CONSERVATION OF THE ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY

Conservation as a broad approach to preserving what is already there and the due care and attention
to protecting it for the future. It is also dedicated to restoring something to a natural state and
maintaining equilibrium. It is a practice and a philosophy, utilizing scientific tools and methods with
applied ethics, and, where necessary, regulation and environmental law to limit the use of certain
materials. study of the loss of Earth’s biological diversity and the ways this loss can be prevented.
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variety of life either in a particular place or on the entire planet
Earth, including its ecosystems, species, populations, and genes.

Conservation Law, or Environmental Law as it is more commonly known, is the process of government
(local, state/provincial, national and international) setting down legislation by which individuals and
organizations must abide. It defines areas of protecting and how they are to be protected, including
the punishments for infringements or non-compliance. Typically, environmental laws are put in place
to protect public health and safety and to avoid the loss or damage of a natural resource. Covers
three broad areas:
 Cultural heritage and the built environment of archaeological monuments, buildings of historic
importance, and landscapes. This promotes cultural awareness and respect and preserves a
built heritage for future generations to enjoy
 Conservation of ecology, maintaining the delicate balance of an ecosystem or set of wildlife to
ensure population numbers of threatened or endangered species are not put at risk, to maintain
a landscape for study or enjoyment, or for biodiversity
 Resource conservation is the active ways in which we seek to limit the use of resources to reduce
the strain put on supply. This can be developing energy-efficient homes to reduce raw materials
burnt to produce electricity or efficiency savings of water resources
(environmentalscience.org)
“Pathology” Of Extinction—why and how biodiversity is lost—and second with the “treatment”
methods to prevent these losses.
History and Future of Conservationism
 Why conserve ecosystem and biodiversity?
Ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain are the Earth’s life support system – we depend on them
for the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.

Species extinction is the most obvious aspect of the loss of biodiversity.

Even a species that survives extinction can lose much of its genetic diversity as local, genetically distinct
populations are lost from most of the species’ original range. Furthermore, ecosystems may shrink
dramatically in area and lose many of their functions, even if their constituent species manage to
survive. Conservation is involved with studying all these kinds of losses, understanding the factors
responsible for them, developing techniques to prevent losses, and, whenever possible, restoring
biodiversity.
A History of Conservation
The history of conservation is generally tied to the industrial age, as a kind of backlash against
exploitation of uncontrolled industrial growth and unfettered capitalism of the age. But that is a
simplistic answer. In reality, it goes back a few hundred more years before this.

Natural Conservation

Enlightenment and Early Industrial Age

Many argue that the conservation movement did not begin in the industrial era, but in a slightly earlier
time. In 1662, John Evelyn presented a work called “Sylva or a discourse on forest trees and the
propagation of timber in His Majesty's dominions” to the Royal Society. Two years later, a printed book
version followed and it became one of the most important early works in forestry. Unlike many other
works of botany from that age and later, Sylva highlighted the growing problem of deforestation in
England. Way ahead of its time, it called for preservation of existing forests and the replenishment of
new tree canopy with each that was cut down. Evelyn did not take this work upon himself. He was
asked to do so by the Royal Society, increasingly concerned at the destruction of trees for Charles II
building projects. The book was hugely successful although the concern was more about the depletion
of a natural resource rather than concern for such modern concepts as biodiversity, ecology, or even
the climate.

But true modern conservationism grew during the industrial era, and relatively early on too. It's generally
believed that the industrial revolution began in the late 18th century. This is true, but conservation
began even before most western nations began the process of industrialization. In Prussia and France
in the 18th century, there was a development (as there was in many European powers) of intensive
agriculture and forestry management, later adopted in England and to the colonies of India of the
British Empire. Management covered aspects to maximize production but also to reduce the risk of
wildfire devastating crops and resources - particularly of the teak tree, vital for shipbuilding for most
naval powers. Concerns began during the Napoleonic Wars when the resource was being plundered
to build ships regarding today what we would call “sustainability”. The first conservation laws came in
then, making it illegal to fell a teak tree under a certain size. But this measure failed mostly due to laissez-
faire economics and inability to enforce the law. But conservation was not dead - in fact, it was only
just getting started.

