What is the Importance of Conservation of Natural Ecosystems?

Conservation broadly means sound land or water use planning. It is concerned with the maintenance of natural systems and with their moderate, systematic, planned and regulated utilization and exploitation for the long-term benefit of mankind.

Forest ecosystems are being destroyed rapidly all over die world. In south-east Asia the forest is being cleared at an estimated rate of 5 million ha^-1 yr¹; in Africa, 2 million ha^-1 yr^-1; in South America, 8 million ha^-1 yr^-1. The entire forest in Sumatra is planned to be felled down soon, and in Borneo also forest exploitation is very serious indeed.

However, it is equally encouraging that at least some countries are making serious efforts at conserving their forests. One such country is Sarawak which has established a good National Park called Gunung Mulu with a view to conserving its rain forest.

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Unmodified natural ecosystems as well as those ecosystems that have been changed to differing extents through human activity, may be expected to Play an important role in the future development of environmental biology. The unmodified ecosystems constitute a kind of protected areas and charac­teristically contain a rich variety of organisms some of which can serve as reliable indicators of disturbance in the system.

As a consequence of increase tampering of nature by man, natural reserves are greatly dwindling and are becoming the main sanctuaries for wild plants and animals. It has been Proposed that adequate examples of all important and representative biomes be protected and conserved. A world-wide network of such protected ecosys­tems is extremely important for ecological research pertinent to rational use conservation of the biosphere.

The MAB programme visualizes an intensive study of the basic processes in ecosystems with a view to under­standing how they function normally and under stress. It is an interdiscipli­nary programme of research and emphasizes an ecological approach to the study of interrelations between man and the environment.

It intends to encourage comparative studies of undisturbed ecosystems and those that have been artificially disturbed to various extents through such activities or agents as fire, grazing, deforestation, silting and over-fertilizing, etc.

By these methods and by the use of systems analysis and mathematical modelling, much useful information concerning such aspects as successional stages, regeneration or recovery rates, carrying capacity, productivity, etc., may be obtained.

The Programme also aims at securing the continued existence of a wide range of genetically heterogeneous populations of various taxa in keeping with the diversity of conditions in which the species occurs. The continuing existence of wild biota is also necessary for long-term conserva­tion of genetic diversity for future breeding purposes.

The major objective of such conservation is to safeguard the continued existence of the largest possible number of the present-day species, varieties and strains of living organisms. In fact, wildlife is often a reliable indicator of the state of health of an environment.

In addition to conservation of natural ecosystems, man is also greatly concerned with as much preservation of environmental quality as is reason­ably possible. It is only within the last two decades that it has been realized that man is capable of inducing significant alterations in the environment either intentionally or inadvertently. He possesses the potential or actual capacity to alter the basic functioning of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and the whole biosphere.

The most essential basic attribute of most environments is that they are multidimensional systems of complex interrela­tionships in a continuing state of change. It is also generally recognized that the loss of life caused by such calamities as floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes, is largely a consequence both of the quality of natural environ­ments as well as mankind’s misdeeds.

The link between conservation and quality of human environment has also been duly emphasized by Cragg (1970). Cragg advocates a study of the biogeochemical cycles disturbed by man and has pointed out many hazards arising from the recent marked increases in the CO₂ content of the atmosphere and similar decreases in oxygen level of natural water bodies.

He lists the following basic arguments for conservation:

(a) maintenance and perpetua­tion of environmental quality;

(b) aesthetic considerations;

(c) food produc­tion;

(d) preservation of gene-pools and germplasms; and

(e) ecological diversity.