Value Of Maintaining Natural Ecosystems: Preservation Versus Conservation

3 Pages 870 Words

In this paper the topic of conservation versus preservation of natural ecosystems will be discussed. The topic of preservation and conservation will be defined and discussed. What is more important, preservation or conservation? Are they equally important, all of which will be discussed. The practices of preservation and conservation will be compared and contrasted and a conclusion will be drawn which is more important or if they are equally important.
What is an ecosystem? The term ecosystem is generally used to denote a community of all the species populations that occupy a given area and its nonliving environment (Odum 1971). With this in mind let’s look at the words preservation and conservation. Preservation means the act of preserving or the state of being preserved and conservation means deliberate, planned, or thoughtful preserving, guarding, or protecting: a keeping in a safe or entire state (Webster’s Third New Dictionary Unabridged, 2005). With the definitions above it seems you can not have preservation without conservation.
Conservation of natural ecosystems is very important. Without conservation an ecosystem can not live and flourish. A study has been conducted called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. “The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), a five-year research effort by 1,360 of the world’s leading scientists, gives compelling evidence of our dependence on healthy and diverse ecosystems for clean water, food, a stable climate, and much more. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is the largest mobilization ever to assess the current state of the world’s ecosystems, and the services they provide to support life on Earth.”(The Nature Conservancy, 2005). To some extent we have genuine respect for the natural world and the living things in it. There is conflict between us, humans and natural ecosystems, which is not uncontrolled or uncontrollable, but a struggle for survival. The competit...