Document Type

Conference Paper

Journal/Book Title

Urban Development in East Asia and the Growth of Inchon

Publication Date

1997

First Page

149

Last Page

167

Abstract

The U.5. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA Science Advisory Board, in its report Reducing Risk: Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection (U.S. EPA, 1990), identified the highest priority environmental risks to the United States, based primarily on geographic extent and irreversibility of effects. Habitat modification and loss of species diversity were ranked at the highest level of ecological risk. Habitat and species diversity are tightly coupled; species diversity at a regional level cannot be maintained without maintaining quality habitat. The Science Advisory Board expressed the view shared by many ecologists that natural habitats and their associated assemblages of plants and animals are under severe and widespread stress, primarily from the loss, alteration, and degradation of natural ecosystems resulting from human activities. In recognition that research on the loss of biological diversity can be addressed effectively only through the cooperation of interested parties, the Biodiversity Research Consortium (the BRC) was formed to develop databases and analytical methods for assessing and managing risks to biodiversity. Current membership in the consortium includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.D.l. National Biological Survey, U.S.D.I. Geological Survey, U.S.D.1. Bureau of Land Management, U.s.D.A. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Defence, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Nature Conservancy. in addition, a number of academic institutions participate as research collaborators. This study of the Camp Pendleton region is one of the pilot investigations supported by the BRC prior to its preparing a National Strategy for the maintenance of biodiversity. A research program entitled "Alternative Futures for Camp Pendleton, California, • in the Maintenance of the Biodiversity of its Context Region" was organized to explore how urban growth and change forecast and planned for the next 20-30 years in the rapidly developing area located between San Diego and Los Angeles, California would influence the biodiversity of that area. Of special concern is the role of the Camp Pendleton U.s. Marine Corps Training Base, a large public landholding between Los Angeles and San Diego, in the maintenance of that region's high biodiversity.

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