New Conservation Problems And Approaches

After World War II the field of conservation expanded as new problems arose and as some older approaches proved to have been inadequate. With growing populations and increasing pressures on land and resources, planning for their use by taking into account only a single factor or a few factors at the most was found to be highly unsatisfactory. One such instance was the development of more effective synthetic pesticides for use in the control of disease-carrying insects as well as those that prey most heavily upon agricultural crops. The initial results were remarkable. In some countries, where the insecticide DDT was used to control malaria-bearing mosquitoes, the disease was reduced from being an important cause of human illness and mortality to a low and manageable level. Similarly, agricultural pests were drastically reduced, and crop yields soared in many regions. Eventually, however, it was discovered that the pesticides had unexpected and severe consequences on the environment, and by the 1970s their use anywhere for any purpose was open to serious debate.

All forms of pollution also became a matter of major significance as populations and industrial activities increased after World War II. Air in major cities became toxic; water supplies in many heavily populated areas were contaminated. Nuclear radiation had become a major cause for concern by the 1950s and early 1960s when it was found that radioactive materials from test explosions of atomic and hydrogen bombs spread throughout the entire biosphere instead of being confined to the immediate areas in which the tests were conducted.

In response to the need for a much more integrated approach to environmental problems and to natural-resource management than existed at the time, many countries established ministries for the environment or their equivalent.

By 1970, however, the problems of the environment had become international in scope. The oceans were seriously polluted, and no single country could control the situation. Pesticides and other toxic materials spread by air and water currents throughout the world were causing or threatening to cause environmental damage everywhere. But the need for an international approach to conservation problems found most nations generally unprepared to cope with the situation. Conservation-oriented recommendations aimed at controlling the use of radioactive materials, heavy metals, toxic pesticides, or the dumping of petroleum at sea could not be enforced internationally. The need to regulate the exploitation of marine resources was widely acknowledged, but such regulation was ineffective without an empowered international authority.

In recognition of these problems many international conferences were held, new treaties and conventions were proposed, and the need for regulatory power over the environment at an intergovernmental level was stated frequently. The World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization began a global program to monitor pollution levels. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a major scientific program directed toward the problems of "Man and the Biosphere," and an international conference on environmental problems was held in Stockholm in June 1972. Following the conference, the United Nations General Assembly established the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to act on the recommendations of the Stockholm meeting. The UNEP surveyed the status of many aspects of the world's environment and natural resources, subsequently publishing its findings in numerous reports. In 1980 the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, with the support of UNEP and the World Wildlife Fund, published World Conservation Strategy. This document, which presented worldwide strategies for the rational use of resources, has served as the basis for many national conservation plans. But many critics feared that, until the nations of the world were more willing to delegate greater authority to international organizations and to support them financially, little progress toward the solution of global problems could be expected. In existing conditions of international relations, this left each nation to attempt to do what it could within its own boundaries.

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