overharvestingare

Overharvestingare is a term used in ecological or natural-resource literature to describe the cumulative, area-specific impact of excessive harvesting on a resource base within a defined geographic area. It denotes a situation in which removal rates exceed regeneration or replenishment rates, leading to resource depletion and altered ecosystem structure.

Causes include high market demand, lack of effective governance, inadequate enforcement, subsidies that encourage extraction, illegal harvesting, and the seasonal timing that concentrates pressure. Open-access regimes and poorly designed property rights can exacerbate the problem.

Ecological impacts include reduced population densities, genetic diversity loss, habitat degradation, and altered trophic dynamics. Social and economic effects include income volatility for harvesters, price spikes, reduced community resilience, and increased costs for replacement supplies.

Examples are found in fisheries, timber, non-timber forest products, and wild-harvested medicinal plants. In many regions, localized overharvesting can lead to cascading effects on ecosystem services such as pollination, soil stabilization, and coastal protection.

Mitigation strategies include science-based quotas, catch shares, seasonal closures, protected areas, community-based resource management, subsidies reform, enhanced surveillance, and better data collection. An ecosystem-based and adaptive management approach is often recommended to balance use with recovery.

The term is not universally standardized; some scholars treat overharvesting as a broader phenomenon that also includes unsustainable harvesting patterns within larger regions. More research is needed to clarify its use and to standardize measurement.