In search of sustainable development: A geographic study of selected ecological and human conditions within Ohio watersheds, circa 1990.

摘要

Sustainable development was ideally defined in this study as a positive relationship between ecological integrity and human welfare within ecologically-relevant areas over time. Ecological rather than political areal units were used because human welfare ultimately relies on the natural resources and life support systems provided by healthy ecosystems. Although no scientific consensus on defining and measuring "ecological integrity" and "human welfare" existed, partial metrics for each were found in the literature. A geographic information system (GIS) was created to explore statistical relationships between selected measures of ecological and human condition aggregated up to the watershed scale. Because of data constraints, only one time period was considered (1988--1994). Furthermore, "sustainable watersheds" in the spatial analysis were operationally defined as those with significant, above average levels of ecological and human conditions relative to other watersheds. Rank correlation results at the watershed scale generally corresponded with literature reporting negative interactions between society and nature at other spatial scales. Non-linear structures were also noted in bi-variate plots, including a few resembling "environmental Kuznets curves." In the spatial analysis, three "sustainable watersheds" were identified on the outskirts of a single metropolitan area and their locations assisted in developing partial explanations about how their conditions were achieved. Other watersheds with above average human conditions were also clustered around metropolitan areas, but had only average or below average ecological conditions. Watersheds with below average human conditions were all located in less accessible or intensively farmed areas of Ohio. This suggested that higher levels of well-being in Ohio (i.e., in terms of educational attainment, employment, income, and lack of poverty), even in "sustainable watersheds," were tied to metropolitan areas with connections to national and global economies rather than self-sustaining economies based on local natural resources (i.e., open rather than closed systems). In other words, sustaining high levels of human welfare in one watershed appeared dependent on the "sustainability" of other areas. Theoretically, relations between society and nature in one place and between different places may range from mutualistic to competitive interactions, but the former, along with cooperative and commensal relations, are preferred if sustainable development is desired.