The Evolutionary Conservation concept introduces a new way of practising collaborative conservation on an unprecedented scale, ensuring that the complex web of interactions and dependencies between natural habitats, species and overall environments are properly understood. Furthermore, for the first time, this model introduces an evolutionary element which holds the potential to enhance our ongoing understanding significantly. The model revolves around an intuitive set of tools and an operational hierarchy in support of the broader concept. It is scalable, from local initiative, through regional collaboration, to national, international and, ultimately global. The premise for Evolutionary Conservation lies in looking at conservation from a different perspective. The popular conservationist idea of preserving an environment as we would like it to be, is somewhat at odds with natural evolution and the dynamic balancing act that nature plays in order to maintain a sustainable world. The 'descent with modification' mechanism described by Darwin is an example of natural adaptability according to prevailing conditions. A habitat 'locked in time' would not be able to develop or react to the ever changing situation on planet Earth. It must be able to evolve in multiple dimensions, from the underlying geological processes to the assemblage of flora and fauna which exist within it, and the maintenance of the complex relationships and interactions which sustain it upon an ever changing path. Furthermore, there are the equally complex relationships and interactions which exist between habitats, at every scale, to take into consideration. If we consider the planet as a single, living organism which embodies all of these mechanisms, then the idea of taking a single habitat and somehow fixing it in time is at odds with the bigger picture. Even exercising our own ideas of species control within such individual habitats is incongruous in relation to the larger, interconnected world and, ironically, could lead to further imbalances which, in any event, nature will attempt to compensate for. We must find a way to understand habitats in a much greater depth, which allows us, in turn, to understand this bigger picture and how it is evolving. Rather than imposing our own thoughts and ideas of what we think a habitat should be, we must strive to understand how nature would manage the habitat, including the evolution of attendant species, environmental change and the interactions with the broader, fundamental mechanisms and cycles. We should remember that glaciations, mass extinctions and tectonic upheaval all play a part in nature's orchestration of the planet. Everything is for a reason within the broader scheme of things. When we think along these lines, we can envisage an individual habitat being allowed to evolve in sympathy with nature's grand design, rather than according to a human ideal of what we think it should be. Furthermore, when we extrapolate this thinking to multiple habitats, we begin to understand the complex relationships and the impact that changing any one habitat unnaturally can have upon the whole. However, adopting such an approach requires a combination of an uncommonly deep understanding and a mechanism with which to document and coordinate that understanding according to a common model. Evolutionary Conservation provides just such a model, which may be used practically for any habitat in any part of the world, promoting the development of a new, international understanding. An understanding which supports the idea of the planet as a single, interconnected dynamic mechanism and which provides for a single focus of the same for the common good. Individual habitat management may then be practised under the auspices of this single, broader focus.
About the Author: Julian Ashbourn is an experienced author and photographer with a special passion for the natural world, although his interests also span the sciences and social history. He has written on subjects as diverse as computer science, geology, conservation and history, in each case bringing his unique approach to the subject.