In the future I have a vision of where ecological services such as natural water filtration are protected from the control of corporations or privatization. Having a market be the only ones in control of the protection of natural would leave the ecological service vulnerable to a change in the ideals for the market.
If it is no longer profitable for the service to be protected it could then be exploited and degraded. We must ensure that our ecological services are protected and have multiple organizations and government body regulating them to ensure they continue in providing the services for generations to come.
The big question of how will we get there is still up in the air. First education of the general public on ecosystem services is required to highlight the importance of them and to bring on the next generation of ecological service protection stewards. Then action must be taken to lobby for support of protecting known ecological services and having government bodies regulating them. Lastly, any services that are controlled by corporations for profit should be given an immediate cease order to evaluate any damages or protection being done. Afterwards the government should at a minimum take control of the management and regulation.
Using the example of Nestle's usage of Strawberry Creek in California, 45M gallons of water were siphoned out of the creek to be bottled in 2015. This has drastic impacts on the provisioning aspects of environmental services. This siphoning of water left the creek depleted and had cascading impacts on local wildlife and other park users. This should serve as a cautionary tale as the US forest services did issue permits to the Nestle company. Even with a governing body giving out permits there needs to be further regulation to prevent ecological services from being exploited/ depleted.
While large corporations are known to deplete the land and water of its natural resources with hardly any oversight, I'm not sure if it is necessary to completely get rid of privitization of natural resources. For example if local communties were in control of its nearby resources rather than the federal or provincial government it might be more beneficial as they might know they land better and have more resources to adequately manage the land/water.
Hello Mathew! I agree with you that we educating the public is necessary for any change to happen. I actually didn't know about Nestle's usage of Strawberry Creek so it's shocking to hear that much water was used.. it makes me wonder how much we use without us being aware of it :(
Hi Mathew, I think another measure we also need to take is to end lobbying from corporate interest groups in the US. Nestle is notorious for lobbying and should not be profiting off of an invaluable resource.