The Conservation Paradox - Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change - page 3

that nature's fragile balance would be disrupted by human influence (Wu and Loucks 1995)
(Figure 1.2).
At the same time, a parallel strand in the nascent conservation movement was founded on
utilitarian principles, and advocated the 'wise use' of nature as the best incentive to preserve
viable populations of wildlife. Led by Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt, amongst oth-
ers, this strand of conservation was less aesthetically driven, and advocated sustainable prin-
ciples in forestry and natural resource harvesting (Weddell 2002). Under this conservation
approach, the purpose of game reserves and protected areas was to provide populations of
favoured species for harvesting and hunting, based on the understanding that as long as the

Philosophical Root /
Metaphor

Balance of Nature Flux of Nature

Ecological Paradigm Equilibrium (scale-free)

Non-equilibrium (scale-specific)

Self-regulation / homeostasis
(e.g. density dependence)

Resilience (finite), variability,
complexity, stochasticity

Assumptions

Desired State Unchanging Heterogeneous, Meta-stable

Ecosystem
Management

Conservation Approach Preservation Utilization

Non-
intervention

Maximum
Sustainable Yield

Non-
intervention

Management Ideal

Suppression /
Prevention of
Disturbance

Variable Harvest
and / or depleted
stock

Adaptive
Management

Management Reality

Figure 1.2 Conservation based on equilibrium and non-equilibrium paradigms. Note that both preser-
vation and utilization approaches to conservation are based on an assumption of nature in balance,
whereas ecosystem management assumes that nature is in flux (Ladle and Gillson 2009).