The Earth is entering a period or unprecedented change due to the destruction of the natural systems that have enabled and sustained human life over thousands of years. The public debate about the contributing factors to this destruction has begun, and many prominent leaders and major governments have demonstrated their awareness of the problem. Despite the shift in public opinion, and a new awareness, little has been achieved that is likely to prevent further damage. The damage is being caused mainly by processes that are fundamental to the production of food and industrial goods. It follows that preventive action in agricultural and industrial societies will need to be far-reaching and involve a reappraisal of both individual styles of life and major institutions.

The 1990 UN Bergen Conference recognized that education would need to be central to the process of reassessment and redirection. It also recognized that education takes place in the workplace as well as in schools and colleges. This article argues for an education that is linked to the development of a new intelligence. It further argues that banks are key institutions, acting as channels for investment in the future and staffed by highly-qualified professionals who are nevertheless constrained and ‘educated’ by their institutional roles. The article examines the new and emerging responsibilities of institutions such as banks. It proposes some steps towards recognizing and fulfilling these responsibilities, and also towards redirecting the educational and investment functions of banks.

Sustainable development requires that resources are used as conservationally and as optimally as possible in order to maintain an adequate resource-base for future generations. It is not an easily-defined concept, nor is there any single way of achieving it. It does, however, focus on the environment, as this provides the resource-base that supports all society. Among the recently-evolved scientific developments, biotechnology has many applications that can improve resource-use. It involves the manipulation of organisms to undertake specific processes and includes genetic manipulation or ‘engineering’.

In an environmental context, biotechnology has its greatest contribution to make in agriculture — especially by improving crop-yields. It offers opportunities to design crops for specific environments and to make crops more efficient producers of food-energy than otherwise. Biotechnology can thus manipulate primary energy-flows; it can also reduce fossil-fuel energy inputs into agricultural systems. It could also contribute to the mitigation of environmental problems such as deforestation and soil erosion. Both food- and fuel-energy resources are key components of sustainability. Sources produced biotechnologically, e.g. SCPs and biomass fuels, can supplement those produced conventionally.

Resource recovery and recycling, and hazardous-waste disposal, are other environmentally-beneficial facets of biotechnology. These are equally pertinent to sustainable development because they extend the resource-base. In this context, biotechnology constitutes a vehicle for the improved manipulation of biogeochemical cycles.

There are, however, potentially significant drawbacks in the use of biotechnology. These focus on technology transfer between the Developed and Developing World; this is economic and political, and relates to intellectual property rights, etc. Environmentally, the disadvantages concern the potential creation of ‘ecological ogres’ which could generate ecological disasters. Moreover, biotechnology relies heavily on the availability of a sustainable genepool, i.e. on biodiversity; indeed the two are interdependent. The high rates of extinction of plant and animal species that are currently occurring are thus limiting biotechnological opportunities for the future.

Large-scale forest conversion in Brazil, primarily to cattle pasture, contributes significantly to the global anthropogenic emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. An alternative land-use, namely extractive reserves for forest residents, may serve as one means of using Amazonian forests sustainably and of maintaining carbon in living matter rather than adding it to that in the atmosphere.

In the Seringal (former rubber estate) Porongaba (6,800 ha) of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, Acre, Brazil, primary forest still covers more than 90% of the area. Total biomass in primary forest is estimated at 426 tons per ha, equivalent to 213 t C per ha. Rubber tappers effectively maintain about 60,000 tons of carbon per household (family unit) in forest biomass and thus out of the atmosphere. Deforestation of primary forest was less than 0.6% per yr — much less than rates of natural disturbances for other neotropical forests.

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Seringal Porongaba releases carbon at a gross rate of some 200 t C per yr per household. Net releases are much less, as regrowth forests absorb carbon at rates of about 9 t C per ha per yr. The net areal flux of carbon to the atmosphere from land-use in Seringal is much less than one ton of carbon per ha per yr, which is equivalent to less than 0.3% per yr of the carbon stock in forest biomass. If Seringal Porongaba is typical of the three million hectares in extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia, then these reserves are calculated to retain 0.6 Gigatons of carbon in the terrestrial biota.

Adverse changes in income patterns for rubber tappers could lead to abandonment of extractive reserves or increased deforestation within them. Diversification and improvement of income from non-timber forest products are needed to maintain rubber tappers in extractive reserves. Most beneficiaries of carbon storage in these and other reserves live outside Brazil; devising means of recompensation for these benefits is a challenge for the global society.

The progressive depletion of land sources of construction materials poses increasingly acute supply problems to the building industry. Stricter rules than currently exist in relation to environmental concerns and their effective enforcement, while undoubtedly laudable, would exacerbate the situation and preclude opening, in many instances, new land-quarries. The search for alternative sources led naturally to exploitation of marine deposits. Beaches and near-shore areas have long been tapped for relatively small amounts of sand and gravel, but the new, greatly-increased demands for these materials poses a serious threat to many shores. Tourism and mining, unavoidably, have come into conflict. Beach protection, and, with increasing frequency, ‘renourishment’, is antipodal to granulates' mining. Offshore dredging has in some cases triggered accelerated beach erosion. The general rise of sea-level, and the consequences of exceptional-strength storms, have worsened erosion and greatly disturbed — occasionally irreversibly — the local sedimentary budget and transit. Technological progress, and more and more sophisticated equipment, permit greater efficiency in, and greater depth of, dredging operations.

