The more that ecosystems become degraded, the UN says, the greater the risk that they will be pushed "over the edge" into a new stable state of much less utility to humankind.
Perhaps the ecosystem here hasn't been pushed into an alternate stable state - but in other parts of the world it may still be happening, with jellyfish ruling where fish predators formerly reigned.
In a recent paper in Ecosystems, Robert Steneck and his colleagues at the University of Maine report that 4, 500 years of archaeological data from village middens along the coast, and also more recent fishing records, suggest that fishing pressures may have pushed the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine into a new, less-stable state.
And though perhaps the most domestically stable Gulf state, that is something that would interest Qatar at a time when the region has seen recent unrest and Gulf nations are spending lavishly to ensure their people are happy.
Russia is poor enough and has stable enough state finances, it has by a very wide margin the smallest sovereign debt burden of any large country, that a government that is truly committed to achieving 6% GDP growth should be able to achieve that goal, at least for a good 5 or 6 years.
Bank of Cyprus and Laiki were seen as more financially stable than the state.
At this point, Mr Bush turned briefly to the Israelis, pointing out that it was in their own security interests to support the emergence of a stable, peaceful Palestinian state.
That's because colleges and state governments offer stable employment--since they cannot or will not outsource jobs to India or China.
According to ICRA, the gross non performing assets ratios of state-run banks was stable at 2.4% for the first half of the fiscal year, while the same number for the State Bank of India Group rose to 4.3% from 4%.
Yet they point to the fact that enrolment of blacks and Latinos throughout the state system has remained stable since 1996.
In our state, physicians either decide to retire early or move to a state where premiums are more stable.
The euro's success so far has suggested that a currency can be stable without the backing of a unitary state.
ECONOMIST: The financial crisis has made the euro look more alluring
That is plenty of time for them to relax into their ground state, the most energetically stable condition they can be in.
And I think if you look at them across the board, the state polls have been pretty stable for the past couple of weeks.
The animal reared and fell back while on its way to a racetrack stable -- a common occurrence in stable areas every year, according to a state racing board doctor.
But analysts see little hope of forming a stable coalition to lead the EU's poorest state.
Another Chinese student from Boston University, Zhou Danling, was also injured in the bombing but was in stable condition after being treated at the Boston Medical Center, state media said on Wednesday.
Some German states had issued their own would-be stable currency: Baden's was secured on the revenue of state forests, Hanover's convertible into a given quantity of rye.
In little over a decade, the microchip has replaced the oil derrick as the driving force behind the state's economy, making Texas far less dependent on stable commodity prices.
"If you are able to see a more or less stable situation in Afghanistan, if it becomes another relatively normal Central Asian state, China will be the natural beneficiary, " says Andrew Small, a China expert at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, an American research institute.
Ghana, on the cusp of exploiting its oil and gas wealth, as well as offering a relatively stable model of governance by African standards, is an appealing prospect for the state-backed school.
ECONOMIST: A selection of news from around the business campuses
The Employees Retirement System of Texas, which administers 401(k) and 457 plans for state employees, late last year decided not to renew its contract with its stable-value provider.
State-owned companies are bargain-hunting for copper and iron ore in more stable places like Zambia and Liberia.
Sinaloa, with its base in the eponymous Pacific Coast state and operations throughout Mexico and beyond, is the largest and probably the most stable.
Secretary CONDOLEEZZA RICE (U.S. Department of State): We've all said at one time or another that a stable Iraq is in our best interest.
The currency has been stable, Mr Kostov has shown that he is genuine about reform, and an array of state assets were to be sold off this summer.
Using a reaction equilibrium metaphor, Fear and Greed are two reasonably stable, low-energy states for a Board, and which one is the preferred resting state depends on the makeup of the group.
Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said the surviving band member had been beaten but was in a stable condition.
The Central Bank of Iraq recently broadened the range of tactics it uses to mop up excess liquidity in the system and maintain the dinar's de facto peg to the dollar, which, given the primitive state of Iraq's financial system, is the best mechanism the bank has to keep prices stable.
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