World conservation body to meet in Costa Rica

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 7

World conservation body to meet in Costa Rica

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington The world’s largest scientific/conservation organisation, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1.U.C.N.), will convene its seventeenth general assembly in Costa Rica from February 1 to 10. A New Zealand delegation will be among the 600 delegates expected. Top of their agenda will be such items as Antarctica, the loss of genetic diversity in the plant world, human population growth and its effect on the environment, and World Bank funding of conservation projects.

The I.U.C.N. general assembly offers a platform for member organisations to influence conservation policy around the world for the next three years. It is also one of the few opportunities for top scientists from around the world to share information on the latest research into environmental issues, and to explore ways of ensuring that development financing does not destroy the natural resources of the countries it is supposed to help. To a banker, opening up new land for farms can be a simple project; to scientists it can mean the deth of a rainforest, condemning people to

poverty as the land becomes incapable of supporting crops or cattle for more than a few years and then forcing farmers to move on and destroy more land. The end result can be that, within a generation, the forest has gone and is replaced by a desert incapable of supporting any economic use.

I.U.C.N. has become deeply involved in the World Conservation Strategy — to protect the natural resources on which life immediately depends. The strategy involved co-operation between more than 100 countries when it was drafted in 1980.

It represented a con-

sensus on the role of conservation in world development and identifies the main problems facing the planet into the next century. It identifies three problems in particular: • Vast quantities of land are being lost to cultivation each year as a result of poor land management and urbanisation; © The 500 million malnourished and 800 million destitute rural people in developing countries are compelled each year to

burn the wood and manure they should be using to protect and enrich their land; and • The resource base of industry is shrinking as a result of over-use of natural resources and of

pollution. A main concept and objective in the strategy is the sustainable use of nature’s resources. Two main objectives are identified. First is the need to maintain essential lifesupport systems, such as clean water, the recycling of nutrients, and the protection and regeneration of degraded soils. Second is the preservation of genetic diversity in nature, as well as the

breeding programmes necessary / for protection and improvement of cultivated plants and domestic animals. The strategy also lists obstacles to conservation — such as the historical

failure to integrate conservation with development, development processes that are often inflexible and destructive, and poor political and public organisation. To achieve the objective of sustainable use, the strategy recommends the development of national strategies. Each country would then be equipped to play its part in protecting vital natural resources, and so help everyone else.

The general assembly in Costa Rica will review the strategy. One of its weaknesses is that it does not address the need for population studies. This and other weaknesses will be discussed in February.