Conservation in Our Changing World

Abstract

Conservation must be set in a context in which it is recognized that:(i) Overall human impact on The Biosphere is the product of the number of people on Earth multiplied by the average impact per person. Both of these factors are continuing to increase although there is already compelling evidence that the present level of impact is exceeding the carrying capacity of the planet.(ii) The ability of the Earth's natural systems to tolerate different types of impacts varies from place to place. Not surprisingly it is in the world's tropical and arid regions, where rapid population-growth often coincides with ecological systems which are less able than most others elsewhere to tolerate intensive utilization, that many of the world's most intractable ecological problems are found.(iii) All countries must endeavour to minimize population growth and reduce the environmental impact per person until the overall global impact is reduced to a level at which all peoples can expect to be able to have a comparable but ecologically sustainable level of impact.(iv) Achieving sustainable levels of impact will require an unprecedented degree of international cooperation. This will involve at its core due recognition that ecologically sustainable development can best be achieved in conjunction with continued economic and social development. It will also require due recognition of how new, ecologically sustainable, technologies will often be the key to ensuring that such continued development is indeed ecologically sustainable.(v) There is at present insufficient recognition in the industrialized, i.e. ‘developed’, countries that their failure to pay ecologically realistic prices makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for commodity producers to follow ecologically sustainable practices. The consequence is land degradation in countries that are dependent on commodity exports, and a diminished or degraded global environment overall.(vi) There is a strong case for preserving Antarctica from development because of its importance in influencing global weather and climate, and because of its ecological fragility and biological uniqueness. To preserve it as a wilderness will be an important test of international resolve to manage such resources as are still accessible in the rest of the world in an ecologically sustainable manner.