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The best known examples are the Great Lakes Commission of ten American states and the Canadian province of Ontario , which governs the largest Fresh Watershed in the world, and the cooperation by nations with Arctic Ocean Boundaries . These are democratic entities cooperating in an International Body , giving up some Sovereignty by definition. This is the simplest form of ''bioregional democracy''—cooperation to defend a single watershed. But there are more profound forms that challenge many political assumptions. ECOREGIONS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Ecoregions , as defined by the science of Ecology , are the borders of ecologically-sensitive districts, and may often converge with the borders of indigenous lands and lifeways. Indigenous languages tend to include terms or distinctions applicable to one ecoregion, where that language has originated. Supporters claim that ecoregional democracy can better preserve what remains of Indigenous Culture and Indigenous Language and lifeways, and permit New Tribalists to live in better harmony with the land. Some even claim that this would in effect create new Indigenous Peoples . ECOREGIONAL CONSENSUS Scientists claim that Ecoregions are observed in nature rather than imposed by man. A Natural Border or Keystone Species or Soil Type or Watershed or Micro-climate reflects local natural capital constraints in that region leading to a Homeorhetic statis. When a region is inhabited by man, indigenous or otherwise, this stasis can be extended by consensus, argue supporters of the Four Pillars , two of which are Ecological Wisdom and Grassroots Democracy . The term "grassroots" itself invokes the metaphor of Terrestrial Ecoregions and implies that beings belong in a certain place in nature. Two other Pillars, Social Justice and Non-violence , are optimized by Ecoregional Border s because of the way that ecology itself imposes a certain type of natural equality and harms reduction between living species. ECOREGIONS AS HABITATS The theory of Natural Capitalism , which developed in the mid to late 1990s , holds that the functioning natural ecology of a region is a form of living capital. Natural habitat performs services for all species including recirculation of air, water, replenishment of soil, prevention of erosion, and absorption of chemical, genetic, viral and bacterial threats. In effect, any living being in an Ecoregion has access to a commons from which it breathes, drinks, eats, and to which its wastes are disposed. Harms are reduced by the functioning ecology—as long as it is politically protected and is not required to provide more than its Sustainable Yield of resources. ''Ecoregional democracy'' proposes to protect that habitat by giving more political power to those living within it, less to outsiders. ECOREGIONS AS TRADE BARRIERS While Tax, Tariff And Trade barriers have generally been reduced worldwide, advocates of ''ecoregional democracy'' seek trading bloc Biosafety rules regarding ecologically-alien imports (such as genetically modified seeds or entirely new proteins or molecules) with Ecoregions . This reduces the probability of spreading a major Virus , Prion , Bacteria , genetically defective Seed , or dangerous chemical agent across a bioregional border, if political Border s (where imports are inspected and tariffs are applied) are perfectly aligned with them. Critics argue that this is an excuse for yet more regulations, and panic-mongering. For example, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) area roughly corresponds to the Nearctic ecological zone. A proposed Free Trade Area Of The Americas (FTAA) would add the Neotropic ecological zone. Many groups in the Anti-globalization Movement demand more direct democratic control over the ecological, social, and trade rules in effect in such large trading blocs, fearing that ecology or society will be compromised. Critics argue that this is Protectionism in disguise, and intended to protect an inefficient local agriculture from producers who grow the same foods abroad. ECOREGIONS CONTAIN BIOLOGICAL DANGERS TO CITIZENS In addition to their convergence with indigenous people's lands and languages, and their natural reduction of threats to Natural Capital , ecoregional borders also naturally support Biosecurity —by definition, water, soil and gene flows within Terrestrial Ecoregion s do not endanger the Natural Capital of those regions as they are part of it. However, culturally-imposed industrial age borders tend to bisect rather than follow ecoregions—proponents argue that this leads to conflict as ecological threats to a cut-off corner of an ecoregion do not threaten lives in the main body of the constituency. Whereas upstream and downstream citizens are dealing with the same leaders and legislatures by definition in an ecoregional constituency, and these conflicts remain contained locally. Some argue that to permit political borders to bisect ecoregions is much like requiring a citizen to live in one place while requiring only his left arm to answer to the government of another. If ecologies reliably maintain Homeorhic Balance in themselves, this is a valid way to view the problem—and a major opportunity to cut conflicts by better aligning political to ecological borders, taking "body parts" out of politically defined conflict. This topic is addressed at some length and elaboration with examples in ''Toward a Bioregional State''. If Biological Warfare or Ecological Pathway s for Biohazard s become a major concern in national governance, even national Electoral Reform seems likely to adhere to these Ecoregional Border s to minimize costs of implementing a robust, fair and defensive Biosecurity Protocol . ECOREGIONS AS POLITICAL FEEDBACK AGAINST UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTALISM Particularly within the frameworks of proposals in the Bioregional State, ecoregions or watersheds aid in faciliation of the innate "ecological self-interest" of people to avoid externalities in human health, ecology, or economic relations that are impressed upon people living in a particular ecological area by informal politics guided from larger state frameworks. One way to bring this type of ecological self-interest in sync with developmental policies would be to make watersheds/ecoregions as the mandated form for electoral districting, providing ecological based checks and balances in politics. This brings ecological self-interest in sync with state politics instead of out of sync with it. A watershed based electoral districting provides feedback against unsustainable developmentalism policies in particular areas; provides for a more competitive informal party framework that removes the gerrymandered and uncompetitive districting that is key to how informal gatekeeping is involved in maintaining unsustainable development; as well provides an ongoing formal mechanism for particular areas to participate in deliberations of developmental decisions within larger state levels for their own ecologically specific sustainable paths. The wider argument of the Bioregional State is that much of unsustainable developmentalism comes from how exclusionary and undemocratic political ''gatekeeping'' is organized and maintained in ostensibly "formal democracies." The wider argument of the Bioregional State is that its frameworks are an improvement on democracy in general, that removes many different levels of elitist, exclusionary political gatekeeping which promotes unsustainable abuses. Watersheds as electoral districts are only one of the more "charismatic" examples in the Bioregional State for how to operationalize an ecological check and balance solution on the level of districting. LANGUAGE AND BIODIVERSITY A compelling but controversial argument for more ''bioregional democracy'' is the alignment of Natural Language and Ecological Stewardship illustrated by Anthropological Linguistics . [http://www.ogmios.org/bib.htm David Nettle, in "Linguistic Diversity," 1998], notes "the amazing fact that the map of language density in the world is the same as the map of species diversity: i.e., where there are more species per unit of area, there will be more languages too." According to the proponents of this theory, Grassroots Democracy organized by ecoregions seems to be one way to preserve Biodiversity . This prompts support from to avoid disadvantage in the global economy. THE BIOREGIONAL REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT The Bioregional Revolution movement is a new organization (circa 2004) promoting Bioregionalism , Permaculture , Local Currencies , and Nonviolence in response to " Peak Oil " and other converging problems they claim we are likely to see in the 21st century. Associated with this movement is RANS (Revolutionary Army for Nonviolence and Sustainability) which advocates the organization of autonomous individuals committed to the principles of nurturing the earth and humanity in order to create a sustainable and nonviolent future. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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