ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH

Potential benefits from conserving ecosystem

This ecosystem approach would protect the earth's existing biological and genetic
diversity. It would prevent species from becoming endangered by human activities
and reduce the need for human intervention to prevent extinction. The reserves would
be natural habitats for endangered species now in zoos and other artificial habitats.
They can also be used for wildlife research and education.

Using reserves and parks to help prevent extinction of many species is cheaper
than managing endangered species one by one. Certain parts of reserves and parks can
also be used for photographic safaris, school field trips, and other nondestructive
activities. Fees for these activities would provide money for managing these areas and
for educating local people and tourists about the need to conserve wildlife.

In addition, potential practical and physical benefits exist, especially in

medicine, in plant and breeding, and in developing the commercial use of species that
are not used commercially present are described in Table.

Table: Potential benefits from conserving ecosystem

Things Benefits
Agriculture Only 3000-7000 plant species have been used as food out of the 250
000 or more that have been identified. Only about 150 have been
cultivated on a significant scale, and the food supply for over 85 per
cent of the human population is based on a mere 20. Yet at least 75
000 plant species have edible parts. As plant breeding has proceeded,
the gene pools in crops such as rice and maize are becoming smaller.
In Indonesia, 1500 local varieties of rice have disappeared since
1975, and nearly three quarters of the rice planted today is descended
from a single maternal plant. In Canada, three quarters of the wheat
crop is derived from four varieties, and the entire soybean production
in the United States is derived from six plants from one site in Asia.

Forestry and Species may be transferred from one part of the world to another.
 tree crops Examples include Norway spruce (Picea abies) from mainland
Europe to Britain, Sitka. spruce and Lodgepole pine (Picea sitchensis
and Pinus contorta) from western Canada and Alaska to Britain and
Scandinavia, and Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) from California to
numerous other countries, including Chile and New Zealand.

Medicines Over 40 per cent of all prescriptions written in the United States
contain one or more drugs that originate from wild species, and the
annual sales of drugs are over US $8 billion. Around 3000 plant
species are known to have anticancer properties: 70 per cent of them
are found in tropical forests. It is estimated that the Rosy periwinkle,
found in Madagascar, now yields pharmaceutical products worth US
$88 million per year (1985 prices).

Tourism and The economic value of wildlife and scenery in tourism and recreation
recreation is enormous. In some countries, protected areas are major attractions:
over three-quarters of tourists in Ecuador and more than half in
Mexico and Costa Rica visit national parks or other protected areas.
Ecotourism is a major source of foreign exchange in some countries.
In Kenya, the viewing value of elephants has been estimated at US
$25 million per year. 'Ecotourism' is estimated to have accounted for
US $2-12 billion of the US $55 billion that tourism generated for
developing countries in the 1988. In effect, nature is exported' by
countries such as Kenya, and 'imported' by countries such as the
United States, Germany and Britain whose citizens make up the
majority of 'ecotourists'. In functioning as the basis for the economic
activity of tourism, nature is becoming commoditized, albeit in a less
direct form than that represented by sale of plants or animals to
collectors.

Source: compiled from Alexandratos (1988), Barbier (1989).