Hieronder staat het eerste artikel van Sargasso gastblog: Mongabay.com. Aan het begin van de Biodiversiteitstop (18-29 oktober) in Nagoya filosofeert het over vooroordelen en desillusies in de natuurbescherming. Het originele artikel staat hier. Met dank aan: Rhett Butler.
As nations from around the world meet at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan to discuss ways to stem the loss of biodiversity worldwide, two prominent researchers argue that environmentalists and conservationists need to consider paradigm shifts if biodiversity is to be preserved, especially in developing countries. Writing in the journal Biotropica, Douglas Sheil and Erik Meijaard argue that some of conservationists’ most deeply held beliefs are actually hurting the cause.
“Conservation needs to change. We need to recognize that pragmatic conservation solutions aren’t about black and white, good and evil, or nature versus non-nature. Long-term conservation solutions have to involve comprises, otherwise we will just be wasting our time,” Erik Meijaard told mongabay.com.
Stressing that because conservationists and environmentalists often see ecosystems as either pristine—and therefore worth saving—or degraded—and therefore already lost—they often neglect human-impacted ecosystems that are important for a wide-variety of species. The authors label this the ’tainted-nature delusion’.
Woman planting in rice paddy in Sualwesi, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
