Even today there are those who disbelieve in the need to preserve the nature in which we live and our (natural) environment
The more severe unbelievers are mainly from two groups: zealous religious people who "heaven worship God" and who believe that man is the crown of creation and because of his role to control everything he is allowed to destroy, spoil and harm since "everything is from heaven" and if God wills, any damage can be repaired.
The second group is - scientists (armchair scientists) who are convinced that through technology it will be possible to create an artificial environment "where the human race can live without any dependence on nature". These are the most dangerous of the unbelievers because they are relied upon by short-sighted, visionless, immoral leaders who only have an immediate interest.
The members of the first group should be reminded that if indeed we are the creatures of "creation", then so are the rest of the creatures, and if indeed man's role is to "rule the world", then every ruler is expected to be moral and just to everyone. (See The Little Prince's Visit to the King).
As for the "armchair scientists" (and among them there are also those who believe in creation...) it is difficult to argue with them, since those who are willing to give up the smell of the approaching rain, the sounds of a lightning storm, the sights of nature, are probably also willing to give up all the creations inspired by nature, poets, Painters, composers of music, architects and other creators draw their inspiration from their natural environment, a work whose inspiration does not come from a natural environment (if that is possible) will be distorted - like the ideas of those who disbelieve.
According to rock paintings in caves in France, wall and rock paintings in southern Africa, remains of worship and ceremony in prehistoric inhabited caves, as well as according to the tradition and behavior of primitive societies today, it can be concluded that in early human society there was a great appreciation for the nature surrounding man, man saw itself as part of nature.
It's easy to imagine how colorless our lives would be without species of birds, flowers and butterflies, how uninteresting our lives would be if all the forests were turned into agricultural fields, how terrible the sight would be if all our beaches were surrounded by high-rise buildings, even if we don't kill the animals directly Pushing their feet out of their habitats and destroying their environment results in species disappearing forever.
Experts have calculated and found that if you cut a certain habitat in half, you lose 15 percent of the species in it. And yet - we live in a "materialistic" society, so it is worthwhile to rely on material data: among the millions of species we know (animals and plants), hundreds contribute to our immediate existence: food, clothing, housing, movement, medicine, wherever we turn we are met with products that come from nature, Even fossil fuel-petroleum wouldn't exist without the ancient forests and let's remember again the inspiration for all cultural creations whatsoever, ninety percent of the calories that humanity consumes (in food) come from a hundred plants! This is despite the fact that there are tens of thousands of additional plants that can be used as food, if humanity continues to grow at the current rate we will have to learn to use additional food sources, if we do not protect the forests these plants will disappear without us knowing what we have lost.
It is estimated that there are many species - animals and plants - that are still unknown to science and in them - as well as known species - lie solutions to many problems of human society - medicines, sweeteners, fuel, and more. In blood clots, toxins extracted from conic oysters are used as anesthetics, vaccine development and malaria treatment is based on different plants, and the list is long.
Our very existence depends on what ecologists call "ecosystem services" (ecosystem services). Many plant species provide their services to the environment - and to us in the course of extensive activity:
By preventing soil erosion, others influence the weather, the levels of oxygen and other gases in the atmosphere, by turning light and solar energy into energy available to us, by "eating garbage" and returning it to the energy cycle, in short, making the earth a suitable place for human habitation.
If the "environmental services" are taken for granted and should not be taken into account, they cause disasters, for example: it turns out that since 1950 we have lost about a fifth of the land cover in the world due to drift. This is because of the removal of the vegetation cover that prevents erosion.
According to accounts based on assessments of the biological system of our world - living and growing - human society uses, changes or wastes forty percent of the productive capacity of the entire system. Despite the density of the human population, this use is hundreds of times greater than the consumption and sufficiency of all species together. In other words, we are drawing resources that are running out and tools are running out!
