Conservation and Development

Abstract

Nations face three challenges in the modern world: to ensure the greatest welfare for their people; to make wise use of natural resources; and to do these things in such a way that they contribute to a solution that makes sense for the whole world. To face these challenges requires a high degree of international cooperation and a clear-thinking, unemotional approach.Hitherto the bank of natural capital has been treated as though it were income; this is the antithesis of wisdom. In the future, natural resources should be used so as to get the greatest immediate benefit that is consistent with keeping open a range of choices and maintaining natural capital intact.To be successful in this endeavour, ecological guidelines must be applied in the planning and use of natural resources. The depletion, or restoration, of natural capital, should be fully represented in calculations of costs and benefits, in order that what is good land-use is also seen to be profitable. Where the link between these two qualities is not evident, great political skill may be necessary in presenting proposals for the use or rehabilitation of natural resources. The final challenge is to reassess the values of societies and not to accept blindly those which have become customary—particularly if this has happened through their provision of short-term benefits.