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2016 Green Paper AIA Conference on Agriculture, Food and the Environment LAND AND PEOPLE: AN OUTLOOK OF OPPORTUNITY OR INEVITABLE DECLINE M Anne Naeth, Vic Adamowicz, Al Jobson, Quentin Lau LAND AND PEOPLE: AN OUTLOOK OF OPPORTUNITY OR INEVITABLE DECLINE Green Paper Prepared for the Alberta Institute of Agrologists Presented at the Annual Conference of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists Banff, Alberta, 20 April 2016 Authors Dr M Anne Naeth, PAg, PBiol Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies and Professor Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences Director, Land Reclamation International Graduate School (LRIGS) University of Alberta Dr Vic Adamowicz Vice Dean and Professor Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences Research Director, Alberta Land Institute University of Alberta Dr Al Jobson, PAg (Retired) Adjunct Professor Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences University of Alberta Dr Quentin Lau Research Associate, Alberta Land Institute University of Alberta Cover Photo Credit: M Anne Naeth The opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists. 2 Land is the place where lessons are taught, where wisdom abides; where we learn lessons about life and death from the seed broken open in darkness, dying in order to come to life in a different form, and from the compost which teaches us that decay is needed for life’s richness. Land is the place where we are healed when no words can comfort or explain. It is the place where we are taught about and find community; where everything is connected to everything else, and nothing exists independently; the place where everything feeds on and depends on the other. - Jeanne Clark Photo Credit: M Anne Naeth 3 CONTENTS 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. Land And People: A Retrospective .......................................................................................6 2.1. Ancient connections of land and people ........................................................................6 2.2. Roots of agriculture: revolution or slow evolution ..........................................................7 2.3. Path of agriculture development ....................................................................................8 2.4. Path of energy development ..........................................................................................9 2.5. Alberta land use history ...............................................................................................10 2.6. Alberta energy history ..................................................................................................11 3. Sustainable Land Use Challenges ......................................................................................13 3.1. Fossil fuels and renewable energy alternatives ...........................................................15 3.1.1. Fossil fuels ........................................................................................................15 3.1.2. Biofuels .............................................................................................................16 3.1.3. Other renewable energy sources ......................................................................17 3.1.4. The future for fossil fuels and non renewable energy sources .......................... 19 3.2. Carbon sequestration, greenhouse gases ...................................................................20 3.3. Animal versus plant protein .........................................................................................22 3.4. Water ........................................................................................................................... 23 3.5. Biodiversity .................................................................................................................. 26 3.6. Soil degradation ........................................................................................................... 27 3.7. Land reclamation ......................................................................................................... 28 3.8. Climate change ............................................................................................................ 33 4. Opportunities To Ensure The Future Of The Land And Its People: Triggers, Drivers, Signals To Change ............................................................................................................. 34 4.1. Improve sustainable land use measurements .............................................................34 4.2. Enhance methods to clarify social licence and its pathways ....................................... 36 4.3. Construct innovative regulatory mechanisms incorporating sustainability incentives.. 37 4.4. Support innovation and technology that strive for sustainable land use ...................... 39 4.5. Improve methods for evaluating land use tradeoffs and policy options ....................... 40 4.6. Adapt for business as usual ........................................................................................41 4.7. Reconnect to nature ....................................................................................................44 5. Key Messages .................................................................................................................... 46 5.1. Land use evolution ......................................................................................................46 5.2. The role of markets ...................................................................................................... 46 5.3. Thresholds and constraints .........................................................................................46 5.4. Measurements and data ..............................................................................................47 5.5. Capacity .......................................................................................................................47 5.6. Reconnecting with nature ............................................................................................47 5.7. What to do and who should do it .................................................................................48 6. References ..........................................................................................................................50 4 1. INTRODUCTION The land provides numerous important goods and services to earth’s people, such as agricultural products, energy resources, water, forest products, environmental spaces and wildlife habitats. These goods and services are interconnected, affecting each other, and the people who use them. The relationships between people and the land and their use of it for agriculture and energy have been particularly enduring and evolutionary. People use external energy to meet their needs that cannot be provided by the natural or local environment, such as warmth, light, cooked and preserved food, mobility and transformations from raw to manufactured products. As use and control of energy become more sophisticated, so do resulting land uses, and the evolutionary development of humans. Most terrestrial ecosystems have been altered by continued direct and indirect interactions with human populations and land use systems for over 126,000 years. Initially the impacts were small and localized due to a small human population and lack of technology. As the number of humans increased, land use intensity and its spatial extent also increased. For many, human driven changes to the environment are raising concerns about the future of planet earth and its ability to provide goods and services to maintain viable human civilizations. Pervasive and significant human activities are now considered a global, geophysical force, equal to the forces of nature, and directing the planet into a new epoch, the Anthropocene. Increasing pressures on the land to meet the many requirements of earth’s human population, will become even greater with projected population increases. Development of a sustainable land use strategy can benefit from a historical understanding of the dynamics of people and land use systems and their role in shaping ecosystems over millennia; from recognition of land use intensification and alteration as necessary processes to sustain the growing human population; and from recognition that decisions regarding land use and intensification have risks. Hence, as we try to balance human needs and wants with the limits of the planet on which we continue to evolve, we must address both the risks and outcomes of our decisions. In this paper we discuss the evolutionary relationship of people and the land and present retrospective, current and prospective views of their impacts on each other. We address the challenge of sustainable land use through a discussion of the relationships and current controversies among people, agriculture, energy and the land. Photo Credit: M Anne Naeth 5 2. LAND AND PEOPLE: A RETROSPECTIVE 2.1. Ancient Connections Of Land And People Fossil and archaeological evidence of the 15 million year evolution to Homo sapiens (modern humans), can help us understand the ancient and continuing relationship of humans and the land. Anton and Snodgrass (2012) discuss how our human ancestors improved hunting and gathering skills, leading to a more energy and nutrient dense diet from
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