 to form nitrogen
oxides.
Rain dissolves nitrogen oxides forming nitrates
and carries them to earth.
Bacteria and archaea form symbiotic
relationships with plants to form ammonia to be
incorporated into protein and organic nitrogen
compounds.
Microorganisms break down molecules in
excretions and dead organisms into ammonia.
Plants take up ammonia through their roots and
convert it into nitrates.
Autotrophic nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas
oxidize NH3 to nitrites (N02) and Nitrobachter
oxidize nitrites into nitrates (NOs) making
nitrogen available to plant roots.
Archaeal microbes convert ammonia to nitrites.
Legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen and convert
organic nitrogen to nitrites and nitrates and
release them to soil when they shed their leaves.
Denitrification reduces nitrates to nitrogen gas
replenishing the atmosphere.
Bacteria living deep in anaerobic soil and
sediments use nitrates as an alternative to 62 in
respiration . (see Air Quality Respiration Col 4)
Solar energy vaporizes surface water.
Plants transpire
Column 7
Criteria
See 1-36.
36. Native plants predominate
See 36.
37. New deciduous forests and crops exist in higher
latitudes. Old forests exist to consume CCt
38. Air and water must be clean enough for autotrophs to
live.
See 37.
See 35-37.
38. Ocean chemistry and pH sustains native planktonic
communities.
39. Plant and animal wastes are abundant.
See 1-4, 27-30, 35, 36
See above
See above
See above
See above
See above
See above
See above
See 2, 3, 36,
Unrelated to human activities
See 36.
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
-
-
-
-
"
11
"
"
-
-
"
"
11
Column 4
Condition of column 3
-
Water regulation
Erosion regulation
-
Water purification and
waste treatment
11
Disease regulation
Pest regulation
-
Pollination
Natural hazard regulation
"
11
Column 5
Condition of column 4
-
-
Timing and magnitude of runoff, flooding,
and aquifer recharge are near historic
patterns.
Erosion and its deposits assist land
sculpting and land formation.
Earth resists erosive forces and holds
depositions.
Wetlands exist to purify waters.
Waters flow to enable water aeration.
The amount of contaminant < capacity of
water attenuation.
Diseases rarely overwhelm populations.
The human body is resilient against
diseases, infections, and pathogens.
Infestations restart the process of
succession without decimating ecosystem
provisioning services.
Stocks exist to recover from infestations.
Redundant means of plant pollination
exist.
Pollinators survive.
Climate and energy gradients < historic
Climate hazards to land areas are within
stochastic regimes.
"
11
-
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Solar energy combined with variations of altitude
and latitude creates uneven heating of surfaces
driving air circulation, carrying and distributing
water vapor.
Warmer moist air condenses in cooler dryer air
to form precipitation.
Precipitation replenishes surface and ground
water.
Trees/plants break the force of falling rain and
loosen soil to allow absorption and slow runoff
(Prugh, etal. 1999)
Patterns of erosion follow historic patterns.
Plant roots anchor soils (Prugh, etal. 1999).
Hydric soils and plants process water.
Turbulence exists in flowing water.
Natural structures and systems are robust to
develop natural resistances.
Microorganisms of the human body remain
intact.
Full complement of natural enemies exists to
resist and recover from infestations.
Full complement of genetic resources exists for
succession.
Native plants offer resources that pollinators
require.
Air, water, other insects, and pathogens pose no
threats to pollinator vitality.
Soil carbon is at natural background levels.
Soils remain receptive to natural precipitation.
Native plants hold moisture
Wetlands, lakes, soils process and store
precipitation.
Column 7
Criteria
Unrelated to human activities
Unrelated to human activities
See 27-30, 35, 36, Distribution of precipitation is influenced
as it would be with native vegetation. Storage of
precipitation is the same as it would be with native
vegetation.
See 27-30.
See 1-4, 28.
See 1-4.
See 27, 29, 30.
