FOR200H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Functional Extinction, Ecosystem Services, Federal Emergency Management Agency
26 May 2018
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Lecture 2 - FOR200
•We need to recognise that most of live in a disconnected world from
the forests
•Most of us won’t spend time in a true wilderness forest
Comments on North America at Night
•Urban sectors tend to be concentrated near water
• Our planet is under the direct influence of human
•Human land use hugely impacts natural capital
Infrastructure and Nature
•To r o n t o i s n o w t h e 4 th most populous city in North America
•More cranes in Toronto than any city on the continent
•The infrastructure needed to sustain this population isn’t increasing
at the pace needed
•Governments do respond to infrastructural issues in times of crisis
oIn 2011 billions of dollars into infrastructure to boost the
economy
•6 billion dollars is wasted every year due to congestion
•Costs of replacing infrastructure is expensive
•We need to start thinking about nature as a form of infrastructure
oManaged ecosystems like farmland
oOr manufactured ecosystems like green roofs
•Ecosystems are completely ignored when talking about infrastructure
•Reminders of the threat of flooding in the city (see slides from last
week)
oMost of the surface of Toronto is hard asphalt and concrete and
so water cannot be absorbed
oIt just shoots into the sewage and out into rivers and lakes
•The TTC was designed when ridership was modest
oWe simply cannot meet the demands of the city anymore
•Aging infrastructure at the end of its life
•Cities are extremely vulnerable to the consequences of climate
change
oNot doing anything is not an option
•Flooding has exceeded fire for house insurance claims
•Insurance companies are charging cray premiums for areas vulnerable
to the potential of flooding
•Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP) – compensates
victims of floods
Superstorms and Hurricanes
•Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy
•Policymakers learned that it was stupid to help people rebuild their
homes in vulnerable areas
•Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) set up – billions
of dollars of investment to buy victims’ homes, destroy them, and
build an area of green space all around dangerous areas
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