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On policies for natural resources
122
Biological Conservation
A p a r t i c u l a r a d v a n t a g e o f the landscape f r a m e w o r k concept is that the areas o c c u p i e d by the f r a m e w o r k could be used to meet some o f the increasing recrea t i o n a l d e m a n d s , which have themselves arisen as a result o f increasing leisure in the A g e o f Technology. In m a n y countries, the pressure on the countryside, including agricultural areas, is getting heavier and heavier. There is a g r o w i n g feeling that recreational p r o v i s i o n will s o m e h o w have to be w o r k e d in a m o n g s t agriculture a n d forestry, a n d this could in the end be an a d v a n t a g e if it leads to l a n d s c a p e diversity p o s t u lating rich ecological situations. W o r l d l a n d s c a p e is n o w in a vulnerable situation, a n d it can only be saved by realizing t h a t technological change m u s t be a c c o m p a n i e d by a l a n d s c a p e change which m a i n t a i n s ecological principles. In some cases, it will m e a n
r e c o u p i n g a balanced landscape that has been t e m p o rarily lost. In o t h e r cases, it will mean preserving a balance that now exists. A n d in still other cases, it will mean m a k i n g a new balance.
On Policies for Natural Resources
interest them. The economist extends his concept to the peasant and the agricultural industrialist and excuses them for preferring--if land availabilities and governments permit it----extractive agriculture, which is less tiring, to conservational agriculture, which is more laborious. Such practice of utilitarian exploitation, favoured by the advocates of the 'practical conservation' wave, is politically much more attractive than the precepts of true conservation based on ecological science. The first is more 'opportune' than the second. In general it is only the defender of the community--that of today and that of t o m o r r o w - - o r in other words the State, which is in the position to compel those who exploit natural resources to treat them conscientiously and with providence, handing them over after utilization in conditions of fertility and biological richness as good as or better than those in which they received them. F o r this purpose it is imperative for authorities to know what reasonable and wise use of renewable resources means, and what the implications of their illicit use are. (More investigation is necessary; governments in Latin America do not pay sufficient attention to ecological studies.) Furthermore, or maybe first of all, authorities must have the energy and courage to enforce justified measures, even if they seem unpopular. But it is rarely indeed that governments have that energy, even if perhaps they would desire it. In most cases local official representatives do not want and even cannot risk unpopularity, while central powers show no signs of really deciding to defend the interests of an anonymous community of tomorrow against the powerful material interests and individual ambitions of the present. Thus, our main problem is political, and to ensure any satisfactory future for mounting populations we must have more appropriate use of resources, better administration, more thorough investigation, and to these ends far wider education. ARTURO EICHLER,
Wise use and conservation of natural resources depend on setting official guidelines based on scientific and social principles. While it seems to be relatively easy to trace a policy for hydrocarbons, for instance, the adoption of a clear policy for natural renewable resources frequently meets with serious obstacles. In some Latin American countries there exists a general tendency to exploit renewable resources (of a potentiality for permanent use) in the same way as non-renewable resources (stock resources, of a temporary potentiality). The momentary profits which this method can obviously produce have given rise to a promotion of so-called 'practical conservation'----essentially pursuing intensified exploitation of soils, forests, etc. - - w h i c h proclaims the substitution of a supposed 'static conservation'. Yet it is only too well known that 'contemplative' conservation has never existed as a policy for natural resources in Latin America, where Nature always has been exploited without contemplation. Surely this situation, which scientists have been facing for a long time, is not due to casual circumstances or simply lack of knowledge. The key to this crucial problem can be found in the relations between certain economic concepts and those of ecology as a basis for conservation. Everyday experience shows that, to many of our economists, the exploitation of natural resources is a success if in their production plans, conceived at short term, the product (of the 'sales') is higher than the cost of investment plus operational costs. As long as the granting powers endorse such a policy, the economist will not take into consideration in his methods the necessity of restoring, after production-cycles, natural renewable resources to the same level of productivity as that at which these resources were entrusted to him (consider here soil fertility, vegetation cover, biological potentiality, etc.). As long as there are no corrective measures or some kind of official penalty for such practices (which German ecologists call 'Raubwirtschaft'), traditional economists will not feel disturbed when, at the end of their exploitation, natural renewable resources remain 'degraded' or exhausted and the bio-ecological balance is dangerously upset. Restoration of ruined natural resources--one of the foremost tasks in many developing countries--does not
References HACKETT, Brian (1954). Natural areas and local planning areas. J. Town Planning Inst., 40, 254-8, 3 figs. HAC~:ETT, Brian (1958). An ecological approach to landscape design. Landscape Architecture, 48, 163-5. HACI,:ETT, Brian (1963). Planting design and ecology. Landscape Architecture, 53, 123-6, 6 figs. HACKETT, Brian (1967). Ecological principles and landscape planning. Proceedings and Papers, Tenth Techni-
cal Meeting, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Part II, pp. 98-108, 3 figs.
Professor of Conservation, Facultad de Economia, Universidad de los Andes, Apartado 256, Mdrida, Venezuela.