Besides their use for construction materials, the search for minerals in the marine domain also affects sands and gravels: placers and ores are available here, and mining in the coastal zone is no longer a marginal undertaking. Exploitation of ‘granulates’ ranks today as the second most important marine mining activity after oil extraction. Hence it is a top-priority topic for Quaternary economic geologists and environment specialists alike, while public awareness has henceforth to be reckoned with. Communication and information techniques must consequently be designed and vigorously propagated.

Utilization of animal wildlife and their by-products by farmers in Nigeria, as confirmed by this survey, is for cultural and religious ceremonies and traditional medicine. The pattern of consumption of wild animals depends on what species are available in different ecological zones. In traditional medicine, some wildlife by-products are acceptable nation-wide, while in religion, farmers are very selective — especially the Muslims. Culturally, utilization is largely by tribal and ethnic background. In the installation of traditional rulers and in performing traditional rites, some specific wild animals and their byproducts must be sacrificed.

Wild animals are so vital to the rural people that adequate consideration must be given to maintaining wildlife habitats when rural development projects are planned. This is especially important when these projects involve major land-use changes or modification of traditional agricultural practices. Much of the small mammal, bird, and reptile, habitat is comprised of small wild patches, marshes, or narrow riparian strips, which can easily be destroyed by short-sighted activities. This wildlife is a valuable renewable resource which can continue to produce benefits only if adequate habitats and protection are available.

Examined here is the problem of persons compelled to flee from their areas of habitual residence. The number of such displaced persons (refugees), both nationally internal and cross-border, already in the many millions, nonetheless keeps increasing by perhaps 3 millions per year. Many of the uprooted continue to flee owing to persecution, oppression, or war. However, these triggering events appear not to have been worsening markedly in recent years. Other, more strictly environmental, refugees flee from such natural disasters as flooding, drought, and volcanic action, although these triggering events have also not been increasing in frequency or severity.

It is thus suggested here that the continuing increases in refugees result from transgressions of the carrying capacity — that is, of unsustainable increases in human (and associated livestock) numbers, often associated with site deterioration or actual habitat degradation. Such displaced persons have been referred to as ‘environmental refugees’. It is clear that in the long term the poignant dilemma of the ever-increasing numbers of refugees can be addressed only in terms of achieving environmental security within a framework of comprehensive human security.

Wildlife culling is the most preferred form of wildlife utilization in ULGMA. Nevertheless, the frequency of game-meat consumption by local people is low, partly due to the problem of irregular meat sales from the culling scheme and partly due to the low purchasing capability of villagers. LIRDP needs to improve the distribution routine of meat sale at lower prices if the culling scheme is to fulfil its objective of providing game-meat to local people. It is also essential to spread comprehension of the use of benefits from wildlife utilization among the local residents. Any increase in the allocation of the wildlife harvest quota should be considered with caution in order that species are not harvested at a rate beyond their reproductive capacity.

There is resentment against safari hunting, based on the opinion that it gives to foreigners the opportunities to utilize wildlife resources while the local people are forbidden access to them. Appreciation of benefits from safari hunting is minimal, and option for reduction of the off-take allocation quota is strong. Although safari hunting is the most prominent revenue-generating form of utilization, benefits from it are not visible to local communities. Exchange of information between LIRDP and the local communities concerned with the use of revenue from wildlife utilization programmes needs to be reinforced. This would be instrumental not only in minimizing misconceptions about safari hunting, but also in establishing cooperation between LIRDP and local communities. An increase in the number that may be taken of the more numerous species during DGL hunting could well be considered, so as to enable more local people to utilize wildlife resources legally.

Control shooting has a marginal effect in reducing crop damage. Even though electric fencing could be an effective barrier against large animals such as Elephants, it would be better to encourage traditional methods of self-defence. Control shooting is advocated only if and when the problem gets out of hand. Subsistence poaching is widely successful, due to the skills of the practitioners, the use of appropriate traditional technology, and the low operating costs. These features may be considered favourably in wildlife culling operations. Through allocation of a sustainable off-take quota to local hunter cooperatives, their services could be used to provide game-meat to local communities.

Continued confrontation with commercial poachers through regular and more intensive patrols is essential, particularly in vulnerable areas. LIRDP should maximize the services of Village Scouts stationed at Miliyoti and Kauluzi wildlife camps by providing adequate firearms and ammunition for more effective anti-poaching patrols in the game management areas than currently exist. To gain local support, LIRDP may consider an increased wildlife offtake quota for the Malaila Kunda traditional ceremony. This would serve to sustain local culture and would help to develop enthusiasm among local people for due conservation of animal wildlife and other natural resources.

