Concepts of Nature Conservation and Preservation

The Struggle Between the Metropole and the Periphery

Abstract

There should be little doubt among lovers of nature that we in the over-industrialised Western world have not yet developed an effective concept for protecting nature from the demands of human society. Nonetheless, we are convinced that our critically flawed approaches must be adopted in any nature-rich, less-industrialized country which will tolerate our rantings. Approaches to nature protection, however, are far from being universally applicable and must be recognized as being deeply rooted in the cultural and ideological perspectives of their creators. Many long-established and well-intentioned concepts and approaches to conservation must be queried, as must some more recent preservationist prescriptions. Critical weaknesses in these concepts arise from the desire to exclude all humans from the nature-protection equation. Such an approach inadvertently decrees that nature protection be relegated to those peripheral areas of little concern to our resource~gobbling society. [...]