What is environmental conservation?

We explain what environmental conservation is and why it is so important. Examples of environmental protection measures.

1. What is environmental conservation?

The  conservation of the environment , environmental conservation or environmental protection , refers to the different ways that exist to regulate, minimize or prevent damage to the activities of industrial, agricultural, urban, commercial or other nature caused to the natural ecosystems , and mainly to the flora and fauna.

The conservation of the environment  is the primary objective of conservationism , a social movement in defense of ecological policies and laws, and its values ​​are biodiversity , biotic balance , landscape harmony, among others. This position, however, is not identical to that of environmentalists, nor should it be confused with it. The latter advocate the non- exploitation of nature’s resources, while conservationists demand a responsible and sustainable exploitation in environmental terms.

The conservation of the environment is the product of reasons of various kinds, such as:

• Scientific reasons . The preservation of genetic biodiversity is key to sustaining life on earth, in addition to that irreparable ecological damage usually has unpredictable chemical and biological repercussions, which may well threaten human health .
• Economic reasons . Sustainable exploitation, which allows the replacement of natural resources and does not destroy the habitat in which they are found, becomes more profitable in the long term, since they last much longer than if they are simply looted and depleted in a short time.
• Cultural reasons . Many exploitable territories have an important cultural value for diverse populations , which consider them places of pilgrimage or mystical contact, when not simply part of the tourist and traditional attraction of their countries.
• Ethical reasons . Given the previous reasons, the State has an ethical obligation to safeguard the common good of its inhabitants and, together with the other States, of the species. For this, it must preserve the environment .
• Social reasons . The indiscriminate and often illegal exploitation of resources often has a negative impact on the weakest societies, causing poorly paid work, poverty, misery, diseases, etc.
• Legal reasons . There is an international legislation that defends the environment and whose obedience is considered a mandate of the nations.

2. Importance of environmental conservation

The environmental defense is key in the industrial world that inaugurated the twentieth century , as it constitutes one of the few obstacles to the economic ambition of the human being and his desire for transformation and commercialization of raw materials, which usually entails dire consequences for other forms of life, when not for the human being himself.

Epidemics, climatic catastrophes , extinctions, depletion of resources and a long etcetera are the consequences of an irresponsible industrial policy, which eventually is returned to the human being as a boomerang.

3. Types of environmental conservation

Environmental conservation is based on three fundamental axes of action:

• Organization of space . So that exploitation takes place in controllable terms and includes various options for access to resources, to choose the most appropriate.
• Heritage protection . Each country has a historical, natural and cultural legacy that is part of its identity and its own existence, which must be protected from raptors.
• Guarantee the production base . Prevent the depletion or embezzlement of non-renewable natural resources, such as oil , of very high industrial value but enormous environmental risks during its extraction and transport, so that economic activity can be sustained.

4. Examples of conservation measures

Some important measures for environmental preservation are:

• Promote environmental education . Educate the population to consume and work in an eco-responsible manner, choosing well what products to use, how to dispose of their waste and how to minimize the damage that their way of life does to the environment .
• Promote savings . Natural resources such as water , electricity (whose generation consumes raw materials) or food must be handled responsibly, both by the population and the business world, remembering that resources are limited and needs are endless.
• Environmental laws . The punishment of those who deteriorate the environment must be exemplary, whether it is a company that dumps toxic waste into a lake, a home that generates excess non-recyclable garbage or the owner of a car that does not comply with minimum environmental regulation.
• Use of alternative energies . The replacement of fossil fuels and other traditional methods of industrial activity with others that are more environmentally friendly will always be a good idea in the future.