Recently, following the understanding of the conservationists that one must stand up to the material society, economic studies are being conducted and it turns out that areas that are preserved as nature reserves "pay for themselves" four times more than if they were "developed" - for real estate, agriculture, etc., the economic profit comes from visitors to the reserve and allows Development without damage to nature and without future risk to the environment - sustainable development.
From studies in urban centers it turned out that the expenditure to improve air quality - filters and anti-pollution facilities in the industry paid off within a year, mainly in the decrease in absences from work due to diseases and pollution hazards. That is, preserving our natural environment is economically viable.
But above all (in my opinion) - we are a product of our natural environment, a creation of the nature around us, the technological power that allows us to destroy our environment must be used to preserve the environment, this is our moral duty to ourselves and our environment.
It turns out that the moral insight of the need not to harm nature and the environment has a pre-existing DNA: in primitive societies it is accepted and known that they do not harm unnecessarily and do not destroy what cannot be restored. The natives of South America - Indians living in the forests live with their environment in balance, take only what they need and respect all the creatures (and plants) in their environment. The Inuit (Eskimos) in the north hunt for their needs and nothing else.
The San (Bushmen) in Draf live in a desert environment and know how to derive their needs from it without harming nature, so do the pygmies in central Africa, in the thick of the rain forests.
Even shepherds who live in their surroundings for a long time, know how to use the pasture for their livelihood in cooperation with the wild animals and know not to harm the predators but with those that endanger the domestic animals, even European farmers learned that it is possible to spread food to the rams in the winter to prevent them from entering the fields.
The situation changes when a human population arrives in a new environment, here the traditional traces are probably removed - perhaps due to a lack of feeling of belonging - and damage to the environment and nature is not considered a prohibition: according to various researchers, the old settlers of Australia who came from the islands of the Indian Ocean (aboriginals) destroyed the marsupials The big ones and their predators.
According to the same assumption, the settlers of America eliminated almost all the large vegetarians (megafauna), those who arrived thousands of years later destroyed the rest: the new Americans managed to destroy about sixty million buffaloes (buffalo) and on the same "occasion" also the Indians.
The closest example to us is the destruction of the forests in the Middle East by the conquerors throughout history. Throughout history, people have used natural resources - for food, clothing, medicines, traditional and religious ceremonies, and in "new" times for "sport". With the growth of the human population, the methods of hunting, mining, and agricultural cultivation were perfected, all as if the natural resources were inexhaustible.
Due to the disappearance of traditional cultural inhibitions and prohibitions, nature was destroyed and the environment was damaged in most parts of the world, until the emergence of the scientific insight into the need to protect the environment, preserve the existing and restore what can be restored.
Conservation of nature in an initial version appeared already in the Middle Ages, wealthy landowners appointed "forest guards" whose main role was to prevent hunting and cutting down trees - not because of the need to preserve the existing but so that the owner of the house could himself enjoy the "sport" of hunting and selling trees.
In the sixteenth century - in North America, laws were enacted to protect game animals, i.e. moose, geese, etc., in order to allow the continuation of the "honorable sport" of hunting wild animals. Predators and other animals as well as plants did not receive protection. This form of "conservation of nature" influenced several species of "hunting animals" to continue to exist on "islands" around which everything was destroyed.
Even when there was a "scientific" willingness to preserve species for the sake of the future, the preservation was by hunters and the display of the stuffed animals in private collections and at a later stage in museums. A form of preservation - or such research was preserved to a certain extent until not long ago - I once told a well-known zoologist about the sighting of a rare individual in an unusual place and his response was "bring me a skin", meaning that until there is a stuffed museum exhibit it is not a reliable sighting!
The need to preserve nature as a whole in a scientifically controlled and complete way appeared only towards the end of the eighteenth century. Following the slaughter of about sixty million bison (in America), about five hundred animals remained, various species of birds were exterminated to adorn the ladies' hats with their feathers, the homing pigeon whose flocks used to blacken the skies of America disappeared completely.
