Gros Morne, one of Canada's newer national parks, covers over 1,900 km2 of exceptionally scenic country on the west coast of Newfoundland. However, the Park was initiated by the provincial government mainly for economic reasons rather than for the value of its natural heritage—particularly to stimulate development in an area of high unemployment. To some degree, this has been achieved—but not without considerable cost, as the area is one of long-established settlement and utilization. Most of the settlements were excluded from the Park, but some were not, and in spite of resident opposition, all but one of these has now been removed.

There has been equally strong opposition to restrictions on traditional semi-subsistence activities. Such measures were in line with existing Parks Canada policies in the early 1970s, but by the time the formal Park agreement was signed in 1973, a number of important changes had occurred. Following opposition such as was met in Gros Morne, and the creation of new parks in areas inhabited by native peoples, more recent Parks Canada policy statements indicate some relaxation of previously rigid positions. Thus certain semi-subsistence activities are continuing in the Park. The situation is not so clear as regards settlements within parks, though people are now being encouraged to move rather than being forced to leave. The possible eventual removal of Sally's Cove, the only settlement remaining strictly within the Park, is difficult to reconcile with policies that place increasing emphasis on Man-land relationships and the cultural heritage.

Gros Morne provides an opportunity for Parks Canada to foster a viable community within the Park, based on a traditional Newfoundland culture and consistent with the pertinent parts of its 1979 policy statement. This would be much more in keeping with the natural and cultural heritage than the urban-type recreational facilities that are being built or considered for the Park.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Galilee Mountains were still practically a ‘closed system’, as a result of which the balance of land-use was more or less preserved. Rural settlements had then hardly developed, and stagnation of the few remaining mountain towns was observed. In general, the roads were unpaved routes, the economy served for subsistence only (based mainly on agricultural terraces), while most of the area was of forest or rocky ground serving as pasture.

During the British Mandatory period, the Galilee Mountains area opened up slowly, and this process has increased ever since the establishment of the State of Israel. The Mountains are facing a tremendous increase in population as a result of natural local increase (mostly Arabs) and migration (mostly Jews). This excessive mountain population in Israel is an unusual phenomenon in comparison with other mountain regions in the western world, which have generally decreased in population though there, too, the equilibrium of land-use has been shaken—for instance in the Swiss Alps (Bugmann, 1980; Gallusser, 1980; Messerli et al., 1980), and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States (Kelly, 1980).

A comparative study of the floristic composition of aquatic vegetation growing in certain ponds in parts of Kerala, and those recorded as growing in the same ponds more than 20 years ago, reveals changes that are often extreme. Thus many of the once-dominant species have either dwindled or disappeared. In some ponds, most of the components of the original flora of only a quarter-of-a-century ago have been completely replaced by thick mats of Salvinia over the past two decades. Salvinia multiplies vegetatively very rapidly (cf. Mitchell et al., 1980), forming mats on which secondary colonists grow. This commonly leads to a gradual filling of the pond. Besides, Salvinia infestations also cause considerable loss of water from water-bodies through increased evapotranspiration. If these ecological processes are allowed to continue, many of our water-bodies seem sure to dry up in due course.

A well-planned and systematic method of control, involving physical removal—either through manual labour or specially-designed machines—to be followed by biological control (for example by grazing vertebrates or invertebrates), would keep the explosive spread of the weed under check. The huge mass of harvested weed could be utilized for production of organic manure, cooking gas, or hard-boards, or could be dried as packing material. There should also be vigilance by a surveillance squad of experts in the scientific disciplines concerned, which would be effective in preventing further spread of the weed—much as is already being practised with good results for the hydroelectric reservoirs of Kerala.

Aquatic resources in parks and reserves are not as adequately protected as comparable terrestrial resources. Thus the values of protected aquatic ecosystems as standards for comparison, reservoirs of genetic materials, and ‘emotional’ reserves, are apt to be greatly diminished.

Even seemingly static ecosystems such as coral reefs are dynamic, changing dramatically in response to natural short-term environmental variations. Such ecosystems require protected natural areas as dynamic standards that will allow distinctions to be drawn between effects of exploitation or pollution and normal variation. Furthermore, fisheries harvests may reduce the size at which exploited species mature, and reduce the amount and variability of genetic material produced by exploited populations.

The seven underwater parks or sanctuaries established since 1935 in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands exhibit wide variations in the degree of protection accorded to aquatic resources, a range being apparent from nearly complete protection in the first parks to be established to virtually no protection at all in the recently-established parks.

The consequences of permitting consumptive uses of aquatic resources in parks and reserves need to be objectively evaluated. Unless these consumptive uses are severely curtailed or eliminated, the primary values of the parks and reserves may never be realized.