Conservation and Environmental Management

Conservation is the wise use of resources of the earth, in order that they will be able to support or sustain the generations that are yet to come. This can be done in many ways and in different situations. For example:

• National Parks - The protection of the ecosystems, including endangered species of flora and fauna.
• Agriculture – Sustainable techniques such as the management of soil erosion and water catchment areas.
• Industry - Pollution control measures should be used.
• People - Every person should help to collect and recycle waste.

These examples show that conservation involves the use of resources so that the environment is protected and maintained, and that the ecosystems are rehabilitated and restored.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. An Introduction To Ecology
   • Spaceship Earth
   • Conservation; Use of Resources, ecological value, economic value, genetic diversity
   • Overkill
   • Urbanisation
   • Basic Ecology
   • The Ecosystem
   • Constituents for the Ecosystem
   • Ecological Concepts
   • The Web of Life; climate, producers, consumers, decomposers The Food Web
   • Habitat and Niche
   • Humans in the Environment
   • Energy Flow
   • Imbalances
   • The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
   • Climate Change
   • El Nino
   • International Efforts to Counter Climate Change; IPCC, UNFCC, Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Summit, Worldwatch Institute, etc
   • Terminology
2. A Perspective On Environmental Problems
   • History of Conservation
   • Natural Resources; Renewable, Non Renewable
   • Goals of Conservation
   • History from Industrial Revolution to WWII
   • WW2 and Post War Period
   • International Conservation
   • Deforestation
   • Loss of Agricultural Land
   • Loss of Biodiversity Endagered Water Supplies
   • Exhaustion of Non Renewable Resources
   • Political and Economic Issues of Conservation
   • Environmental Damage in Free Economies
   • Pollution in Planned Economies Supply of Resources
   • Limits to Growth
3. Pollution and Industry Effects On The Environment
   • Nature and Scope of Pollution
   • Industrial Pollution
   • Types of Pollutants
   • Effects of Pollution
   • Nuclear Pollution
   • Sick Building Syndrome
   • Asbestos Fibre
   • Urbanisation
   • Energy Alternatives
   • Deforestation
   • Nuclear Energy, Hydro Power, Solar Energy, Wind, Waste Power
4. Water and Soil
   • Introduction
   • Dams
   • River Catchments
   • Wetlands
   • Water Pollution
   • Recycling
   • Desalination
   • Water Environments
   • The Hydrological Cycle; Infiltration, Rainfall, Evaporation, Effective Rainfall, etc
   • Water and Plant Growth
   • Keeping Water Clean
   • Sewerage Treatment
   • Soil; pH, texture, structure
   • Land and Soil Degradation;
   • Loss of soil fertility
   • Erosion
   • Salinity
   • Soil compaction
   • Soil acidification
   • Build up of dangerous chemicals
5. Vegetation Conservation and Management
   • Value of Trees
   • Commercial Value of Trees
   • Rainforests
   • Forest Systems and Biomass
   • Forest Conservation
   • Trees and the Environment
   • Environmental consequences of Deforestation
   • Afforestation
   • Classification of Forests
   • Desertification
   • Acid Rain
   • Environmental Weeds
   • Strategies for Preservation of Native Grasslands
6. Animal Conservation & Management
   • The Human Animal
   • Urbanisation
   • Wildlife
   • Threatened Species
   • Invasive Species
   • Wildlife Management; approaches, preservation, conservation, goals
   • Wildlife Habitats
   • Water Management for Wildlife
   • Wildlife Surveys
7. Marine Conservation and Management
   • Estuaries
   • Fisheries; stock management, assessment, biomass, stock management methods
   • Conservation of Sandy Shores
8. The Future
   • Tourism and the Environment
   • Ecotourism
   • Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD)
   • Framework for ESD

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Provide a basic introduction to the study of ecology
• Provide a brief perspective on environmental problems and their causes
• Provide a brief introduction to pollution and its effect on the environment and conservation
• Increase your awareness of the relationship between soil and water and understand their effects on the environment and conservation
• Understand techniques of vegetation management that are used in a range of situations
• Identify methods used to monitor and manage large natural animal populations and land areas used for sustainable species continuance
• Identify the methods used to monitor and manage natural marine populations for sustainable species continuance
• Describe the role of Ecologically Sustainable Development policies in future environment management

What You Will Do

• Describe ecological processes and associated sustainable management techniques.
• Investigate a specific environmental problem and provide possible solutions.
• Evaluate the relationship between industry and pollution.
• Discuss principles of water and soil management.
• Select a specific type of plant that is endangered or an environmental problem and submit a case study.
• Explain animal conservation strategies, including protection legislation, breeding programs and habitat conservation.
• Discuss a specific issue that applies to marine conservation.
• Develop profiles of three different conservation and/or environment lobby group organisations and procedures used in promoting their cause.

While humans have incredible creative abilities, unfortunately they also have incredible destructive abilities, with many humans thinking that the resources of the planet are there to be plundered for their own good. Conservation is not only concerned with the basic support of human life, but also with the quality of life. Human activities can profoundly change the face of our planet, and can irreparably damage or destroy natural resources upon which human well-being and survival depend.

There are many conservationists, however, who see this idea of conservation as being extremely self-centred, that in fact humans are only just one species on this planet, and that the resources of the planet are not the 'property' of humans, but to all organisms on this planet. Any management and use of the natural resources of the planet must therefore take into consideration the needs (i.e. food, water, shelter, etc.) of not just humans, but other organisms as well. This idea can be carried further, in that many conservationists see that such regard for the needs of other organisms is not only desirable from a moral point of view, but beneficial, even necessary in the long term for human survival on this planet.