What is Conservation Biology?
Richard Knight & Gwen Raitt
Biodiversity and Conservation
Biology Department
Available at http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/Conservation Biology/
BCB 706:
Conservation Biology
Defining Conservation Biology

Conservation may be defined as the management and sustainable
use of the natural environment and natural resources for ethical
reasons and the benefit of humanity.

Conservation biology is a multidisciplinary science focusing on
biodiversity and its maintenance for human welfare.

The breadth of conservation biology extends beyond that of biology
itself.

It focuses the knowledge and tools of all the integrated disciplines
onto one issue – the maintenance of biodiversity.

Conservation biology's effectiveness is based on its originality and
its scientific rigour.

The greatest challenge is to ensure that scientific information is
used effectively by those practicing conservation.

Search for Conservation Textbooks
A Few Historical Highlights of the Use of
Unsustainable Practices and Their Costs

Unsustainable land use practices have been around for thousands
of years.

Following the colonisation of new territories, humans have overexploited various resources with the result that
people have been responsible for extinctions for thousands of years.

Extinctions are a cost of not being
sustainable.

Aristotle, in the Greek period, commented on the widespread
destruction of the Baltic forests. At the same time the forests of
southern Asia were being felled to meet the burgeoning shipbuilding industry.

The arid lands of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran are the result of
massive exploitation of fragile woodlands.
A Brief History of Conservation

Early conservation was derived from philosophical and
religious beliefs about the relationship between man and the
natural world.

Sacred groves were important in Europe and India in preChristian times.

India has had protected areas since the fourth century B.C.

In the Middle Ages, the European royalty and nobility set
aside preserves for their recreational use.

In South Africa, the local chief Sakhile
in Transkei decreed that local forests
around Dwesa were royal and forbade
hunting in them.

The Polish authorities set aside a nature reserve in 1564.
Philosophies of Conservation

Formalised philosophies of conservation biology
developed into two branches during the late 19th
century and early 20th century.

Preservationists wanted pure wilderness based on
a spiritual appreciation for nature.

Conservationists advocated a resource-based
approach to the management of natural resources.

Preservationist John Muir believed that the
spiritual benefits of nature were superior to the
material benefits gained by exploiting nature.

Conservationist Gifford Pinchot believed that
natural resources should be used for the benefit of
humanity - “the greatest good of the greatest
number [of people] for the longest time.”
The Evolutionary – Ecological Land Ethic

It was with the publication of Aldo Leopold’s
‘A Sand County Almanac’ in 1949 that a third
philosophy within conservation biology was
born – that of the Evolutionary - Ecological
Land Ethic.

This philosophy articulated that the complicated
and integrated systems of integrated processes
and components that make up the natural world
functioned in fashion similar to a ‘fine Swiss
watch’.

Leopold saw ecosystems existing within equilibria, a
view subsequently replaced by non-equilibrium views.

His writings were inspired by his experience of the
‘Dust Bowl Era’ on the great plains of America.

Even today, the science of conservation is still
developing.
The Guiding Principles of
Conservation Biology

Three guiding principles for Conservation Biology
have emerged:

Evolutionary Change,

Dynamic Ecology,

Human Change.
Principle 1: Evolutionary Change

This is based on the work of population
geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky.

He stated that "nothing in biology makes
sense except in the light of evolution".

Evolution is the most plausible explanation
for the immense pattern of biodiversity that
exists on the planet.

The genetic composition of organisms is continuously
changing.

Consequently the goal of this principle is to allow
populations to change in response to environmental
changes through adaptations.
Principle 2: Dynamic Ecology

The ecological world is
seen as dynamic; largely
functioning through nonequilibrium principles.

Dynamic ecology specifically rejects the equilibrium viewpoint.

This non-equilibrium view sees the regulation of
ecological structure as not being maintained
through internally generated processes but
through external processes, in the form of natural
processes.
More on Non-Equilibrium Processes

We know that non-equilibrium processes maintain almost all ecosystems.

Consequently, ecosystems consist
of patches and mosaics of habitats
that are not internally uniform with
clearly defined species assemblages.

The critical focus of this principle is the integration of nonequilibrium processes within a hierarchy of species
interactions and the recognition that ecosystems are open
with fluxes of species, materials and energy.
Principle 3: The Human Presence

Humans are participants within both natural and perturbed ecosystems and their
presence within ecosystems needs to be
recognised and accounted for.

Native human cultures form historical
components of the landscape and must
be explicitly recognised as a form of
diversity in the same way that biodiversity is.

Conservation efforts cannot wall off nature to safe guard it from
humans because:



Ecosystems must be seen as open systems,
Nature reserves inevitably exist within a surrounding landscape
that is intensively utilised by humans.
This principle explicitly integrates humans into conservation practice.
Aspects of Human Integration into Conservation
Biology – Conservation and Economics

Certain principles of economic theory are required for the practice of conservation biology.

Much of resource economics is based on the
willingness to pay for certain goods and services.

Nature conservation is being seen as a form of land use and its value
for generating capital through tourism is compared to other
economic activities.

The development of environmental audits using species and habitats
as the foci is still in its infancy.