Biological Conservation
A p a r t i c u l a r a d v a n t a g e o f the landscape f r a m e w o r k concept is that the areas o c c u p i e d by the f r a m e w o r k could be used to meet some o f the increasing recrea t i o n a l d e m a n d s , which have themselves arisen as a result o f increasing leisure in the A g e o f Technology. In m a n y countries, the pressure on the countryside, including agricultural areas, is getting heavier and heavier. There is a g r o w i n g feeling that recreational p r o v i s i o n will s o m e h o w have to be w o r k e d in a m o n g s t agriculture a n d forestry, a n d this could in the end be an a d v a n t a g e if it leads to l a n d s c a p e diversity p o s t u lating rich ecological situations. W o r l d l a n d s c a p e is n o w in a vulnerable situation, a n d it can only be saved by realizing t h a t technological change m u s t be a c c o m p a n i e d by a l a n d s c a p e change which m a i n t a i n s ecological principles. In some cases, it will m e a n
r e c o u p i n g a balanced landscape that has been t e m p o rarily lost. In o t h e r cases, it will mean preserving a balance that now exists. A n d in still other cases, it will mean m a k i n g a new balance.
On Policies for Natural Resources
interest them. The economist extends his concept to the peasant and the agricultural industrialist and excuses them for preferring--if land availabilities and governments permit it----extractive agriculture, which is less tiring, to conservational agriculture, which is more laborious. Such practice of utilitarian exploitation, favoured by the advocates of the 'practical conservation' wave, is politically much more attractive than the precepts of true conservation based on ecological science. The first is more 'opportune' than the second. In general it is only the defender of the community--that of today and that of t o m o r r o w - - o r in other words the State, which is in the position to compel those who exploit natural resources to treat them conscientiously and with providence, handing them over after utilization in conditions of fertility and biological richness as good as or better than those in which they received them. F o r this purpose it is imperative for authorities to know what reasonable and wise use of renewable resources means, and what the implications of their illicit use are. (More investigation is necessary; governments in Latin America do not pay sufficient attention to ecological studies.) Furthermore, or maybe first of all, authorities must have the energy and courage to enforce justified measures, even if they seem unpopular. But it is rarely indeed that governments have that energy, even if perhaps they would desire it. In most cases local official representatives do not want and even cannot risk unpopularity, while central powers show no signs of really deciding to defend the interests of an anonymous community of tomorrow against the powerful material interests and individual ambitions of the present. Thus, our main problem is political, and to ensure any satisfactory future for mounting populations we must have more appropriate use of resources, better administration, more thorough investigation, and to these ends far wider education. ARTURO EICHLER,
Wise use and conservation of natural resources depend on setting official guidelines based on scientific and social principles. While it seems to be relatively easy to trace a policy for hydrocarbons, for instance, the adoption of a clear policy for natural renewable resources frequently meets with serious obstacles. In some Latin American countries there exists a general tendency to exploit renewable resources (of a potentiality for permanent use) in the same way as non-renewable resources (stock resources, of a temporary potentiality). The momentary profits which this method can obviously produce have given rise to a promotion of so-called 'practical conservation'----essentially pursuing intensified exploitation of soils, forests, etc. - - w h i c h proclaims the substitution of a supposed 'static conservation'. Yet it is only too well known that 'contemplative' conservation has never existed as a policy for natural resources in Latin America, where Nature always has been exploited without contemplation. Surely this situation, which scientists have been facing for a long time, is not due to casual circumstances or simply lack of knowledge. The key to this crucial problem can be found in the relations between certain economic concepts and those of ecology as a basis for conservation. Everyday experience shows that, to many of our economists, the exploitation of natural resources is a success if in their production plans, conceived at short term, the product (of the 'sales') is higher than the cost of investment plus operational costs. As long as the granting powers endorse such a policy, the economist will not take into consideration in his methods the necessity of restoring, after production-cycles, natural renewable resources to the same level of productivity as that at which these resources were entrusted to him (consider here soil fertility, vegetation cover, biological potentiality, etc.). As long as there are no corrective measures or some kind of official penalty for such practices (which German ecologists call 'Raubwirtschaft'), traditional economists will not feel disturbed when, at the end of their exploitation, natural renewable resources remain 'degraded' or exhausted and the bio-ecological balance is dangerously upset. Restoration of ruined natural resources--one of the foremost tasks in many developing countries--does not
References HACKETT, Brian (1954). Natural areas and local planning areas. J. Town Planning Inst., 40, 254-8, 3 figs. HAC~:ETT, Brian (1958). An ecological approach to landscape design. Landscape Architecture, 48, 163-5. HACI,:ETT, Brian (1963). Planting design and ecology. Landscape Architecture, 53, 123-6, 6 figs. HACKETT, Brian (1967). Ecological principles and landscape planning. Proceedings and Papers, Tenth Techni-
cal Meeting, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Part II, pp. 98-108, 3 figs.
Professor of Conservation, Facultad de Economia, Universidad de los Andes, Apartado 256, Mdrida, Venezuela.