Why is Conservation Planning necessary?

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, "approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth – such as fresh water … – are being degraded or used unsustainably." The assessment further warns that "the pressures on ecosystems will increase globally in coming decades unless human attitudes and actions change."

The world's ecosystems are under threat by short-sighted and poorly-planned development. Poorly managed logging can lead to landslides and flooding, mining can poison entire river networks, and overgrazing can lead to desertification where former productive ecosystems become barren deserts.

Desertification is not only being accelerated by climate change, it is also contributing to climate change. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports that 20 percent of arid regions have already become desertified, and that the 2 billion people currently living in these areas are at great risk of poverty, hunger, and disease.

If left alone, nature can manage itself. But it isn’t left alone. Human activity is destroying the natural systems that have been in place for thousands of years. Instead of thinking only about what we can take from nature, we need to start thinking about all the relationships between living things and their environment --including our own.

• Conservation Planning Home
  
• Why is conservation planning necessary?
• Conservation planning framework
• Creating sustainable economies
• Case study: Tibet Autonomous Region, China
• Conservation Planning in Canada's Temperate Rainforest