The recognition of these numbers stunned zoologists and the result was various publications on the need to preserve nature. The first "park" was declared in 1872 - Yellowstone Park. - Following this, reserves were declared in Canada and Australia and a little later the Kruger Reserve (Draf) was declared
In 1900, the US was the first to enact laws for keeping animals, trading and keeping birds and animals, and importing animals from other countries. The laws were intended to protect the American fauna as at the same time Americans and Europeans continued to slaughter wild animals around the world. Africa, India, South America continued to be used by the murderous lust of hunters who returned home in ships loaded with wild animals and their parts to decorate the walls of the hunters.
Imagine how hunters would back them up if they saw an eagle decorating the tree in which it nests with hunters' heads, a lion with hunter's teeth in its neck, an elephant flaunting braids of hunter's hair, a gorilla wearing a hunter's scalp (blond).
With the gaining of political independence in more and more countries, the recognition of the need to preserve wildlife grew stronger, but the extreme turn to the recognition of the need to preserve the entire nature, this means the need to preserve the natural environment, came in the sixties (twentieth century). In 1962 Rachel Carson's story - The Silent Spring - was published. Carson, a marine biologist by training, described in her book a quiet, desolate and dead world, where you don't hear birds chirping, you don't see butterflies, you don't smell flowers, all this due to the widespread use of insecticides (mainly DDT at the time). Following growing concern, the US Congress enacted the law for the protection of endangered species ESCA, which allows the law to include species all over the world (not only in the US).
In 1971 the law was expanded to include marine species as well. As a world power, the USA has a decisive influence on the direction of activity in the entire world, so that despite a "bloody past" many countries are following it. After the establishment of the United Nations, an International Department for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was established in it whose role is to collect information about endangered species, to publish this information, and with the help of the publication to collect budgets for repair. IUCN helped in 1961 establish WWF - the World Wildlife Fund.
An international convention for the control and prevention of trade in wild species (CITES) was signed under the auspices of non-governmental organizations. By the end of the century, about 135 countries had joined the convention. In 1992, representatives from 128 countries gathered in Rio (Brazil) for the "Earth Summit", for discussions of environmental problems in an attempt to reach agreements and policy commitments for action in this regard. Development resources for "sustainable development", that is, development that takes into account the natural resources while understanding that they must be preserved and with an overall future vision.
Ten years later, in 2002, green organizations and government representatives gathered again in Durban (Draft). It turns out that precisely in countries that are considered least developed, the chances of preserving nature are greater, this is because, despite the mass slaughter by American and European hunters, there are still many undamaged areas that have been given restore.
Recognizing the need to create large reserve areas that would provide their inhabitants with the appropriate natural space necessary for their living, the conference (which was not without political symbols) was closed under the slogan Reserves without borders. But this time it's not just a slogan: in North America there has been a reserve for a long time that embraces the Canada-US border. In Southern Africa, three reserves were combined into one that encompasses territories in the DRAF, Namibia and Botswana. Another reserve in the stages of consolidation will launch to the borders of the Mozambican and Zimbabwe DRAF.
In West Africa, the coastal countries decided to create a marine reserve that would stretch from Mauritania to Cameroon. Cameroon, Gabon, and the Central African Republic agreed to create forest corridors that would allow a continuous connection between forest reserves in Shitan. On the border of Kenya and Tanzania there are three reserves (on each side) that constitute continuous habitats that allow their inhabitants adequate natural reproduction and living conditions as close as possible to undisturbed conditions.
The least developed countries are those where nature exists as close as possible to the original, and this is where the main conservation problem grows, since these countries are also the poorest on the one hand and on the other hand they have a high abundance of nature, so the pressure on reserve areas is high and continuous, whether as agricultural invasions, foresters, hunters, or pressure by shepherds entering the reserves with their herds.
The solution is economic: in various countries (mainly in Africa) organizations are emerging and active that see their role in the preservation of nature by and with the help of the local residents. The residents or with their participation, the profits from entrance fees to the reserves as well as from the services provided to visitors are directed to the benefit of the residents - to build schools, clinics, community services, etc. ” as well as compensation for animal parts that can be priced (skins, teeth, etc.). In this way, the residents are given the opportunity to make a living from the reserve and from this a natural connection is created that causes a feeling of commitment and an understanding of the need to maintain the reserves and the broader need to preserve nature.
