The world's remaining tropical forests are being destroyed so rapidly that, if current trends continue, by the end of this century only the most inaccessible relics will survive. This would be a major tragedy as it would mean, inter alia:

(i) Destruction of the way of life of the indigenous peoples who inhabit these areas, leading to their systematic pauperization and transformation into a ‘marginal’, largely unemployed and widely unemployable, proletariat having a miserable and precarious existence in the shanty towns surrounding already drastically overcrowded cities.

A new thrust will be needed if the environment of Man and Nature throughout the world is to be preserved for posterity in anything like its present form. The required change in attitude and concomitant action should concern all peoples, involve most resources, and underlie many future developments—which last could well be in line with environmental conservation. It is believed that much benefit could accrue in this worthy direction through global exhortation of The Biosphere as mankind's planetary life-support system, which needs widespread understanding to allay increasing threats due basically to burgeoning human populations and the demands which they make on the limited resources of our planet.

The Biosphere may be defined as the Earth's peripheral envelope, together with the oceans and the atmosphere as far up as living things exist in it naturally, and thus ranges from the deepest layers of soils and ocean floors upwards to the highest levels of the stratosphere in which any form of life persists. This includes Man, with his unique intelligence and cognate capabilities that have enabled him to evolve latterly as the world's undisputed pandominant, change the surface of the Earth very considerably, and even alter the composition and content of The Biosphere quite appreciably.

Recent debate has shown disenchantement over the capacity of technology to provide solutions to current and future development problems, and this has led to questioning the value of scientific research itself, including that in the environmental field. The paper describes the objectives and approach of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), which was launched by UNESCO in 1971 as a major solution to important environmental and resources problems.

Centred around 14 research themes relating to human interactions with major ecosystems, MAB activities are focused particularly on regional networks of integrated pilot projects, combining interdisciplinary research, demonstration, training, and education. Many of these pilot projects are associated with ‘Biosphere Reserves’, which provide a new tool for ecosystems conservation. As an example of this approach, which involves cooperation of research workers of various disciplines with decision makers and with the populations concerned, the paper describes the MAB network dealing with the problems of the humid tropics, which is now fully operational. While indicating the difficulties encountered, it stresses the merits of this new approach in filling existing knowledge-gaps, in ensuring social and economic applicability of the results achieved, and in allowing fruitful cooperation between developed and developing countries.

Tropical moist forests (TMFs) of ‘primary’ status, whether rain-forests or ‘seasonal’ biomes, are currently undergoing widespread conversion—including disruption, degradation, impoverishment, depletion, and outright destruction. These are forms of conversion that range in degree from marginal modification to fundamental transformation—at rates that are anticipated to leave large parts of the biomes involved in grossly altered states, if not eliminated altogether, by the end of the present century. The remaining portions could well undergo similar patterns of conversion within the first two or three decades of the next century.

This would mean the virtual end of the biomes that are ecologically more complex, biotically far richer, and scientifically less known, than any others on Earth. It would precipitate some ultimate shifts in the course of evolution. It would also entail the irreversible loss of many unique natural resources that offer multiple utilitarian benefits—inter alia through modern agriculture, medicine, and industry—to human society now and for ever.

The World Conservation Strategy stresses the maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems, preservation of genetic diversity, and sustainable use of species and ecosystems—in brief, the integration of conservation with development. The present paper traces shifts in conservation policy, which originnally saw national parks as islands isolated from their surrounding communities, through to the evolving concept of protected areas integrated with development programmes. It stresses the need for protected areas, and notes that only about 2% of the world's continental land-mass can be so classified. It is thereofre imperative for the survival of Nature and Man that a closer linkage be established between protection and development functions in such a way that both are seen as essential from a social and economic viewpoint.

The continuing exploitive pressures on living natural resources are noted, and suggestions are made towards mitigating the impact of armed conflict and increasing financing for protected areas in order to achieve conservation and development objectives.