Current emphasis in environmental thinking is that renewable natural resources must be managed in a sustainable manner. In other words, such resources can, and should, be used by people but in ways that enable the resources to be perpetuated and not become exhausted or extinct. This view was the prevailing one at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED; Rio de Janeiro, 1991) and is that which runs through Agenda 21 which is now the accepted guide for national and international environment and development action in the post UNCED world.
To manage renewable natural resources properly, however, it is necessary to know the extent, state and present rate of change of each. How much is there? In what condition is it? Is it holding its own, or declining, or improving? Answers to these questions are vital for all those concerned with renewable natural resources whether it is at local, national or international levels. Such answers can only be provided by actual observations and measurements. These measurements provide the minimum set of information necessary for proper management of renewable natural resources.
These observed and measured changes are, however, mainly due to other factors that are affecting the state and well-being of the natural resources being managed. The forest is being depleted by settlers starting agricultural small holdings. Valuable farmland is being built upon. Soil is being eroded and redistributed because large numbers of livestock and wildlife are using the rangelands. Less (or more) rain has fallen in recent years, and temperatures are higher (or lower) than they used to be so that the vegetation is not growing like it did formerly. New plant species are appearing and old plant species are vanishing so that the vegetation resource to be managed now is not the same as the vegetation resource that was there a few decades ago. To understand these factors and their consequences requires additional sets of measurements and observations carried out over lengthy periods of time. Information on and appreciation of these factors, and there are many of them, will help managers of natural resources to better understand the changes that they see in the resources with which they are dealing. With this additional information they will become better, more efficient managers and the resources will benefit accordingly.
The renewable natural resources themselves are, however, largely composed of living organisms. Each of these organisms has its own way of responding to the changing environment in which it finds itself. Some species are genetically more variable than others and so can better and more rapidly adapt to changing conditions; thus they may flourish in new conditions. Others are more conservative in their structure and function and so do not adapt so easily; these may be under stress in new conditions and so may well disappear from a newly developed environment. To understand why this is so requires a new set of detailed measurements and observations at biological grouping, organism and cellular levels involving both biophysical and biochemical investigations along with careful measurements of local environmental conditions and their fluctuations over time. These studies enable a better understanding of the actual biophysical processes that govern the lives of organisms within each of the major renewable natural resource types. This in turn helps to better understand the responses of organisms to changes in environmental conditions, no matter what the causes of those changes. It also helps in understanding, for example, why some natural resources in some localities are changing faster than others, why some crops (and livestock types) are flourishing and others not, and why some people in some rural areas can attain a better life style than people in other similar looking rural areas. Renewable natural resource managers do not have to know the details of these scientific investigations, or of how the biophysical processes work, but they must be aware of the findings and their implications for the renewable natural resources which they manage. Application of the findings enables resource managers to refine their management procedures and thus still further improve the condition of their renewable natural resources to the betterment of the lives of the people in and around these resource areas.
The basic measurement and observation set must be made at each specific area of concern. Any additional more detailed studies, however, will mostly have to be carried out at special, relevant long term study sites and the findings applied to the managed sites by extrapolation. In many cases such extrapolation is most effectively accomplished using space-based large-area remote sensing techniques to record land-cover and land-use at relevant scales.
This realistic approach to renewable natural resource management requires the co-operation of managers, development specialists, policy makers, economists and a wide variety of scientists and technicians. It also implies the existence of a widespread international terrestrial observing system to facilitate gathering of data at various measurement levels, carrying out of necessary analyses and interpretation, and provision of useful, reliable information for the utilisation and development of renewable natural resources in efficient and sustainable ways. Such a system would also contribute materially to scientific understanding of terrestrial ecosystems, and this, in turn, would help to generate better, more reliable and more useful information for the users of the system.
