ABSTRACT
The concept of 'ecological flows' helps us to travel back and forth between local and global dimensions of environmental sustainability. This chapter demonstrates how 'ecological flows' can connect the local and the global, with particular emphasis on the flow of water, explains the importance of biodiversity, properly understood and considers the value of the concept of the biosphere and argue that the concept of 'the commons' can complement it nicely. A Global Environment Facility was established in 1991 to raise money for environmental conservation projects in poor nations. Most forms of environmental degradation — including the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — begin with local human activities, particularly those related to agriculture and industrial production. The international emphasis on establishing reserves or national parks to protect biodiversity has probably encouraged city-dwellers to imagine that biodiversity is something that exists only in rather remote areas.