See 28-30.
See 29.
Nearly all apply.
See 15-26, 31,32.
See 36.
Nearly all apply.
See 36. Native forests remain sufficiently intact so as to
the plant's soil carbon.
(http://en.wikipedia.orq/wiki/Carbon cycle )
40. Soil compaction and soil cover does not increase runoff
above background levels.
See 36.
See 27, 29, 30.
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Natural
systems
remain intact
and able to
manage
themselves.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
Ecosystem
cultural
services are
intact
(Sarukhan and
Whyte2005).
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Ecosystem provisioning
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem regulating
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem supporting
services remain intact (see
columnS).
and
Social systems remain
intact (see column 3).
and
Economic systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Conditions of requirement listed in column 3
"
11
-
-
-
Cultural diversity
Knowledge systems
Educational values
Inspiration and aesthetic
values
Sense of place
Cultural heritage values
Recreation and ecotourism
Social relations
A cultural memory exists from which to
learn.
Fragments of truly native environments
remain intact.
Remnant native plants exist in viable
numbers in viable native habitats.
Plant and animal taxonomy is known.
Diversity of experiences is possible.
Complete fully functioning remnants of
every ecosystem remain intact.
Unique traits of native ecosystems remain.
Unique and typical human cultural
responses to local and regional
environmental conditions are
recognizable.
Typical human responses to local and
regional environmental conditions are
recognizable.
Natural areas exist.
Diverse environments exist.
Complete fully functioning remnants of
every ecosystem remain intact.
Problems get resolved quickly and
efficiently.
Natural systems remain intact.
Unique physical features of the environment
remain intact.
All interrelationships remain intact.
41 . A history and progression of how people faced
problems is evident and transparent.
43. Fragments of truly native environments remain intact.
See 15-26, 30-32
44. Plant and animal taxonomy is documented.
See 15-26, 30-32
See 15-26, 30-32
See 29, 41.
See 41.
All apply.
45. People are able to freely interact and share ideas, labor,
and resources.
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
Ecosystem
supporting
services are
intact
(Sarukhan and
Whyte2005).
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Ecosystem provisioning
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem regulating
services are intact (see
column 3)
and
Social systems remain
intact (see column 3).
and
Economic systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Conditions of requirement listed in column 3
-
-
"
-
Geochemical cycling,
storage, mineral-gaseous
cycles, and water-air
quality is maintained.
-
Soil formation
-
"
-
-
Raw materials must be extracted from the
ground without their concentration in the
ecosphere (Rosenblum 1999a)
Manufactured materials can not become
concentrated in the ecosphere
(Rosenblum 1999b).
Native soil parent materials exist.
Soil losses do not exceed background
levels.
Soil parent material is subject to
weathering and decomposition
The process of weathering breaks down
parent material (rocks) into soil particles.
"
Soil losses are balanced with soil
formation (natural + technological
generations and maintenance)
Nitrogen is fixed at natural background
level of about 10 million tones per year
The amount of reactive nitrogen in
terrestrial ecosystems remains at the level
that natural N-fixation occurs.
Sulfur is fixed at natural background level.
Soil organisms, bacteria, yeast cells, fungi,
algae, and protozoa contribute to soil fertility and
waste decomposition breaking it into C, H, N, S
and P so they can be used again by other plants
(Prugh, etal. 1999).
and processes that spread seeds, nourish soils,
etc, continue to exist.
Plants and animals accelerate weathering by
contributing C02 and organic acids (Prugh, etal.
1999).
Decomposing microorganisms release C02 and
hbO into soil and leave humus.
Decomposing microorganisms release C02 and
hbO into soil and leave humus.
Decomposition, weathering, soil development-
stability, soil quality renew soils at rates >
erosion + soil depletion.
Soil remains clean enough to sustain
microorganisms that allow soil bacteria to live in
association with roots.