One of the most difficult problems is that precisely in countries with a rich biological diversity, corruption in government (bribery, etc.) is widespread, according to a survey conducted in countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, it turns out that money that was intended for nature conservation ended up in the pockets of corrupt officials, inspectors received bribes to allow animal poaching and tree cutting In the reserves, a situation that according to the surveyors threatens the reserves more than population pressure.
The extermination of elephants and rhinos (in Asia and Africa) was supported by bribe takers at high levels of government. Deforestation is approved (for Western companies) in exchange for fat payments that are directed to private accounts. This procedure ends as soon as the local population receives the authority to guard.
In the west of the Maasai-Mara reserve (Kenya), a private company belonging to the Maasai was allowed to manage the reserve: the poaching has stopped (in the last period two hundred and fifty poachers were arrested - for a nation of fifteen on the eastern side - managed by the government), access roads are improved, tourism services are expanded, The intrusion of shepherds and their herds was stopped, all for the benefit of the residents and the reserve alike.
In Israel
I have already mentioned that due to our being a center of conflicts throughout history, there is not much left of the magnificent nature that was here, with the arrival of the new Israelis to settle in the country, the commitment to the country was embodied in the well-known slogan "Nalbishech Shlomat concrete and cement" and indeed, in the heat of development, no attention was paid to the environmental need.
Sand and gravel were robbed from the seashore as if there was no tomorrow, housing estates were built without any thought for quality of life, the need to develop agriculture and industry was implemented without any long-term calculation and consideration of reservoirs (water). Nature conservation was entrusted to the Department of Plant Protection, which was a division dealing with agricultural pests and their control, and its main activity was providing training to farmers on control issues.
The picture changed following one of the greatest natural disasters in Israel: the desiccation of the Hula. Following the desiccation, the Society for the Protection of Nature was established as a voluntary body whose main activity was attempts (and successes) to preserve what was left and to educate the people about the need to preserve nature. As a result of the society's activities, the Nature Conservation Authority was established, when The establishment of the Authority and its management, Major General Avraham Yaffe was elected.
Avraham (an amateur hunter) gathered around him a professional team in which the idea of nature conservation was inherent, with the help of zealots for the first issue of nature conservation and following the education system established by the society, the idea was assimilated into all layers of the people. Declaring reserves all over the country, supervising controlled hunting, preventing the picking of wild flowers, preventing damage to corals, are some of the successes. It should be noted the announcement of the giant reserves in the Negev - the Ramon Crater Reserve and the Great Rivers Reserve (Pran, Tsichor, Tzanifim, Chion) reserves whose size - relative to the size of the country - is unparalleled in the entire world.
Another major success is the return of species to the wild: moose in the north, rams and wild animals in the south. The activity of bird clubs and the like, all of these are considered a success by any standard, at the same time the explosion of the human population, a new increase (that is not educated for nature conservation), budgetary problems in the society for the protection of nature, the trampling of every good plot and the turning of permitted dirt roads into inexhaustible dust reservoirs And for the Hathatim crossings, due to the increase in multi-engine vehicle traffic, which has become a global problem, all this combined with the fact that the Nature Reserves Authority has been merged with the Gardens Authority puts the continued success in question and we'd better be aware.
Back to the big world. We have all heard about the destruction of elephants in Africa which reached alarming proportions in the seventies (last century). In the wake of intense inspection activity - inspection in reserves on the one hand and a worldwide ban on the ivory trade, led to the stabilization of the population of African elephants.
Recently we hear about a sharp decrease in the number of lions in Africa, according to estimates there were about two hundred thousand lions in Africa in the eighties (last century), according to the same estimates the number of lions today is twenty thousand - one tenth!