The Birth of Natural Conservation in the Industrial Age

Armed with the new scientific concepts and tools, the conservation movement recommenced during
the industrial age. Earlier concerns about forestry exploitation morphed to become a general concern
about resource exploitation and what would happen when natural resources ran out. As the world ran
almost entirely on coal power at that time (and later on petroleum fossil fuels), it was quite clear that
coal was not an infinite resource, and some scientists pleaded in the countries of heaviest use to take
steps to limit mining and burning. The developing science of climatology with its understanding of the
need for chemistry made scientists concerned for the future on seeing masses amounts of carbon
released into the atmosphere, but also (as it was previously) regarding trees as a resource and the
potential for depletion. But conservationists were fully aware that human activity was already
damaging the environment, and not just due to cutting down trees. People like George Perkins Marsh
pushed the ethical belief that humans had a duty of care to maintain the environment for the future
and presented the notion that scientific investigation was paramount in determining the extent of
damage and coming up with a solution.
This is a period replete with the establishment of Forestry Departments within the European powers and
the US too. This concern about natural resources meant the 19th century was also a great expansion
in conservation in other areas. The world's first National Park opened in 1778 in Mongolia (Bogd Khan
Uul which today is a UNESCO protected biosphere) and it would take nearly a century for any other
nation to follow suit. The world's second and the first for the US was Yellowstone National Park
established in 1872. The development of conservation in the US is slightly different from that in the Old
World. Much of North America was either untouched or barely touched due to the nomadic or semi-
nomadic lifestyle of the Native Americans in most cases. Over-hunting of bison and buffalo by both
European settlers and Native Americans who started using horses for hunting, and many native birds
of prey, the increased urbanization in the new states and industrialization all came together to
demonstrate just how fragile our land was. This is why so many national parks were founded in the US
in the late 19th century. But we should never underestimate the importance of key ethical
conservationists such as Henry David Thoreau who believed humans had a duty to live more in tune
with nature. His work and others inspired many of the early forestry laws and departments that sprung
up in the states.

Subdivisions of Conservation
• Architectural Conservation • Habitat Conservation
• Conservation Biology • Marine Conservation
• Conservation Ethics • Energy Conservation
• Conservation Economics • Conservation Science
• Conservation Finance • Preventive Conservation
• Conservation Genetics • Soil Conservation
• Conservation Law • Water Conservation
• Wildlife Conservation • Wetland Conservation

Conservation Areas of Concern

It would be impossible to list all of the conservation areas that concern researchers, conservationists,
governments and special interest charities. The list below includes some of the most urgent, pressing,
or important to conservation today.
Heritage Crime

Go back just a few decades and the biggest threat to heritage conservation was indifference and a
lack of concern for preserving the past in striving for economic growth. Today, we value our heritage
far more than we used to do, thanks to tourism and public perception of our built heritage. But in some
areas of the world, political instability has led to a growth in what is called “heritage crime”. There are
several aspects to this:

 Iconoclasm - the deliberate targeting of monuments and artefacts for destruction as symbols of
a people's cultural identity based on the past, or the destruction of religious minority sites. The
situation in the Middle East has seen massive damage to important ancient Greek and Roman
sites in Syria at the hands of ISIS. Similarly, the Taliban destroyed Buddhist statues in Afghanistan
 Art and antiquity theft - the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and the toppling of President
Hosni Mubarak in Egypt led to the massive theft of irreplaceable and priceless artefacts (33) that
had become symbols of each country's cultural heritage. Sometimes stolen to order by rich
donors, many more are opportunistic thieves hoping to sell it through the black market, took
advantage of rioting and ransacked museums
 Damage to culturally or archaeologically sensitive land - It can also include illegal excavation
for archaeological treasures, mining or digging for resources for economic benefit (which is
 sometimes against the law if the land is specially protected for heritage conservation) or illegal
building of commercial, industrial or residential properties without permission leading to damage
of a site heritage. Historic England, an NGO responsible for maintaining and monitoring historic
sites in England, reported that around 18% of protected heritage conservation sites and areas
suffered heritage crime in 2017 (34)

When damage occurs, it is sometimes not possible to repair them. In the cases of the lootings in
Baghdad and Cairo, there are still many artefacts missing that global authorities are trying to track
down.

