MODULE 3.
RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND  As United States expanded and more
PROTECTION PRINCIPLES
Reference 1: Module 3 Document
Utilitarian Conservation (Wise Use/
Conservation)
 acknowledge the use and management
of natural resources by humans in a
manner that will meet the present
needs without jeopardizing the needs of
the future generations.
 Conservationists see the value of the
environment as goods and services it
can provide to people.
Biocentric Conservation (Preservation)
 strongly advocate the complete
protection of land and believe that the
environment is for enjoyment rather
than a resource for goods
Natural Resources
 designates renewable and non-
renewable resource stocks that are
found in nature such as: land resources,
mineral resources, energy resources,
soil resources, water resources, and
biodiversity
Fundamental Roles of Natural Resources in
Development
1. Mostly applicable to the poorest
countries and poorest communities, is
the role of local natural resources as the
basis of subsistence.
2. A source of development finance.
Commercial natural resources can be
important sources of profit and foreign
exchange.
Gifford Pinchot
 a leader in the conservation movement
land was converted for human use,
Pinchot was bothered by the method
used in transforming the land.
 He thought that it should be managed
in a way that enabled human
development of the land but also
ensured use of the natural resources
John Muir
 One of the most famous
preservationists in U.S. history
 strong advocate for the complete
protection of land and believed that
people should only use the
environment for enjoyment and not as
a resource for goods
Objectives of Conservation
 To maintain essential ecological
processes and life supporting systems
 To preserve genetic diversity
 To ensure the sustainable utilization of
species and ecosystems
Two Methods of Conservation of Genetic
Resource
1. In-situ Conservation - conserving the
genetic resources where the resources
or its immediate parents were growing
or living.
2. Ex-situ Conservation - resource is
protected at a place outside the
distribution of the parent population
Human Ecology
 is anchored on the dynamic interaction
of the human systems (individual,
family and community) and the larger
environment (biological, physical,
social, cultural, political, and economic)
Law of Thermodynamics applicable to
ecosystems
  The first law of thermodynamics
concerns the conservation of energy. It
states that energy can never be created
or destroyed, but it can be transformed
from one form into another.
 The second law of thermodynamics
states that whenever energy is
converted from one form to another,
some of the energy becomes low-level
heat.
Material Cycling
 The movement of materials in an
ecosystem
Two essential services from material cycling
and energy flow
 Supply of renewable resources
 Absorption of pollution and wastes
Biogeochemical Cycles
 Natural cycles or organic-inorganic
cycles facilitating the self-regulating
processes of an ecosystem
Controls on Ecosystem Function
1. Bottom-up control - it is the nutrient
supply to the primary producers that
ultimately controls how ecosystems
function.
2. Top-down control - predation and
grazing by higher trophic levels on
lower trophic levels ultimately controls
ecosystem function
Components of Precautionary Principle
1. People have a duty to take anticipatory
action to prevent harm.
2. The burden of proof of harmlessness of
a new technology, process, activity, or
chemical lies with the proponents, not
with the general public.
3. Before using a new technology, process,
or chemical, or starting a new activity,
people have an obligation to examine "a
full range of alternatives" including the
alternative of doing nothing.
4. Decisions applying the precautionary
principle must be "open, informed, and
democratic" and "must include affected
parties."
Tragedy of the Commons
 As human populations increased, there
would be increasing pressure on finite
resources at both the local and
particularly the global levels, with the
inevitable result of overexploitation and
ruin
Natural Resource Management
 refers to the sustainable utilization of
major natural resources, such as land,
water, air, minerals, forests, fisheries,
and wild flora and fauna.
Carrying Capacity
 the size of the population or community
that can be supported indefinitely upon
the available resources and services of
that ecosystem
Factors Affecting Carrying Capacity
1. the amount of resources available in
the ecosystem;
2. the size of the population or
community; and
3. the amount of resources each individual
within the community is consuming.
