Conservation is the care and protection of Earth’s natural resources such as air, minerals, plants, soil, water and wildlife. It also involves maintaining diversity of species, genes and ecosystems.
The conservation movement has roots in many countries and dates back to the 19th Century when people began to feel concerned about the destruction of the world’s natural heritage. This was triggered by a number of factors including the destruction of teak forests during the Napoleonic Wars (resulting in one of the first environmental laws) and the indiscriminate hunting and plundering of wildlife by humans. The first major North American conservation organisation was founded in 1887 by the famous sportsmen George Bird Grinnell and Boone and Crockett Club president Theodore Roosevelt.
Other important branches of the conservation movement include’restoration’, which involves returning something to its former state (eg replacing worn or rotten cotton threads in a tapestry to restore it to a former condition) and’regeneration’, which attempts to return a natural habitat to its original form (eg planting new trees where old ones have been felled). A sub-category is ‘protection’, which refers to the attempt to protect nature from human activities such as farming, logging and mining and also to ensure that sites of historical and cultural interest are preserved (eg UNESCO’s World Heritage List).
‘Conservation articles’ often highlight a specific environmental threat such as an important wildlife reserve being bulldozed or a pristine lake being polluted. These types of articles are aimed at attracting attention to a specific issue and raising awareness amongst the public.