This fall is mainly due to a "collision" between the lions and the human population - shepherds and farmers alike protect their land against the predators, at the same time wild hunters also contribute to the fall as well as the human pressure on living areas. The lions, like the elephants, are large and beloved creatures (in the world public) and are therefore used as a measure of the state of the environment, since where there were elephants and today they are gone, there is no one to open grazing paths in trellises, no one to spread large seeds (such as palm trees and others) no one to open seasonal waterholes, the main The "environmental role" of lions is to maintain adequate levels of their prey, i.e. they are the natural "diluters" when there are no lions the population of their prey increases (buffaloes, zebras, and various antelopes) without removing sick, old individuals and without thinning, and the result will be mass mortality as a result of diseases and lack of food. Since it is possible that there are those who do not attach importance to RAM, it is again necessary to turn to the economic side.
According to data obtained from satellites - in the last twenty years the amount of phytoplankton in the oceans has decreased by forty percent. Phytoplankton are "tiny plants" and their environmental role is to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning it into an energy source and thus serving as the main and most important food base in the oceans, meaning less phytoplankton = less fish = less food for humanity.
The fall in the amount of phytoplankton is attributed to a combination of factors - global warming, the hole in the ozone, chemical pollution of the seas, so the hand of human (industrial) society is a significant factor. One of the most important branches of fishing, the salmon fisherman, is severely affected because the salmon (Ilatit) that come up the rivers to breed and spawn encounter human barriers - dams that do not allow the journey up the rivers to continue, causing alarming numbers to fall. Part of the solution is the arrangement of special crossings that allow the fish to continue their journey, in order to increase the supply of fish to the market, farms were established that raise fish in cages (in the open sea), but the fry are to be farmed but must be collected from the wild (from the heads of the rivers where the fish are cast) which of course harms the natural population. The world population of salmon is estimated at two-million individuals, every year about half a million fish escape from cages, recently it became clear that mixed offspring (between fish from the wild and fish from cages) do not manage to complete their journey to the rivers where they are spawned, that is, a second generation of mixed-breeds do not reproduce and the damage intensifies .
The reverse life cycle of the salmon indicates the eels which are considered a delicacy by connoisseurs. The eels begin their lives in the ocean (probably in the Sargus Sea) first as eggs and later as fry they reach the mouths of rivers and ascend them, up the rivers the eels grow and mature and can reach an extreme age (up to eighty years), but again upstream there are dams that block the paths of these eels (fries) Those who have overcome the barriers come across fishing nets that collect them for breeding in farms.
Here, too, there is no (yet) possibility of including eels in captivity, (which was successfully done with our bream), so despite the insight that both species of fish are important to Kalka as a source of food, those dealing with the issue have not yet reached the possibility of exploiting the resource without harming its future, or in other words - sustainable development .
Last year, 2003, the International Organization for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published According to this report, 2000 species are in immediate danger of extinction and this without knowing what is happening to the thousands of species that science does not know about.
Among the species we mention: the simian wolf (from Ethiopia), the spider monkey (South America), the snow leopard (Asia), the bongo antelope (Africa). And many more species of plants and animals that are less known to the general public. And again to quantify (economically), one of the species is the Mekong catfish - which reaches 3 meters in length and weighs 300 kg. This fish is one of the important sources of livelihood for millions of people living on the banks of the river (mainly in Vietnam) and they are looking for alternative sources of livelihood.
The one who sets the world agenda in nature conservation (as in other things) is the government in the USA - the president. The current president was brought to power when he was carried by companies and corporations that do not have the preservation of nature in mind (to put it mildly), fuel and mineral companies whose owners and managers did not internalize the need to protect our environment (along with the economic advantage of preserving the environment), and therefore the environmental policy promoted by the previous presidents - is faltering with Bush, at the same time the "green" lobby of elected officials is expanding, and its influence is getting stronger, so that it can be hoped that in the future the government in the USA will return to its sympathy and actions for nature and come to our environment a savior.