Article 1: People, Parks and Poverty: Integrated
Conservation and Development Initiatives in
the Free State Province of South Africa
 The People and Parks Programme
embodies the new policy framework of
conservation authorities in South Africa
– a policy that represents a significant
change in philosophy from the
 conventional protectionist and fortress
approach to conservation.
 attempts to involve neighbouring
communities in the conservation of
biodiversity in a mutually beneficial
fashion.
 The continuous expansion and
proclamation of protected areas for the
exclusive protection of scenic areas of
biodiversity became increasingly ill
suited to the socio-economic realities of
the developing world and tended to
conflict with both the existing resource-
use and livelihood practices of local
peoples
 The interdependence of communities
and conservation was recognized, and
the conference confirmed that
protected areas can and should
contribute towards the alleviation of
poverty
 The main objectives of these
environmentally oriented programmes
are enhanced biodiversity through the
clearing of alien plant species and
rehabilitation of infiltrated wetlands
and other areas, the construction of
conservation-related infrastructure
(roads, rest camps, fences, etc.) and the
facilitation of the development of small
and medium enterprises within the
neighbouring communities.
 Collaboration with local communities
will remain essential if protected areas
are to survive and achieve their
objectives, particularly in developing
countries in which a significant
proportion of such areas are
surrounded by impoverished
communities.
 The Golden Gate study has confirmed
that prevailing levels of poverty remain
a major problem for large sectors of the
communities that border on a
protected area.
 The magnitude of poverty in the rural
areas adjacent to national parks
highlights the need for conservation
benefits to be channelled to such
communities, and more generally, for
mutually beneficial economic
opportunities and arrangements
between communities and parks.
 Beneficiaries working on the Golden
Gate programme equate the
programme’s success with its ability to
provide employment and improve the
ability of the poor to earn a living.
 The main strengths of programmes of
this nature are probably their ability to
increase the health and well-being of
the communities surrounding
conservation areas and their ability to
better the future prospects of
beneficiaries and their families.
 Evidence suggests that the transfer of
skills to the beneficiaries may facilitate
the development of small enterprises
that can provide more sustainable
alternative livelihoods options to the
poor once the beneficiaries have exited
the programme
 The programme therefore makes a
significant contribution towards
bettering the educational status of the
targeted communities, thereby helping
to improve the future prospects of the
younger generation.
 Strategic, informed and careful
segmentation of the neighbouring
community, and particularly of the most
marginalised and needy groups within
the community, is necessary to optimise
the distribution and impact of
programme benefits. This could require
compiling a community profile and
regular analysis of the socio-economic
 dynamics within the community, so as to empower and to enable the village
to ensure that benefits from the community to reclaim stewardship of
protected area are indeed channelled the woodland.
to the poorest sectors of the  Accepting that marginal rural
community. landscapes cannot be protected in their
 Strong, integrated and efficient entirety, they need to be recognized at
partnerships with local and key a national scale within an integrated
stakeholders across different sectors planning approach that incorporates
are a prerequisite if any outreach socio-cultural, economic and
programme – and particularly a poverty environmental development with
relief programme – wishes to maximise landscape as the conceptual and
its impact among the neighbouring operational medium.
community  Strategic interventions such as the Ebel-
es-Saqi project become a means for the
Article 2: Landscape Approach to Bio-Cultural
recognition and revival of rural
Diversity Conservation in Rural Lebanon
traditions albeit within contemporary
 a landscape approach produces key socio-economic and political contexts.
advantages by integrating
environmental, ecological and cultural
values of marginal landscapes and as
such addresses rural needs for health,
decent living while protecting bio-
cultural heritage
 The methodological framework of
ecological landscape design
(Makhzoumi, 2000; Makhzoumi and
Pungetti, 1999) was applied to secure
holistic reading of woodland and village
landscape and similarly to write
expansive narratives for community-
inclusive protection.
 This paper has argued that a landscape
architecture reading of marginal rural
settings is inclusive of physical and
tangible environment and intangible
cultural practices, perceptions and
aspirations.
 The Ebel-es-Saqi case study
demonstrates an approach, method and
outcome that starts with a dynamic,
holistic reading of the village landscape
and follows through by constructing an
open-ended, multifunctional framework
to accommodate ongoing development,