Organisms exist that feed on plants with nitrogen
fixing roots, and release it in organic wastes
Sufficient microorganisms exist to convert sulfur
into sulfide.
Sulfur is not exposed to oxygen and water.
46. Materials are efficiently used and reused as much as
possible.
47. Waste is attenuated by environmental processes.
48. All environmental impacts are systematically
counteracted.
See 46-48.
See 1-3, 27-29.
See 1-3, 15-26,27-29.
See 2, 3.
See 2, 3.
See 1-3.
See 1-4, 27-30, 35, 36
See 1-4, 27-30, 35, 36
See 1-3. 27-29. 46-48
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
-
-
-
"
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Hydrologic flux, hydrologic
cycle, and water quality is
maintained.
Primary production
-
Nutrient cycling
Energy flux, dissipation,
and climate modulation is
maintained.
Climate is not changed by
anthropogenic causes.
Absorbing, buffering,
diluting, detoxifying
pollutants-zenobiotics.
Biological productivity is
maintained.
-
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Phosphorus (P) residue is restricted to
agriculture uptake with no residues
released to any aquatic ecosystem so that
only natural P cycles exist in the
environment.
Stream/river flows follow historic patterns
Primary producers are able to convert
sunlight to biomass
-
Nutrient loads in streams/rivers and water
bodies is unaffected by human activities.
Solar energy is converted to usable heat,
kinetic, and light energy.
The amount of incoming solar radiation
and infra-red re-radiation is balanced.
Pollutants-zenobiotics do not exceed the
ability of natural systems to process them.
Net primary productivity (NPP) follows
natural trajectory.
-
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Aquatic ecosystems contain only natural P
cycles.
Wetlands, lakes, soils process and store
precipitation.
Photosynthesizing vegetation breaks down C02
and H in water to create sugars and 0.
Photosynthesizing phytoplankton in oceans
breaks down C02 and H in water to create
sugars and 62.
Photosynthesizing cyanobacterium
Prochlorococcus in oceans breaks down C02
and water to create sugars and 62.
Elements extracted from the geosphere remain
below toxic levels in the ecosphere (Rosenblum
1999a).
Elements produced by society remain below
toxic levels in the ecosphere (Rosenblum 1999).
Natural disturbance and serai recovery regimes
remain intact.
Nature's functions and diversity are not
impoverished by physical displacement, over-
harvesting, or ecosystem manipulation
(Rosenblum 1999c).
Column 7
Criteria
See 1,4, 46-48.
See 27, 29, 30.
See 35, 36.
See 10.
See 10.
See 29, 30.
See 20, 36.
See 46-48
See 46-48
See 20, 36.
See 1-40,
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Social
systems
remain intact
or
Human
behavior,
organizationa
I structures,
and
institutional
arrangement
s mediate the
relationships
between
people and
nature
(Moiling 2000)
Column 3
Requirement to
sustain human
life
Social systems
assure that all
people will have
the opportunity to
meet needs, that
their needs will
be provided when
faced with
nature's
capriciousness,
and that
investments will
be made for the
benefit of society.
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Ecosystem provisioning
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem Regulating
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem supporting
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Economic systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Conditions of requirement listed in column 3
Physiological
needs of human
life are satisfied
(see 'provisioning
services' above).
"
Safety/Security
A predictable and
orderly world.
Personal security
-
-
The means of human
livelihood is accessible,
human opportunities are
richer (Moiling 2000).
"
Natural systems that
sustain human life remain
intact.
Equity and justice is
afforded everyone
Institutions exist to serve
collective humanity.
Community values affect
change
"
Breathing
Drinking
Eating
Excreta
Sex: The number of births + immigrants <
mortality
Human actions and behaviors become
aligned with conditions of intact natural
systems.
Direction of change is a product of human
values.
Individual change is within the context of
collective social interests.
The atmosphere contains a mix of gasses that
human life requires.
Approximately 5 liters of potable
water/person/day is available for consumption.
