Malanding Jaiteh describes the human world ...
“The whole idea of trying to assess the human footprint is relatively new. There is the difficulty of getting global data sets, which would enable us to understand how humans have spread across the world. All of that did not come in handy because we do not have the necessary equipment, such as the remotely sensed data, satellite data, or geographic information systems that would have enabled us to bring all of these different data types together and analyze them, more or less, on a single map sheet.
“Over the years, technology changed, and of course people’s focus and attention changed due to the fact that they can do certain things more than others. That really led us to where we are now. For example, a recent approach is the use of the night time light as an indicator of infrastructure development across the landscape. People are now using that to identify boundaries between what a lot of people would say are urban and non–urban areas.
“And we are also hoping that as people get more interested in how we influence the Earth, how influenced the Earth is, people will come up with better ways to quantify the level of influence that humans exert on the various ecosystems. “
_Malanding Jaiteh at Columbia University, is a co–author of “The Human Footprint and the Last of the Wild,” published in 2002. In this study, scientists used several kinds of data sets to access humans’ influence on Earth, including human population density, human transformation of the land, human land use, access from roads and waterways, and electrical power and infrastructure. The “human footprint” study found that one or more of those factors influences 83% of the land surface on Earth._
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Dear Dr. Malanding Jaiteh,
Yours is vital research. Who knows, the future of life as we know it on Earth could depend upon your effort to understand adequately enough how humankind is transforming the rest of the natural world. Thanks always.
Dear Dr. Jaiteh,
If you please, could you take a look at the article, Invoking the Precautionary Principle, in a 2005 issue of the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives?
My deepening concern is this: prior to the Precautionary Principle ever being invoked and sooner than most people can even imagine now, the Earth will become literally overrun by super-size, distinctly human footprints.
Thank you.
Dr. Jaiteh,
Is there some basis upon which an understanding can be shared about what is the “primary” global threat: EITHER millions of obese human beings with large footprints, based upon unrestrained and conspicuous per capita consumption of limited resources OR billions of undernourished frail people with small footprints, based upon the unbridled and skyrocketing growth of human population numbers worldwide?
Thanks again.