TOPIC 7: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

7.0 Introduction

Conservation is defined as the management of human use of the biosphere so that it may
yield the greatest sustainable benefit to present generation while maintaining its potential to
meet the needs and aspiration of future live, embracing preservation, maintenance, sustainable
utilization, restoration, and enhancement of the natural environment. Natural resources
include all the things that help support life, such as sunlight, water, soil, and minerals. Plants
and animals are also natural resources.
The earth has limited supplies of many natural resources. Our use of these resources keeps
increasing as the population grows and our standard of living rises. Conservationists work to
ensure that the environment can continue to provide for human needs. Without conservation,
most of the earth's resources would be wasted, degraded, or destroyed.
Conservation is achieved by ensuring that the uses of resources continue. Conservation
concern maintenance and sustainability is a rational response to the nature for living
resources and also an ethical imperative, expressed in the belief that “we have not inherited the
earth from our parents; we have borrowed it from our children”.
Conservation includes a wide variety of activities. Conservationists work to keep farmlands
productive. They manage forests to supply timber, to shelter wildlife, and to provide people
with recreational opportunities. They work to save wilderness areas and wildlife from human
destruction. They try to find ways to develop and use mineral resources without damaging the
environment. Conservationists also seek safe, dependable ways to help meet the world's energy
needs. In addition, they work to improve city life by seeking solutions to air pollution, waste
disposal, and urban decay.
Each kind of conservation has different problems and solutions. Often, however, the
management of one resource affects several other resources. For example, the conservation of
forests helps conserve biodiversity, water, and soil. Forests absorb rain water and so keep it
from running off the land too rapidly. They thus help prevent rain water from washing away
the soil. Forests also provide homes for animals, plants, and other living things. In fact, a
forest constitutes an ecosystem, a group of living organisms interacting with one another and
with their physical environment.
7.1 Methods of conserving the environment

Every individual is able to participate in protecting this planet from pollution and suffocation
caused by all kinds of residues and waste “produced” by the world’s population. It is
actually quite easy to go green. Taking care of the environment should be
everyone’s responsibility and privilege at the same time; the privilege to conserve the planet for
the generations to come.
There are numerous ways in which environment protection and conservation can be achieved.
They are easy to do by absolutely anyone with a little bit of good will. There are three essential
verbs you should keep in mind: reduce, recycle, reuse. The 3Rs together form a virtuous
circle as one contributes to the other and the other compliments the next.
Reduce and Reuse

The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. Making new
products require a lot of materials and energy: raw materials must be extracted from the
earth, and the product must be fabricated and then transported to wherever it will be sold. As a
result, reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect
the environment, and save money.
Benefits of Reducing and Reusing

Prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials.

Saves energy.
Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change.
Helps sustain the environment for future generations.

Saves money.

Reduces the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and
incinerators.
Allows products to be used to their fullest extent.

Recycle

Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown
away as trash and turning them into new products.

Benefits of Recycling

Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators;

Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals;

Prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to collect new raw materials;
Saves energy;
Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change;
Helps sustain the environment for future generations;
Helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing

Composting

Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. Food scraps and yard
waste currently make up 20 to 30 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted
instead. Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space
and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Benefits of Composting

Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests.
Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.
Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter
to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material.
Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.

Following practices help in protecting our environment.

1. Rotation of crops.

2. Judicious use of fertilizers, intensive cropping, proper drainage and irrigation.

3. Treatment of sewage, so that it does not pollute the rivers and other water bodies.
4. Composting organic solid waste for use as manure.

5. Planting trees in place of those removed for various purposes.

6. National parks and conservation forests should be established by the government.

7. Harvesting of rain water.

Some action points to protect or improve the environment

(i) Dispose the waste after separating them into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste
material.

(ii) Start a compost heap or use a compost bin. This can be used to recycle waste food and
other biodegradable materials.

(iii) Avoid unnecessary or wasteful packaging of products.

(iv) Reusable bags.

(v) Plant trees. They will help to absorb excess carbon dioxide.

(vi) Observe World Environment Day on 5th June.

(vii) Never put any leftover chemicals, used oils down the drain, toilet or dump them on the
ground or in water or burn them in the garden. If you do so, it will cause pollution.

(viii) Don’t burn any waste, especially plastics, for the smoke may contain polluting gases.

(ix) Use unleaded petrol and alternate sources of energy, and keep the engine properly tuned
and serviced and the tyres inflated to the right pressure, so that vehicle runs efficiently.

(x) Avoid fast starts and sudden braking of automobiles.

(xi) Walk or cycle where it is safe to do so – walking is free; cycling can help to keep you fit.

(xii) Use public transport wherever you can, or form a car pool for everyday travel.
 (xiii) Send your waste oil, old batteries and used tyres to a garage for recycling or safe
disposal; all these can cause serious pollution.

7.2 Main obstacles to conservation

The belief that living resources is a limited sector rather than a process that cuts across and
must be considered by all sectors

Failure to integrate conservation with development process. A development process that is often
inflexible and needlessly destructive, due to inadequacies in environmental planning, a lack of
rational resource allocation and undue emphasis on narrow short term interest rather than broader
longer terms
Lack of capacity to conserve, due to inadequate legislations and lack of enforcement; poor
organization (notably government agencies with insufficient mandates and lack of
coordination); lack of trained personnel; lack of basic information on priorities, on the
productive and regenerative capacities of living resources, and on the tradeoffs between one
management options and the other.
The failure to deliver conservation- based development where it is most needed, notably in
rural areas of developing countries.

7.3 Role of Education in Environmental Conservation and Management

Students recognize or review the relationship between humans and nature. The students get
knowledge and skills from the teachers to solve the environmental problems.

The teachers motivate to develop the students‟ attitudes to participate in various environmental
protection programs.

Education tries to inculcate the knowledge about environment and develop positive and healthy
attitude towards environment from the beginning of life.

Education enhances capacities and reduces vulnerabilities, which includes arresting

environmental degradation and improving management of ecosystems and natural resources.

Students learn about the ecology of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and how these systems
can be managed to conserve biodiversity and protect ecosystem functions while providing
sustainable benefits to society

Education, which helps the public appreciate the importance of an environment and teaches
them how to protect it.

Education develops knowledge about the environment and its components as well as
understanding of interactions between them and to develop knowledge and skills necessary to
maintain and improve the environment

It develops understanding of the importance of social and natural systems “in supporting our
physical lives, economy, and emotional well -being” (Bergesonet al . 2000, p. 22)

To make students understand the impact of personal decisions and actions on the environment
It increases the public awareness of the problems which exist in this field, as well as possible
solutions, and to lay the foundations for a fully informed and active participation of the
individual in the protection of the environment and the prudent and rational use of natural
resources