Expansion of Boreal Forest in the Arctic

The growth of forest without the intervention of conservators and ecologists will, in most cases, be seen
as a good thing. After all, tree cover can only be good for biodiversity and as a carbon net sink. But in
an ecologically delicate area as the arctic circle, the spread of boreal forest on the land masses of
northern Russia and Scandinavian more temperate regions is currently of deep concern. Climate
change has led to warming in these areas; arctic boreal tree cover is now spreading at an alarming
rate and threatening the existence of a large number of native species that were already in a delicate
conservational state. It is also believed that the spread of tree canopy has accelerated the warming
already being triggered by carbon emissions (35). A process that has been observed to take centuries
during warming phases in the past is now taking decades.

Energy Conservation
As the population grows, we need more energy. Fossil fuel supplies are dwindling, and many believe
we have already reached (and passed) peak oil. Steps are already being taken to reduce our
dependence on these fuel types, but in the western world, grants and funds for renewable energy are
facing government cutbacks in the face of industry lobbying. There are other steps though; our devices
require far less power than they did even 10 years ago. Our homes and premises are becoming more
energy efficient, but the amount of energy we consume continues to rise, even in the face of LEDs
replacing traditional bulbs, power cells replacing conventional battery power, and continued
expansion of renewable energy. The Energy Information Administration predicts a global rise in energy
consumption of 56% between now and 2040 (36).

Food and Water Security

The ecological problems we are currently facing such as climate change, flooding, drought, ice caps
melting, ocean acidification and many others have knock-on effects for our water and food security.
Flooding and drought both have the capacity to damage our food supply, and in many cases
protecting the sources of both are conservation issues. In the case of water, there needs to be a
coherent plan for reducing the amount of wastage and encouraging businesses and households to
reduce the amount they use (37), and not just during drought periods. Some states in the US and some
countries have taken to encourage the use of water buttresses to collect rainwater to use to flush toilets
and storage for plants, for example. Food security is dependent on water security, but it can be subject
to meteorological events, terror attacks (38) and natural disease. Some argue that the refugee crisis in
the Middle East is partly caused by climate problems.

Agricultural Monoculture
Monoculture is the removal of most native, wild, or biodiverse landscape to plant a single crop or farm
a single species of livestock. Most farmland is like this although, in the modern era, steps are being
taken to ensure that a landscape is not too limited. In areas where there is a long history of agriculture,
fields are broken up with hedgerows and dotted with trees to ensure as diverse a landscape as
possible. Increasingly, important cash crops in the developing world are diversifying, such as growing
coffee beneath tree canopies. This is called “intercropping” (39). Some evidence suggests that coffee
plants are more productive for this, but it is also good for biodiversity. The current big issue with
agricultural monoculture is palm oil, commonly added to our food and even toiletries. Foliage is cut
down to make way for this cash crop, devastating landscapes and causing particular problems for
orangutans (40) which are now threatened species.
Illegal Hunting

Despite stringent international laws on hunting big game and protecting species traditionally hunted
such as elephant and rhino, the illegal pet trade and ivory trades continue to be problematic for
international law enforcement whose role it is to protect endangered and threatened species. We
have already seen the virtual extinction of the Northern White Rhino due to historic overhunting and a
lack of coherence and cooperation from the bodies that could have made the survival of the Northern
White Rhino as successful as its southern cousin. The black market trade is also an issue. Some Traditional
Chinese Medicines use rhino horn for perceived painkilling properties and relief of rheumatism. Ivory is
also on sale in many Chinese markets and some in the developed world where monitoring is lax. Illegal
hunting that leads to extinction of one species is not limited to that species but has knock-on effects
for other, sometimes equally threatened species (41).