Humans have been reshaping ecology across most of the Earth for at least 12,000 years, but ancient civilizations did not misuse the land like today’s inhabitants, a new study reveals.
A team of international scientists determined for most of history, humans have occupied the same amount of land across the globe and by 10000 BC, nearly three-quarters of the surface had been transformed.
The new analysis also contradicts the notion that most of Earth’s land was uninhabited as recently as 1500BC.
However, the main cause of the current biodiversity crisis is not due to the destruction of uninhabited wildlands, but rather the appropriation, colonization and misuse of resources.
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A team of international scientists determined for most of history, humans have occupied the same amount of land across the globe and by 10000 BC (pictured), nearly three-quarters of the surface had been transformed. Light green shows remote woodlands and brown is inhabited dry lands
Researchers conclude that ancient civilizations were careful to preserve biodiversity hot spots, compared to those currently living on the planet.
The analysis was led by scientists at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
UMBC’s Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental systems and lead author, said: ‘Our work shows that most areas depicted as ‘untouched,’ ‘wild,’ and ‘natural’ are actually areas with long histories of human inhabitation and use.’
Ellis also explains that they might be interpreted like this because in these areas, ‘societies used their landscapes in ways that sustained most of their native biodiversity and even increased their biodiversity, productivity, and resilience.’
The team began this research by determining how much land mass, with the exclusion of Antarctica, was inhabited by humans over the last 12,000 years. The results show about 27 percent of land was ‘untouched’ 10,000 years ago – today it is abut 19 percent
The team began this research by determining how much land mass, with the exclusion of Antarctica, was inhabited by humans over the last 12,000 years.
The results show about 27 percent of land was ‘untouched’ 10,000 years ago – today it is abut 19 percent.
‘Areas untouched by people were almost as rare 12,000 years ago as they are today,’ said Ellis.
However, the difference in inhabitants of the past and today is how the land was cared for.
Professor and co-author Nicole Boivin, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, said: ‘The problem is not human use per se.
‘The problem is the kind of land use we see in industrialized societies–characterized by unsustainable agricultural practices and unmitigated extraction and appropriation.’
Looking back throughout history, researchers found ancient civilizations were careful to preserve biodiversity hot spots, such as those found in the Amazon and the Congo, and as a result minimized or prevented ecological problems.
The main cause of the current biodiversity crisis is not due to the destruction of uninhabited wildlands, but rather the appropriation, colonization and misuse of resources
Many have speculated that the shift to a crisis stricken world was sparked by an increase of humans, but it was actually the shift into misusing our planet that set us on the dangerous path.
The Industrial Revolution, urbanization, deforestation, factory farming, mining and other irresponsible land uses are actually what are to blame.
Darren J. Ranco, associate professor of anthropology and coordinator of Native American research at the University of Maine, said: ‘This study confirms on a scale not previously understood that Indigenous peoples have managed and impacted ecosystems for thousands of years, primarily in positive ways.
‘These findings have particular salience for contemporary Indigenous rights and self-determination.’
Ranco, a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation, notes that Indigenous people currently exercise some level of management of about five percent of the world’s lands, upon which 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity exists.
‘Even so, Indigenous people have been excluded from management, access, and habitation of protected lands in places such as the U.S. National Parks,’ researchers shared in a statement.