10. Read and translate the Text 1b. Text 1b. The world conservation strategy

Human beings, in their quest for economic development and improvement of the quality of life, must come to terms with the reality of resource limitation and the carrying capacity of ecosystems, and must take account of the needs of future generations. This is the central message of modern conservation and of the World Conservation Strategy. Conservation is basic to human welfare and, indeed to human survival. But it has not always been recognized as such.

Conservation has been used with many different meanings. In the sense that we are using it here, it refers to the proper use of living resources. It can be defined more precisely as the management of the biosphere to yield the greatest sustainable benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations. A central part of conservation, then is managing resources in such a way that the options for use of the same or other resources are maintained for future generations. If a species' ecosystem or ecological process is destroyed, our descendants are denied its use.

The words conservation and preservation are often used synonymously, in contrast to utilization. However, the term conservation includes both preservation and utilization. Within this definition, living resources refer to components of the biosphere that reproduce themselves — flora and fauna, including microorganisms. Living resources are renewable if they are conserved, and they can be destroyed if not conserved. This fact presents an interesting paradox. Resources are generally classified in two categories: renewable — in other words, living resources and nonrenewable — for instance, minerals. Most nonrenewable resources, such as chemicals and minerals, can be synthesized in the laboratory if they are lost in their natural state; but if renewable resources — species of living things — are exterminated, they can never be recreated. Renewable resources, then are in the absolute sense nonrenewable, and their management must take this fact into account.

Conservation is everybody's business. But like most international problems, conservation depends on, and has its roots in, national, local and ultimately individual actions. Consequently, the World Conservation Strategy should not be considered in abstract terms, but instead as something that must be applied locally and individually. The following discussion should be viewed as a context for setting an individual course of action to help implement the principles of the strategy, which are the principles of conservation.

Conservation has three basic objectives:

1. To maintain essential ecological process and life support systems.

2. To preserve genetic diversity.

3. To ensure that the utilization of living resources, and the ecosystems in which they are found is sustainable.

These objectives are interrelated, in the sense that each affects the others.

1. Essential ecological processes are the natural systems that are needed to maintain and sustain the living components of the biosphere in general and more particularly, to maintain food production, health, and other necessities for human survival. These processes include the global biogeochemical cycles — such as those of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen — and more localized phenomena, such as cycling of other nutrients, soil formation, regulation of water flow, and provision of critical habitats. Because these ecological processes are vital to preserve life, they have become widely known as life support systems.

2. Genetic diversity refers to the genetic material in the wide range of living organisms. When a species or other class of living things is exterminated, its genetic material, and its contribution to future genetic material, is lost forever. In the long run, however, perhaps the greatest value to humans of most wild species will prove to be their role in maintaining the health and stability of their ecosystems and their component ecological processes, in other words, their role in our life support system.

3. Sustainability of living resources is the final objective of conservation. It is virtually a truism to say that if the utilization of a plant or animal is not sustainable, that is , if it is overharvested, the point will be reached when the species is so depleted that its value to man will be severely reduced or lost.

The growing world population requires ever-increasing amounts of protein. Significant quantities of protein are now provided by both commercial and subsistence harvest of wild species, particularly marine mammals, fishes, etc., but also birds, terrestrial mammals, and insects. Such foods provide a major part of the animal protein intake of people in large areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and even in parts of northern Europe and America.

It is clear from the foregoing discussion that the word conservation, as we use it, covers a very broad set of environmental considerations that are of basic human concern from two points of view. First, conservation seeks to maintain the capability of the earth to support life, including human life, by maintaining the health and proper functioning of the ecological life support system, ecological processes and the genetic diversity within them, all of which are essential for human welfare and survival.

Second, for many people conservation represents an ethical imperative. This is expressed in various ways such as 'We have no right to destroy any other life form'; 'We have not inherited the earth from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children'.

Conservation is of direct concern to all peoples and all nations, whether or not they recognize it at this time. Regardless of background, nationality, type of government or political concern, and even economic status, all are immediately involved with human survival and welfare. And, of course, ethical concerns about conservation can also cut across political and ideological boundaries. It follows that conservation is important to all levels of human activity -international, national, local, and individual.