Hong Kong comprises an area of some 400 square miles (1,036 km2) and a population of 4.5 million people largely living in an urban and city complex centred around a magnificent natural harbour. Such an urbanized community, hemmed in by mountains, is separate from the hitherto rural remainder of Hong Kong.

The geographical position of Hong Kong, lying as it does on the borders of the temperate and tropical zoogeographic regions, when correlated with a local diversity of geomorphological and hydrological eccentricities, creates a fascinating assemblage of littoral biotic communities within a small area. The expanding urban area, however, resulting from a population growth that is confidently expected to reach 5.5–6.5 millions by 1991, is encroaching into the rural and coastal areas.

The demand for low-lying flat land has resulted in official and unofficial reclamations, initially of soft shores which are of significant archaeological and ethnological interest. The same shores constitute Hong Kong's countryside, but people bathe in waters that are grossly polluted by human and agricultural effluents, so that coliform bacterial counts in excess of 106 per 100 ml have been recorded. Squatter huts still dot Hong Kong's coastline despite massive rehousing projects, and shellfish are widely collected. Moreover, oysters are cultivated and not cleansed prior to resale.

No coastal parks, conservation areas, reserves, or even a coastal code, actually exists. The sea-shore is not used as an ‘open-air laboratory’, nor as an educational tool except at the tertiary level.

In such a community the sea-shore demands special attention, and in a world that is approaching urbanization as a way of life, Hong Kong, as a microcosm of south-east Asia, offers a case in point and a lesson in survival.

This paper reviews very briefly the main factors of relevance in determining the optimal distribution of nature conservation areas within a region or country. Whilst much will depend on the existing location of areas of high conservation value, the selection of an appropriate strategy for nature conservation within a region will also depend on the likely effects of isolation between conservation areas—which, in turn, will depend to some extent on the types of plants and animals that are to be conserved.

Considering a number of alternative patterns of conservation areas, it is concluded that patterns which combine a minimum of fragmentation with extensive regional coverage are likely to be preferred to more fragmented patterns involving the same total area of land.

The technique of restoration of populations of land plants is an old one that is well understood by scientists, agronomists, forestry experts, and the general public. However, only recently has attention been turned to restoring underwater areas with socalled seagrasses. From 1947 onwards, attempts have been made to restore suitable marine areas by using important species; however, only very recently (from August 1973) have large-scale restoration projects been undertaken.

The efforts that have been made to replant various seagrass species by different techniques are reviewed, but only two seagrasses, Zostera noltii and Thalassia testudinum, have been restored on a large scale. Both of these can be restored successfully; however, the seeding method of Thalassia appears to be the most practical operation of all, and the most potentially valuable for future research into large-scale restoration, as it allows flexibility of location and of depth of transplantation, and involves the minimum of damage to the donor site. It also ensures the most rapid regrowth, besides being in the long run the most economical method yet devised of restoring a seagrass community. An economic model (see Technical Appendix to this paper) and analysis for restoration costs are given and finally a wide range of uses of restoration of such beds of seagrasses are enumerated.

The Pacific Northwest is economically dependent upon its forest resources, which at present represent about 30% of the nation's softwood supply. Predicted decreases in the available supply have encouraged more intensive forest management, and new methods of planting, harvesting, and transport, have been developed.

Even with these improvements, problems exist in reducing erosion and accommodating other uses of forest lands and streams. With adequate planning and effort, however, most of these problems can be solved. But costs are high, and State laws controlling all forest practices are forcing Federal, State, and private, landowners to cooperate in planning for the future. Decisions that must soon be made should reflect an ecological understanding that could ensure the economic future of the Pacific Northwest.

Malaysia is one of the world's most successful ‘developing’ countries. As such it provides some excellent examples of rapidly changing man–environment relationships of a type that are soon to be expected in many other Third World nations.

The examples selected for this paper have been chosen to show both the degree of Man's impact on the natural environment of Peninsular Malaysia and also the changing relationships between Man and his environment. These two themes are inextricably related. The case-studies used illustrate these themes on different areal scales.

The impact of oil spillage from grounded supertankers using the Straits of Malacca and Singapore illustrates the international implications of a potentially widespread ecological disaster. The need for international control is stressed. In Malaysia, effluent from palm-oil processing mills is becoming an increasingly serious water-pollution problem in many of the Peninsula's rivers. Although the effects may be confined to individual drainage-basins, the results can be catastrophic to both aquatic and marine ecosystems and to the people who obtain their livelihood from them.

Land development and forest clearance have resulted in the opening up of vast areas to new rural settlements, a process paralleled by rapid urbanization. The third case-study considers Man's changing relationship to his disease environment in both rural and urban areas from the point of view of man–mosquito relationships. Finally, as a local problem, the Batu Caves situation is taken to illustrate conflicting resource demands for a unique limestone habitat. The impact of industrial pollution on the local population is emphasized.

These problems are finally considered from the point of view of the quality of life and human welfare in developing countries. It is argued that raising levels of human welfare through development without giving due consideration to environmental impact may be a self-defeating process. Local issues probably make the individual aware of this paradox. Perhaps only when the cumulative environmental and individual impact of human activities is appreciated at local, regional, and national, scales will effective legislative controls be introduced.

Sixteen species of butterflies occur in a small suburban garden in Leicester, England. During a five-years' survey, 9,000 individuals were caught, marked, and released, and it is suggested that this astonishing total is evidence that English gardens support a vast and highly mobile community of butterflies.

The contrived vegetational diversity of gardens provides an excellent environment for adult butterflies, but apart from Pieris rapae and Pieris brassicae, rather few seem to breed in gardens. One attractive species, Anthocharis cardamines, may have recently become adapted to breeding on Arabis albida, a common plant in rock-gardens. Suggestions are offered as to how gardens can be made attractive for butterflies.

The giant conifer, Fitzroya cupressoides (Mol.) Johnston, or Alerce (ah-laír-say), which is native to southern Chile and Argentina, has been intensively exploited for its durable wood since the European colonization of southern South America. Today, it persists only in relatively small stands mostly in very remote and inaccessible areas. While location in national parks provides most of the few remaining Alerce stands in Argentina with effective protection, Alerce continues to be exploited in Chile. Conservation of Chile's largest and longest-lived trees is complicated by inadequate ecological knowledge of Alerce, as well as by the socio-economic conflicts that are often associated with protection of rare but commercially valuable species.

Following exploitation, Alerce regenerates extremely poorly, though for reasons which are still unknown. Possible explanations include (1) inadequate seed production or seedling establishment in all but unusually favourable years occurring at intervals of at least ten years, (2) deterioration of the soil due to the potent leaching effect of the coniferous litter, or (3) a directional change in the climate of southern Chile since the time of establishment of much of the once-extensive forests of Alerce.

Historically, Alerce has played an important role in the economy of southern Chile since the late sixteenth century, and it continues to be commercially important. The great scientific and cultural importance of Alerce justifies giving it total protection with the status of a national monument.