Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/165

 make conservation strategies as systematically selective as possible. No one cares for the prospect of consigning threatened species to oblivion. But insofar as choices are already being made, unwittingly, they should be made with selective discretion that takes into account the impact of the extinction of a species upon the biosphere or on the integrity of a given ecosystem.

68. But even though public effort may be concentrated on a few species, all species are important and deserve some degree of attention: this might take the form of tax credits to farmers willing to maintain primitive cultivars, an end to incentives to clear virgin forest, the promotion of research attention from local universities, and the preparation of basic inventories of native flora and fauna by national institutions.

{{c|1=

VIII. THE NEED FOR ACTION
}}

69. There are numerous signs that the loss of species and their ecosystems is being taken seriously as a phenomenon that carries practical implications for people all around the world. now and for generations to come.

70. The recent rise in public concern can be seen in such developments as the growth in Kenya's Wildlife Clubs, now numbering more than 1,500 school clubs with around 100,000 members. A parallel development in conservation education has occurred in Zambia. In Indonesia, some 400 conservation groups have joined together under the banner of the Indonesian Environmental Forum and exert strong political influence. In the United State, membership of the Audubon Society reached 385,000 in 1985. In the soviet Union, nature clubs have /…