Protecting Natural Resources And Animal Species

PROTECTING NATURAL RESOURCES AND SPECIES   Earth’s natural resources include air, minerals, plants, soil, water, and wildlife.  Conservation  is the care and protection of these resources so that they can persist for future generations. It includes maintaining diversity of species, genes, and ecosystems, as well as functions of the environment, such as nutrient cycling.  Conservation is similar to  preservation , but while both relate to the protection of nature, they strive to accomplish this task in different ways. Conservation seeks the  sustainable  use of nature by humans, for activities such as hunting, logging, or mining, while preservation means protecting nature from human use. Continued human population growth has led to unsustainable rates of consumption of our natural resources, resulting in a loss of Earth’s  biodiversity . The main factors driving biodiversity loss include habitat destruction, climate change, invasive species, overex...