New Book Debunks Belief in "Sustainable Use" of Nature
12/6/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: John Oates debunks
"sustainable use" of nature
Source: Wetlands Preserve Environmental and Social Justice Activism
Center
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 6, 1999
John Oates questions the concepts of sustainable use and community
development in his new book "Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest,"
published by the University of California press (ISBN 0-520-21782-9 -
ISBN 0-520-22252-0). There may be two ISBN numbers because the book
was published in hard cover and paperback simultaneously. John
presents information about the status of conservation in the West
African nations where he worked for 30 years.
George Schaller and Michael Soule make comments on the back cover.
Schaller writes:
"Today's conservation agenda thrives on myth and dogma. Based on
insights gained during decades of fieldwork, John Oates debunks the
myths, including the fashionable strategy that attempts to integrate
economic development with conservation. The book offers a timely,
clear-headed, and uniquely important contribution to conservation,
one that should be read by all bureaucrats, scientists, and others
involved with development projects that supposedly benefit wildlife
and wilderness."
The book's concluding paragraph states:
"In May 1985, Arne Naess gave a keynote address to the Second
International Conference on Conservation Biology at the University of
Michigan entitled, "Intrinsic Value; Will the Defenders of Nature
please rise?" Prospects for the long-term survival of some of the
forests and wildlife I have been taking about will be greatly
increased if biologists, naturalists and other experienced people who
value nature for more than its ability to increase human material
well-being will rise and express themselves more publicly.
They can help conservation organizations rediscover the ethical
principles that directed many of their founders and these
organizations could then lead public opinion in a fight on behalf of
disappearing wildlife and wilderness. In so doing they would enrich
the lives of future generations of humanity much more than they will
do by following the materialistic philosophy that has come to
influence their present policy so strongly."