The Colby Reader

A Commitment to Conservation

We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive. - Aldo Leopold

Environmental protection is one of those ideas that is too often open to loose interpretation. The issues of water pollution, biodiversity, poaching, over-fishing, ozone depletion, and a host of other topics all can fall under this broad category. If, as a people, we are to strive towards one environmental goal, a goal that we collectively view as the single most important issue in regard to our environmental ethics, to which of the countless issues should we direct our limited resources? This question has been a point of contention among environmentalists and a tool for those opposed to environmental protection. As a community of concerned citizens, we must put forward our greatest effort on an issue that will reward us with the greatest environmental return for our efforts. While consensus on such an idea is far from becoming a reality in today's environmental arena, I wish to state an argument in favor of one. The environmental concern that I hold to be of the greatest importance in today's world is the issue of ecosystem conservation.
Ecosystem conservation is the preservation of a natural ecosystem. The goals of the ecosystem conservation philosophy are not in the protection of individual pieces of land or species, but in the preservation of the natural system as an entity in its own right. The main challenge of the next century will not be in rescuing every species from human-induced extinction, but rather the challenge of saving the natural system as we know it. Conservationists and environmentalists must abandon the viewpoint that says that individual species and environmental crises must consume our attention and resources. I am not saying that concern over the extinction of individual species is worthless because if the system as a whole is good (i.e. A forest) then every part is also good and necessary (i.e. A spotted owl); however, our goal should be the whole because if the entire forest is not healthy, no amount of human support will save the natural existence of the spotted owl.
The main reason I have for declaring such specifically tailored policies as wasteful is that effective conservation cannot be done piecemeal. Effective conservation can only be accomplished through a program or movement to preserve the ecosystem as a whole. The natural environment must be treated as a single entity. Conservation can be compared to friendship — you cannot cherish your friend's right arm and then cut off his left. That is to say, you cannot save a stretch of pristine Maine forest and then allow hunters to eradicate the lynx population or you cannot enact pro-conservation fishing quotas while you allow their river habitat to be polluted. Environmental protection must be all encompassing and the level at which this can be most effectively achieved is at the ecosystem.
Ecosystem is a biological term pertaining to the relationships between organisms in which all contribute to and depend on the system which they, by simply existing, create. An ecosystem may be grasslands, a desert, a wetland, or an alpine forest. The ecosystem allows a plethora of animal and plant species to exist and their individual existence is dependent on the health of the system as a whole. Therefore, species conservation is futile without ensuring a healthy ecosystem. Conservationists and environmentalists, keeping the goal of ecosystem preservation in mind, can obtain their goals by protecting what land is vital for the natural system to function properly. This means that some forestland, some wetlands, and some grassland can indeed be developed, but that this development must be contained to a level that does not adversely effect the ability of the ecosystem to survive. An example of this principle can be seen in the actions and policies of the waterfowl conservation group Ducks Unlimited. Their goal,
preserving healthy duck and geese populations, is achieved through selective purchases of prime habitat and creation of artificial breeding grounds. They are not out to protect the life of every single waterfowl or to stop development on all lakes, their goal is to ensure that enough prime habitat exists and is protected to ensure the perpetuity of the migratory waterfowl system. They are protecting the system that, in turn, allows the waterfowl to survive. Their focus is on allowing nature to continue and not having waterfowl become dependent on human help to survive.
An international example of ecosystem preservation came with the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (RAMSAR). The RAMSAR treaty was designed with the goal
of protecting the wetland ecosystem on an international level. The approach taken by the treaty was to ensure an adequate amount of evenly distributed wetland habitat to ensure the continued health of migratory bird species using wetlands across the globe. They recognized the importance of protecting all habitats a species may use during its life
cycle as a single entity. This treaty has seen substantial success since its entry into force and now controls a network of nearly 900 sites of a global wetland ecosystem.
As the 21st century rapidly approaches, we must reevaluate our stance and goals in the environmental movement. We must strive to conserve the natural system as we see it now — not strive to only preserve remnants
of it.