146 Human Impact on Biodiversity, Overview developing local economies that alleviate poverty and are sustainable, or somehow integrate these two concerns Whereas war may threaten and erode biodiversity, peace may promote it For instance, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea is a corridor km wide and 250 km long that extends across the peninsula For about six decades this corridor has been rigidly enforced as a noman’s land As a consequence, farmlands thousands of years old and degraded forests have both reverted to a natural condition, thus protecting threatened and endangered species of plants and animals, as well as a cross section of the ecosystems of the Korean peninsula (Kim, 1997) The international peace parks between Costa Rica and its neighbors, Panama and Nicaragua, also promote biodiversity conservation by acting as refuges from most human activities Anthropocene The human impact on the planet has reached such a threshold that geologists are now considering declaring a new epoch, the Anthropocene, as the age of human domination It began two centuries ago with the Industrial Revolution at the end of the previous Holocene epoch from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago It reflects the increasing visibility of the impact of humankind as a whole on the geology and ecology of the planet, but recognizes the seminal importance of industrialization The human population explosion is another major contributing factor and has even been compared with cancerous growth (Hern, 1993) During the Anthropocene the impacts of the population and economic explosions, the latter including per capita consumption of natural resources and production of waste, involve urbanization; combustion and depletion of fossil fuels; increased emissions of gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, and methane; substantial alteration of the biogeochemical cycles and of biophysical landscapes; construction of megadams; rampant deforestation; spreading desertification; increased soil erosion and sedimentation rates silting waterways; depletion of freshwater and marine fisheries; mass extinction; and so on (Myers and Kent, 2005) During the Anthropocene the global geological, climatic, and ecological impacts of H sapiens are of such a magnitude as to be qualitatively distinct from anything prior to the Industrial Revolution For instance, geologically, some human impacts are of a magnitude similar to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions Increasingly there are anthropogenic ecosystems that depend on human activities for their creation and maintenance such as various types of rangelands, croplands, managed forests, and dense settlements However, there is a continuum from natural to anthropogenic biomes and ecosystems, and many landscapes are a heterogeneous mosaic between these two poles instead of one or the other extreme, this mosaic now covering about 75% of the land surface of the planet Global climate change is well underway and increasingly threatens biodiversity It is a serious challenge to protected areas as well as other environments Populations, species, and ecosystems are already responding in various ways Many species of plants are adjusting the timing of their life histories (phenology) whereas many species of animals are adapting the timing in their life cycles The migration patterns and geographic distribution of species are changing (Lovejoy, 2010) Moreover, some estimate that more than a third of all species may become extinct as a result of global climate change (Thomas et al., 2004) The Anthropocene refers mostly to the total human impact when viewed cumulatively since the beginning of industrialization and collectively throughout the world The possibility of somehow altering the character, scale, and intensity of population growth, industrialization, resource consumption, pollution, economic development, and related factors to significantly reduce their detrimental impact on biodiversity and other environmental phenomena would appear to be rather doubtful, at least in the short term Yet the human economy depends on the nature’s economy including its ecosystem services In the long term, if radical transformations to more sustainable and greener lifestyles and societies are not achieved, then it may well be ecocidal for the Earth and suicidal for humanity If the human species can significantly alter the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans, then surely it can alter its own behavior, if for no other reason than for the sake of its own survival and well-being However, dangerous shortterm economic and political interests as well as just plain ignorance or denial are major obstacles Biodiversity Futures The Uncertain Future As those from the green sociopolitical movement and many others recognize, industrial society, capitalism, and economic development are based on the false assumption that infinite growth is possible on a finite base Here growth refers to both population and economy Base refers essentially to carrying capacity The latter involves not only the ability of the land and natural resources to support a certain level of population without essentially irreversible resource depletion and environmental degradation, but also the capacity of ecosystems and the planet as a whole to absorb pollution and other anthropogenic stresses Increasingly human impacts exceed the resilience of nature to regenerate and recover within a normal time span from any perturbations and stresses, natural or anthropogenic Until the demonstrably ecocidal ideas and practices of modern industrial society and related factors are corrected and ecosanity with some modicum of ecological balance is restored, the net impact of humans on biodiversity will be negative and only accelerate and intensify Accordingly, all life, including that of humanity, will remain endangered There is not much room for optimism, at least in the near future, given the great momentum of population and economic growth combined with political pressures for the so-called economic development and the elevation of the standard of living throughout the world, all at the expense of the environment and its natural capital of resources, biodiversity, and ecosystem services Indeed, the ozone hole, acid rain, acidification of the oceans, collapse of oceanic and freshwater fisheries, destruction of coral reefs, soil erosion, desertification, global climate change, and other environmental problems from the local to global levels may be symptoms of the failure of the