Conservation – the protection and preservation of natural ecosystems and wildlife species – is one of the planet’s most important challenges. Without it, we risk losing the vitality of our natural world and its many services – from providing oxygen and food to humans and animals, to helping combat climate change by storing carbon in plants and soils or by reducing the amount of harmful gases released into the atmosphere.
The 19th century saw the development of conservation practices and policies around the world. It was this period that brought us Aldo Leopold – author of A Sand County Almanac and a great influence on environmental ethics; Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; and John Muir, the American naturalist and founder of Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.
Today, there are many different areas of focus in conservation:
The main concern is to reduce extinction rates by protecting species and habitats, while also making sure that the benefits that nature provides to humans are maintained. These include biodiversity – the variety of plant and animal life in a habitat – but also other things like water quality, soil health and climate change mitigation. Conservationists research the problems, work out their causes, and find ways to prevent or fix them. They are also often involved in restoration, which is more normally associated with cultural works like paintings or tapestries but which is now increasingly being applied to natural landscapes too.
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