Conservation

Conservation is the sustainable use and protection of natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable) including plants, animals, mineral deposits, soils, clean water, clean air, and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The goal of conservation is to either ensure that such resources are not consumed faster than they are replaced, or to maintain an adequate supply of these resources well into the future.

The main cause for the conservation of trees (or forest conservation) is because huge areas of the richest forests in the world have been cleared for wood fuel, timber products, agriculture, and livestock. The tropical rain forests of the Brazilian Amazon River basin were cut down at an estimated rate of 14 million hectares each year in the 1990s. This in turn led to negative effects on the environment like decreasing the wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities; increasing rate of soil erosion and flooding; and rising sea level due to Greenhouse Effect. Liable solutions for this environmental crisis include: landscape restoration, expansion of natural forests, the prohibition of heavy logging by governments and the erecting of new environmental policies like ecosystem management.

There is also a pressing need to conserve soil. This is because soil, besides being eroded easily by wind, rain and water bodies, is also being lost rapidly due to over-cultivation of land by humans, and ManЎЇs clearing away the vegetation that holds water and soil in place during the development of land. This results in soil erosion, desertification and infertility of soil. All of these are extremely serious problems. Without soil, most of the living organisms on the Earth cannot survive. However, the problem of soil can be lessened, and solved in the long term by reducing deforestation and overgrazing and reforming agricultural soil, for example, contour farming and terracing.

We cannot precisely conserve animals, but we can do our best to protect the ones still alive and try to increase their population number. Mankind is to be blame for the decrease in most, if not all of the endangered animals, for being the reason that they are endangered in the first place. Humans develop land for agriculture, grazing livestock, industry, and habitation, and they kill of plants and animals for medicine, for example, the killing of rhinoceroses in order to obtain their horns as they have medical properties. This leads to the extinction of species (the Dodo and passenger pigeon), and the destruction of natural habitats like forests. We should try our best to prevent this from happening by imposing laws on the general public to protect endangered species, and educating the general public about the importance of protecting these animals with campaigns and television advertisements like those on the Animal Planet/National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

Energy is one of the most important resource on Earth that we must conserve. Due to the extensive use of fossil fuels in the past, the mining or drilling for fossil fuels and the burning of fossil fuels, we are suffering from pollution of our environment (mostly the air) and the depletion of these non-renewable resources. Thus, it is imperative for us to conserve these fuels by encouraging the use of public transport and carpools, to prevent depletion of petroleum; start using other, alternative sources of energy, for example, hydro-electric energy, solar energy, geothermal energy and so forth. We can also conserve energy at home by switching off unnecessary lights, using less hot water and et cetra.

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