ABSTRACT
The concept of ecosystem stability has provoked much debate, is still not fully resolved, and has an inadequate terminology. Some global cycles, environments and organisms are more sensitive to change than others and consequently enjoy less stability. Resilience may be used to refer to the way in which an ecosystem can withstand change; originally it was proposed as a measure of the ability of an ecosystem to adapt to a continuously changing environment without breakdown. The Gaia hypothesis, proposed in 1969 by James Lovelock, offers a way of thinking about the environment and development relationship. Successful environmental management requires accurate comparison, ranking and quantification of attributes; a means of achieving this is environmental accounting. Even then, there will still be risks of catastrophes, humanity could make contingency plans or even develop safety measures against these -if those in power and the people accept the need.
