Stewardship and Sustainability - Assignment Example

2 Sustainability has its basis on a simple principle, which is all things that we require for our survival and well-being depend, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Therefore, sustainability creates and maintains the terms under which humans and nature can live in productive harmony that allows for the fulfillment of the economic social and other requirements of present and future generations. Further, sustainability may also be defined as a set of values; stewardship, respect for limits, interdependence, economic restructuring, fair distribution (Chapin et al, 2010.). 3.

In this study, the Amazon rainforest is a good case study. Amazon rainforest covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America and it is a moist broadleaf forest . This basin covers seven million square kilometers, whereby five and a half million square kilometers are covered by the rainforest. Moreover, the Amazon constitute over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich extend area of land of tropical rainforest in the world. However, deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest threatens many species such as tree frogs, which are very sensitive to environmental changes.

Moreover, this deforestation causes a lot of damage on the general ecosystem. 4 Stewardship and sustainability take different approaches when it comes to natural resource use. Stewardship concentrates on management and planning of natural resources. Furthermore, it incorporates personal responsibility and caring of natural resources. Moreover, commitment is expected in stewardship therefore, those using the natural resources have to be accountable for the resources. Sustainability puts weight on principles and set values on existing in a way that will not compromise the future generations.

For instance; Edwards (2005) studied sustainability statements from almost forty different organizations concerned with sustainability issues and developed a list of seven common themes ;stewardship, respect for limits, interdependence, economic restructuring ,fair distribution ,intergenerational perspective and nature as a model and teacher. Here, natural resources are used to a manner that will satisfy the present generation without compromising the satisfaction of the future generation. Stewardship is interlinked to sustainability; poor stewardship definitely leads to unsustainable use of resources.

Generally, sustainability entails stewardships (Edwards, 2005). 5. As much as stewardship and sustainable resource use are interlinked and good for ensuring proper environmental management. Issues arise on whether the need to use resources sustainable so as not to jeopardize future generation really holds any weight. This is because, evolution continues and the satisfaction the present generation gets from resources presently may not be needed in future due to change of lifestyles and priorities.

For instance; the reliance on agriculture may be reduced due to the day to day advancement of technology. Therefore, not much attention will be on the agriculture sector. Furthermore, stewardship and sustainability are complex terms which cannot be understood without the necessary education (Berkowitz et al, 2012). 6. In the recent years, deforestation in Amazon Rainforest has been on the increase