The three axioms of ecological economics are likely to have a long
term impact on the value on biodiversity. These axioms are: endless
expansion into a limited space is impossible; endless use of a finite
resource is impossible and all the elements of the biosphere are
interconnected.
The World Conservation Strategy

People’s realisation of their roles in determining their future
on earth prompted the development in the 1980’s of the World
Conservation Strategy.

The strategy has three objectives:




The maintenance of the ecological processes that life
depends on;
The sustainable use of ecosystems
and their component species;
The conservation of genetic diversity.
The revised version is entitled ‘Caring for
the Earth: a Strategy for Sustainable
Living.’ A South African version was
authored by John Yeld in 1997.
Aspects of Human Integration into Conservation
Biology – Conservation and Politics

It is naïve to think that conservation biology should be apolitical despite the fact
that it should be for all people.

The only realistic paths to sustainable
conservation are through the provision
of a reasonable standard of living for all
people globally.

This can only be achieved through political systems that encourage some people to accept lower standards
of living so that others may escape the effects of desperate poverty.

Conservation also needs the support of party politicians at all
levels, which requires conservation biologists to invest time in
lobbying and education.

Lobbying and education need continuous attention and strategic
planning.
Aspects of Human Integration into Conservation
Biology – Conservation and World Summits

The major themes of the United Nations Conference on the
Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992
were the relationships between:

Unequal access to resources,

Unsustainable development generally and

The loss of biodiversity in particular.

Those people and politicians from the developed northern
industrialised nations have more to
lose so they have had difficulty:

In participating in this discourse,

Participating in the design of global
institutions to address the roles of
inequality in environmental
degradation.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development

The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) accepted the following:




“We, the representatives of the peoples of the
world, assembled at the WSSD in Johannesburg,
South Africa, from 2 to 4 Sept. 2002, reaffirm our
commitment to sustainable development.”
“We commit ourselves to building a humane, equitable and
caring global society …”
“At the beginning of this Summit, the children … spoke to us …
that the future belongs to them, and … challenged … us to
ensure that through our actions they will inherit a world free of
the indignity and indecency occasioned by poverty, environmental degradation and patterns of unsustainable development.”
“As part of our response … all of us … are united and moved by
a … sense that we urgently need to create a new and brighter
world of hope.”
The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2

Continuing from the previous slide:



“Accordingly, we assume a collective responsibility to advance and strengthen the … pillars
of sustainable development - economic development, social development and environmental
protection at the local, national, regional and
global levels.”
“From this continent, the cradle of humanity, we declare, through
the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development and the present Declaration, our responsibility to
one another, to the greater community of life and to our
children.”
“Recognizing that humankind is at a crossroads, we have united
… to make a determined effort to respond positively to the need
to produce a practical and visible plan to bring about poverty
eradication and human development.”
Aspects of Human Integration into Conservation
Biology – Conservation and Standards of Living

Human expectations of a decent standard of living include food,
shelter, water, space, education and a freedom of choice.

The problem of human pressure on natural resources is further
complicated by the global problem of population growth.





The world population reached 6.5 billion on 25 February 2006.
By 2050, an estimated 9.22 billion people will exist. Most of
these people will be living in the developing nations of the
world.
Kenya will increase from about 16.33 million in 1980 to 64.82
million in 2050.
Columbia will increase from 26.58 million in 1980 to 64.53
million in 2050.
South Africa will only increase from 29.25 million in 1980 to
33.00 million in 2050, probably because of AIDS.
Aspects of Human Integration into Conservation
Biology – Conservation and Self-Sufficiency

Many countries that, a few years ago, were self-sufficient in food,
now have to import food.

Hungry and dissatisfied people do not always
make the best use of their living space.


They tend to make extensive rather than
intensive use of the land.
Landless people migrate to unoccupied public
lands (i.e. natural vegetation).

The techniques that could improve the situation (at
least in the short term) are generally unavailable or
beyond local budgets.

Government indifference (as shown by their
priorities) is one of the main causes of hunger.
Man-Made Conservation Problems – Unnecessary
Wastefulness and Its Consequences

Wastefulness is not the confined to the poor.
Wealthy societies are even more wasteful.

In many developing countries, large tracts of
land are wastefully cleared to provide exports
to these wealthy countries.

The fishing industries of the wealthy nations
have collapsed. The fishing industries of developing countries have also collapsed due
to local exploitation for export to the wealthy
nations or their inability to police fishing rights
leased to wealthy countries.

Overexploitation can become habitat destruction and cause species
extinction.

The loss of tropical rainforests is serious. Other ecosystems under
threat are wetlands, coastal areas, arid and semi-arid rangelands.
The Future Survival/Success of Conservation

Conservation needs to become user-friendly to
gain and maintain public support now and in the
future.

Conservation needs to recognise and include local cultural diversity. Native human cultures form
historical components of the landscape.

For conservation to work, people must want it rather than have it imposed upon them. People will
only want conservation if they understand it and
can see that they benefit from it.

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) must be almost unique
among Southern African higher education institutions in that
conservation is explicitly recognised within its mission statement and
it is one of only two South African campuses that have officially
recognised Nature Reserves. UWC is also fortunate in having an
Environmental Education and Resource Unit (EERU).
Chapter 1 What is Conservation Biology?
Links to Other Chapters
Chapter 2 Threats to biological diversity 1:
Habitat loss and fragmentation
I hope that you found chapter 1 informative and that you will
enjoy chapter 2.