March 12, 2009
Belmont to Host Peter Kareiva
Scientist to Discuss Redirecting Conservation in the 21st Century
Peter Kareiva, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, will give a talk on “Conservation in a Human-Dominated World Experiencing Economic Crisis” at Belmont University, March 24, from 7-8 p.m. in the Neely Dining Hall of the Jack C. Massey Business Center. The talk is part of “The Art of Being Free,” a year-long series of programs organized around the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate which was hosted on Belmont’s campus in October. There is no charge to attend the lecture, and the public is invited.
A university scientist by training, Kareiva (pronounced Kuh-REEV-uh) has published and lectured widely on the need for 21st century conservation that goes beyond setting aside protected areas just for rare plants and animals. In a world challenged by exploding population and finite resources, Kareiva has argued for focusing on protecting ecosystems that are most vital to people’s health and their needs for survival. Unless conservation is better connected to people and their needs, he has argued, it will fail.
As Kareiva and colleague Michelle Marvier wrote in Scientific American in October 2007, “The public and some governments increasingly view efforts to preserve biological diversity as elevating the needs of plants and animals above those of humans. To reverse this trend — and to better serve humanity and threatened organisms — we and a growing number of conservationists argue that old ways of prioritizing conservation activities should be largely scrapped in favor of an approach that emphasizes saving ecosystems that have value to people. Our plan should save many species, while protecting human health and livelihoods.”
Kareiva is also a co-founder and director of a pioneering collaboration involving Stanford University, the World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy called the Natural Capital Project (naturalcapitalproject.org/about.html). The joint venture is developing ways to place credible monetary values on the “ecosystem services” that nature provides. That is, the Natural Capital Project is working to make clear that the benefits nature provides us, which we often take for granted — flood and disease control, water filtration, climate regulation, soil formation — are not actually free. There is a cost, and we can pay now or we will surely pay later.
There will be an opening reception for Kareiva at 5:30 p.m. in the Frist Lecture Hall on the fourth floor of the Gordon Inman Center, and the public is invited.
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Named one of the top two “Schools to Watch” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Belmont University is a fast-growing community of more than 5,400 students who come from every state and 25 countries. Committed to being a leader among teaching universities, Belmont brings together the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service. The university’s purpose is to help students explore their passions and develop their talents to meet the world’s needs. With more than 75 areas of study, 20 master’s programs and three doctoral degrees, there is no limit to the ways Belmont University can expand an individual's horizon. For more information, visit www.belmont.edu.
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