Food provides dietary reference intakes and
estimated energy requirements per USDA and
Institute of Medicine, National Academies
Soil organisms, bacteria, yeast cells, fungi,
algae, and protozoa contribute to soil fertility and
waste decomposition breaking it into C, H, N, S
and P so they can be used again by other plants
(Prugh, etal. 1999).
The population is viable and genetically
effective.
Social systems are planned to meet human
needs within conditions of intact natural
systems.
Economic systems are planned to meet human
needs within conditions of intact natural
systems.
Justice prevails.
Human rights are institutionalized.
Values are known.
A structure exists for making social decisions.
Individual decisions relative to society reflect
individual values.
See "Air quality regulation" and "Atmospheric gas
regulation" under "Ecosystem regulating services"
See "Water replenishes..." under "Ecosystem
provisioning services"
See "Food stocks", "Crops", "Livestock", "Capture
fisheries", "Aquaculture", and "Wild plant and animal food
products" under "Ecosystem provisioning services"
See Natural Systems conditions above.
See Natural Systems conditions above.
See 52.
See 52.
49. Individuals have a voice in matters that affect them.
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Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
Social
systems
remain intact
or
Human
behavior,
organizationa
I structures,
and
institutional
arrangement
s mediate the
relationships
between
people and
nature
(Moiling 2000)
Column 3
Requirement to
sustain human
life
Financial security
Health and well-
being
"
"
-
"
-
-
Safety nets
against
accidents,
illnesses, nature's
capricousness
"
"
"
11
-
"
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Opportunities to live a
healthy life are possible.
Opportunities to recover
lost health are assured.
Pursuit of either does not
compromise personal or
financial security.
Human life is shielded from
harmful radiation.
Human health needs are
met
-
Stochastic events pose
minimal risk to human life.
Risks to human life and
health are known.
"
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Human body temperature is maintained @
98.6 F
Pathogens strengthen human natural
defenses without overwhelming them.
Atmospheric ozone remains intact to
absorb UV-B solar radiation.
Exposure limits for all human health risks.
50 liters of clean water is available per
person per day for sanitation, bathing, and
cooking (Asian Development Bank)
Medical institutions and laboratories exist
to solve and find ways to prevent illnesses
and injuries.
Natural systems retain native diversity that
reduces risks of infectious diseases in
humans (Hassan, etal. 2005).
Human life is not subjected to hazardous
effects of known natural disturbances.
Upland vegetation remains intact
(especially forests).
Energy gradients are dissipated without
harm to human life.
Society is shielded from invasions.
Effects of Nature's capriciousness is borne
by society.
Right to safe environment is
institutionalized
Population never exceeds carrying
capacity of natural systems.
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Labor and a means to exchange labor for goods
and services are guaranteed.
Food, fiber, and energy is readily accessible to
individual use.
The atmosphere provides a pool of oxygen from
which ozone is formed in the upper atmosphere
(Prugh, etal. 1999).
Toxins and heavy metals do not accumulate in
human occupied portions of the environment.
Surpluses can be generated and saved.
Risks can be distributed to society.
Human behaviors/acts align with those of nature.
Surface runoff is at historic volumes, velocities,
and cutting power.
Institutions exist to protect society and resolve
disputes efficiently, quickly, and equitably.
Knowledge is sought regarding natural systems.
Institutional responses to Nature's
capriciousness is efficient, quick, equitable, and
based upon sound knowledge and economic
judgment to meet societal interests.
Protecting natural systems is a social interest.
The condition of the environment is monitored
and reported.
Natural checks exist on all living things.
Column 7
Criteria
50. Risks to human life/health are known.
See Natural Systems conditions above.
See Natural Systems conditions above.
See 52.
See 46-48, 52
See 50, 52.
See Natural Systems conditions above.
51 . Human life is isolated from stochastic events.
See 27, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37, 40,
See 33, 36.
