**Foundations of Conservation**
– The term conservation was coined by Gifford Pinchot in 1907.
– Conservation refers to systematically protecting natural resources like forests and biological diversity.
– Conservation principles are applied to ecology, biogeography, anthropology, and more.
– Conservation covers concepts such as cultural and genetic diversity.
– In the USA, the year 1864 saw the foundation of Romantic and Utilitarian conservation traditions.
– Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ and George Perkins Marsh’s ‘Man and Nature’ influenced conservation ethics.
– The consumer conservation ethic aims to reduce overall societal energy consumption.
– Conservation ethics have evolved from advancements in moral reasoning.
– The conservation movement has matured through rigorous consideration of human-organism relationships.
**Conservation Practices and Approaches**
– Conservation practices include local purchasing, efficient use of renewable resources, and prevention of harm to common resources.
– These practices aim to slow down the rate of extinction.
– Conservation practices have roots in various philosophical and religious beliefs.
– Conservation ethic groups anthropocentric, utilitarian conservationism, and radical eco-centric views.
– The conservation ethic was formulated by former US president Theodore Roosevelt.
– Conservation focuses on the proper use of natural resources, while preservation aims to protect nature from use.
– Conservationists and preservationists emerged as opposing factions during the early 20th century environmental movement.
– Conservation development trends are influenced by historical, cultural, and economic factors.
– Conservation management involves assessing management interventions, threats, and economic factors.
– The United States National Park Service distinguishes between conservation and preservation in environmental protection ethics.
**Global Conservation Efforts and Targets**
– As of 2018, 15% of land and 7.3% of oceans were protected.
– The target is to protect 30% of land and marine territory by 2030.
– In 2021, 16.64% of land and 7.9% of oceans were protected.
– The 2022 IPCC report emphasizes conserving 30% to 50% of the Earth’s land and water areas.
– Evidence-based conservation aims to enhance the effectiveness of conservation efforts using scientific evidence.
– Global initiatives aim to protect a significant percentage of Earth’s land and oceans by 2030.
**Conservation Philosophies and Ethics**
– Conservation goals include conserving habitat, preventing deforestation, maintaining soil organic matter, halting species extinction, and mitigating climate change.
– Different philosophical outlooks guide conservationists towards these goals.
– The conservation ethic values the natural world for its intrinsic worth and utilitarian value.
– Philosophers attribute intrinsic value to different aspects of nature.
– There is increasing interest in extending responsibility for human wellbeing to include sentient animals.
– Evidence-based conservation involves systematically assessing scientific information, practitioner experiences, and local knowledge.
**Literature and Further Reading on Conservation**
– ‘Conservation and Evolution’ by Frankel and Soulé
– ‘Green Imperialism’ by R.H. Grove
– ‘A Sand County Almanac’ by A. Leopold
– ‘What Works in Conservation’ by W. Sutherland et al.
– ‘The Fight for Conservation’ by G. Pinchot
– Wikiquote on conservation
– Wikimedia Commons on nature conservation
– Major problems in American environmental history
– Nature protection in Europe
– The Urban Opportunity on sustainable cities
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Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values underlie conservation, which can be guided by biocentrism, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, and sentientism, environmental ideologies that inform ecocultural practices and identities. There has recently been a movement towards evidence-based conservation which calls for greater use of scientific evidence to improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts. As of 2018 15% of land and 7.3% of the oceans were protected. Many environmentalists set a target of protecting 30% of land and marine territory by 2030. In 2021, 16.64% of land and 7.9% of the oceans were protected. The 2022 IPCC report on climate impacts and adaptation, underlines the need to conserve 30% to 50% of the Earth's land, freshwater and ocean areas – echoing the 30% goal of the U.N.'s Convention on Biodiversity.