Such a world wide terrestrial observing system is not yet operational though similar observing systems are currently being developed for oceans and for global climate with the co-operation of interested governments and the sponsorship of UNESCO, UNEP, WMO and ICSU. There are several reasons why an international terrestrial observing system has not yet been developed even though the need for it has long been obvious to most people directly connected with managing renewable natural resources and with understanding the natural processes that govern the functions of terrestrial ecosystems. These include:
renewable natural resources are located within national boundaries and so are the properties of the nation states concerned;
utilisation of its renewable natural resources by a country usually has economic significance to that country. Countries, therefore, are often reluctant to have information on their natural resources released since its availability could adversely effect national marketing and resource utilisation strategies to the possible detriment of economic returns.
large areas of the tropics and subtropics have relatively few facilities for the study of managed ecosystems and even fewer for the study of natural ecosystems.
many people within countries with abundant renewable natural resources are not convinced that additional measurements and observations are needed for proper resource management and exploitation. They see additional observations as a costly and unnecessary way of gratifying scientists at the expense of ordinary people.
it is difficult to organise and not easy to carry out.
By 1992 the need for a world wide terrestrial observing system had become generally recognised. Consequently, a meeting of interested parties was held in Fontainbleau, attended by representatives of international agencies and organisations including FAO, UNESCO, UNEP, WMO and ICSU. At this meeting it was agreed that such a system should be developed and that it should be called the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). It was also agreed that it was essential that the system be concerned with both managed and natural ecosystems, and that it must have practical value to the management and development of renewable natural resources, particularly those of developing countries. In other words, GTOS should contribute materially to the wellbeing of people, especially those in developing countries, by leading to an improvement in the utilisation and development of both managed (arable agricultural lands, rangelands and other pastoral areas, forests and woodlands, fresh waters, etc.) and natural ecosystems. It should also contribute materially to better scientific understanding of the biophysical processes involved in the form, function and change of ecosystems over time since this would further help in ensuring sustainable, efficient utilisation of renewable natural resources worldwide.
Subsequently, FAO, UNESCO, UNEP, WMO and ICSU agreed formally to sponsor GTOS. Several international expert meetings were held to lay the foundations of GTOS and to formulate its general philosophy and principles. An international ad hoc Scientific and Technical Planning Group was established to further develop these ideas and to make proposals for future implementation of GTOS. The report of this group is expected at the end of 1995.
It is clear that there are many hundreds, if not thousands, of variables that could be measured by a worldwide terrestrial observing system. It is equally clear that if such a system is to have any practical usefulness the number of variables will have to be reduced to the relatively few that are of real use and significance to the users. The only practical route to achieve this is to determine first who are the likely users of the system, establish their information and data needs, and design the system accordingly. Thus the observing system would be user driven.
Ultimately, there are two major users: countries with large or economically important renewable natural resources, and the international scientific community. These two groups are too large in scope and too diverse in interests to allow, at least initially, the needed focus on practical orientation of the observing system. For GTOS to function efficiently at its start smaller user groups with more readily defined and narrower information and data requirements need to be identified. One likely user group in this category was quite quickly recognised: the Secretariats and Parties of some of the environment related international conventions.
Accordingly, UNEP selected eight relevant international conventions and arranged for a consultant to visit the Secretariats of each to discuss with staff what they considered to be their information needs and those of the Parties to their Conventions. This Report is a record of these visits. The Conventions chosen by UNEP (listed in order of Convention adoption) are:
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar) (1971)
Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (1973)
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) (1979)
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (SBC) (1989)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (1994)
Visits to the Secretariats of these Conventions were made between 18 September and 12 October 1995.
In addition it was considered expedient to discuss GTOS with relevant staff in each of the international organisations that sponsor GTOS to obtain their current views on its future development. Accordingly, visits were made to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Meetings were also held with the Chairman of the GTOS ad hoc Scientific and Technical Planning Group, staff of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Support Office at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and the Joint Planning Office of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) at the World Meteorological Organisation. These discussions were held within the same time frame as the visits to the Convention secretariats.
A full list of all those consulted is given in Annex I.