52. Institutions exist to serve collective society.
See 52.
See 52.
See 52.
See 52.
53. Health risks are monitored and potential risks are
made public.
10
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Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus 1997).
Social
systems
remain intact
or
Human
behavior,
organizationa
I structures,
and
institutional
arrangement
s mediate the
relationships
between
people and
nature
(Moiling 2000)
Social needs
Esteem needs
Self-
actualization
Human culture
remains intact
"
"
Sense of belonging and
acceptance.
Respect and be respected
with self-esteem.
Growth
Formal knowledge evolves
to meet human needs.
Traditional knowledge is
preserved and known.
"
Friendship
Intimacy
Family
Someone witnessed that an individual's
life existed and had value.
The drive to transcend the normal and
strive for a higher ideal.
Languages of indigenous people are alive.
Traditional medicinal plants are
documented and protected.
Local agricultural traditions and practices
are documented and kept alive.
Opportunities to gather with people who share
similar ideals/values exist.
Opportunities for person to person interactions
exist.
Rules of interactions are understood and
followed.
Opportunities exist to belong to a group
irrespective of race, creed, social status,
appearance, or gender.
Opportunities exist to use and perfect individual
talents.
Opportunities exist for others to observe
individual talents.
The ability to see the imperfect and to seek and
obtain the skills to improve.
See 52
See 52
See 52, 1-4,6-13, 15-30,36.
See 42, 44.
11
-------
Column 1
Sustainability
Goal
Assurance that
Earth will be
able to sustain
human life
or
Future options
or
opportunities
will exist.
or
Human life will
be able to
remain and
adapt in place
(Benyus1997).
Column 2
Condition of
meeting the
objective
A system of
production
and
distribution
of goods and
services
meets human
needs and
expectations
for these
goods and
services.
Column 3
Requirement
to sustain
human life
The role of
any economic
system is to
efficiently and
equitably
allocate
resources to
needs.
Column 4
Condition of column 3
Ecosystem provisioning
services are intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem Regulating
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Ecosystem supporting
services remain intact (see
column 3).
and
Social systems remain
intact (see column 3).
Column 5
Condition of column 4
Column 6
Condition of column 5
Column 7
Criteria
Efficiency Conditions
Natural
capital is
available.
Human
capital is
available
Human-made
capital can
be invested.
Energy is
secure and
affordable
Nature's functions and
diversity are not
impoverished by physical
displacement, over-
harvesting, or ecosystem
manipulation (Rosenblum
1999c).
Creative individuals exist
to address complex
problems (R. Florida).
Labor pool exists
Things that are produced
are usable as tools that
increase efficiency rather
than liabilities that
consume capital for their
disposal.
Energy sources are
diverse.
The laws of thermodynamics govern
material and energy use.
Creative individuals have the ability to
share ideas.
Incentives to labor exist: Needs,
expectations, and/or growth of laborers
are fulfilled.
Use of a finite system will increase reduce future
usability. Because this is not sustainable, the
system must be improved as something is taken,
renewable resources must be used, and/or
substitues must be developed before resource
depletion.
Repositories exist to share ideas and
knowledge.
See "Social Systems remain intact" in section
above.
See 48.
Resource use is linked with investment in resource renewal
(Lovins, ef at. 1999; Daly 2002).
See 48
See 48, 50.
See 43-47
See 43-48
Equity Conditions
Individuals
and society
are not
burdened
with costs
that exceed
benefits.
Full costs of energy and resources are
calculated and evaluated prior to
production or extraction.
51. Qualitative community resources are improved (Kinsley
1 994; USEPA 1998).
52. Net economic effects > costs incurred to natural
systems.
53. Net economic effects > costs incurred to social systems.
54. Consumption of natural resources is counted as a cost
(Daly 2002)
55. All costs are calculated before being incurred.
56. Financial resources are sufficient to maintain community
infrastructures, institutions, and services.
12
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