**1. Historical Development of Conservation Movement:**
– John Evelyn’s ‘Sylva’ in 1662 marked the early roots of conservation.
– Scientific forestry methods were developed in Prussia and France in the 18th century.
– The first formal conservation Act was initiated due to concerns over teak depletion in the early 19th century.
– The application of scientific principles in India revived conservation in the mid-19th century.
– The first large-scale forest conservation program was established in British India in 1855.
– Conservation efforts in England by John Evelyn and early British government management of forests in British India.
– Influential figures like Sir James Ranald Martin and Hugh Cleghorn promoted the conservation ethic.
– The establishment of the first forestry officer in 1806 and the introduction of the taungya system by Sir Dietrich Brandis in Burma.
**2. Conservation Movement in the United States:**
– Henry David Thoreau and his philosophical contributions to American conservation.
– Establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 as the first national park.
– President Theodore Roosevelt’s significant role in U.S. conservation efforts.
– Formation of the Sierra Club by John Muir in 1892 to advocate for wilderness protection.
– The differing views on conservation between Roosevelt and Muir.
– Roosevelt’s establishment of the U.S. Forest Service, signing the Antiquities Act, and promoting natural resource efficiency.
**3. Environmental Policy and Conservation Post-1970:**
– Richard Nixon’s creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
– Influence of public lands debates on modern environmentalism and political shifts.
– Growth of the Republican Party in the inland West due to opposition to public lands reform.
– Democrats in the inland West taking more conservative stances on environmental issues.
– Introduction of convivial conservation theory in 2019 as a post-capitalist approach to conservation.
**4. Conservation Organizations and Global Impact:**
– Establishment and operations of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
– WWF’s presence in over 100 countries with millions of supporters and significant investments in conservation projects.
– Impact of early conservationists on eugenics and racism, including ties to racist ideologies and policies.
– Challenges in conservation efforts, including negative impacts on indigenous communities and racial ideologies influencing decisions.
– The importance of evidence-based conservation practices and the need for informed decision-making.
**5. Conservation Practices in Different Regions:**
– Conservation efforts in Costa Rica, including extensive land under protection, ecotourism, and renewable energy sources.
– Indigenous conservation practices in the Boreal Forest and Arctic regions.
– Conservation initiatives in Latin America (Bolivia) and Africa (Botswana) involving local communities and traditional knowledge.
– Conservation areas established by law to protect wildlife habitats.
– Efforts to balance conservation with economic needs and traditions in various regions.
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Conservationists are concerned with leaving the environment in a better state than the condition they found it in. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective.
The early conservation movement evolved out of necessity to maintain natural resources such as fisheries, wildlife management, water, soil, as well as conservation and sustainable forestry. The contemporary conservation movement has broadened from the early movement's emphasis on use of sustainable yield of natural resources and preservation of wilderness areas to include preservation of biodiversity. Some say the conservation movement is part of the broader and more far-reaching environmental movement, while others argue that they differ both in ideology and practice. Conservation is seen as differing from environmentalism and it is generally a conservative school of thought which aims to preserve natural resources expressly for their continued sustainable use by humans.