An experiment to study the effects of habitat fragmentation on biological diversity was commenced in an Eucalyptus forest, in February 1985, at Wog Wog in southeastern New South Wales, Australia. The two hypotheses which are being tested are (1) that habitat fragmentation reduces biological diversity, and (2) that the reduction in diversity is fragment-size dependent.

The experimental design consists of three fragment-sizes replicated six times. The sizes are 0.25 ha, 0.875 ha, and 3.062 ha, the two larger ones being progressively c. 3.5 times the size of the smaller ones. Four replicates (12 fragments) were retained as Eucalyptus forest when the surrounding land was cleared for a softwood (Pinus radiata) plantation. Two replicates (six fragments) are controls in an adjacent State Forest.

The sampling is stratified into slopes, drainage lines, and inner and outer zones, with samples replicated twice in each stratum. Thus, there are two outer slope and two outer drainage-line sample sites, and two inner slope and two inner drainage-line sample sites. This gives 144 permanent sample sites within the Eucalyptus forest.

Following the experimental treatment, a further 44 permanent sample sites were established between the fragments. Aranae, Phalangida, Formicidae, Scorpionidae, Diplopoda, Coleoptera, and vascular plants, are the main groups of organisms involved in the experiment. Mosses and liverworts, breeding birds, small ground-mammals, skinks, and bats, are also being monitored.

Monitoring commenced in February 1985. The experimental treatment, i.e. forest fragmentation, took place during 1987. Two years after the treatment there were still no experimental results, because of the inherent delays in sorting and identifying the arthropods, and in establishing and managing the very large database involved. However, the analysis of some pre-treatment data is used to assess the experimental design. This analysis demonstrates the importance of adequate replication in ecological field experiments.

If large areas of tropical rain-forest are replaced by grassland, there is likely to be about 300 mm less evapo-transpiration and 650–800 mm less rainfall during each year in these areas than is currently experienced. Lower rates of evapotranspiration will allow more energy to be used for sensible heat, and this will lead to surface air temperatures that are higher than currently by about 3°C. Reduced cloud-cover will also lead to even higher temperatures, because clouds have a net cooling effect. When this additional heat is combined with the extrasensible heating, the overall effect is expected to be a rise in temperature of about 4–5°C.

These contentions are based upon data obtained from ‘natural experiments’. They have given results which suggest that tropical deforestation will have a larger effect on temperature than was hitherto expected, and that the effect on both temperature and rainfall will be more widespread than has been expected hitherto. The effects on global climate cannot as yet be determined by a ‘natural experiment’.

The removal of so much of the tropical rain-forest as is now projected will have such a dramatic effect on local and even wider climate that no further replacement of the rain-forest ecocomplex by others or other land-uses should be allowed to take place.

Trees, as welcome and necessary components of Nature and functional landscape elements in cities, provide a worth-while theme for applied ecological study. Of the different approaches, the micro-scale evaluations of tree—habitat interactions can throw light on practical tree management. The roadside trees in Hong Kong, generally dwelling in a stressful physical and physiological environment, have been surveyed in detail in the field with regard to species composition, tree structure, tree defects, and habitat characteristics.

Despite a diversified floristic composition, the street-tree population is dominated by a small number of common species, of which 12 have been chosen for in-depth evaluations. The recent emphasis on exotic and fast-growing species with limited final dimensions will modify the treescape in the long run. Many existing large specimens have been sacrificed to urban redevelopments. The differential performance of different species with reference to the occurrence of defects has been interpreted. Almost all the trees are inflicted by some structural or physiological problems, and large trees are practically collectors of diverse maladies.

The urban tree habitats of Hong Kong are characterized by gravely cramped and stressful conditions from the soil-level upwards and especially as regards headroom. Tree-habitat correlations and associations suggest a need to plant rapid-growing, tall but narrow-canopied species that are able to resist a maximum proportion of the inevitable tree defects and diseases. The shortage of good-quality habitats with space for tree-growth, and the accompanying unfavourable ecological niches, are crucial factors for tree existence. The prospects of street trees in the long-term urban planning and upgrading for environmental quality, with special reference to the provision and preservation of proper habitats, are elaborated, with Hong Kong as a practical example.

This study uses sequential aerial photography to identify environmental changes. The interpreted aerial photos constitute a data-bank of past and present land cover/uses.* Substantial changes have been observed in the areas of cultivation, woody cover, and bare ground.

An increased 449.9% of the surveyed area has been cleared for cultivation during the last 30 years, while 77.2% of the former woodland has been destroyed during the same period, contributing to a 15.6% increase in grassland. Bare ground increased by 33.1%. Increased cultivation is caused by increase in the population of subsistence farmers and mechanization. Expansion of cultivation and overexploitation of woody resources (fuel-wood and building materials) are the causes of decline in the woody vegetation. As consumption of woody resources exceeds natural regeneration, woody cover is gradually replaced by grasslands.

Diminution of the woody vegetation results in shortage of fuel-wood and building materials and consequent misery to the local people. Expansion of cultivation reduces grazing-land, leading to overstocking and overgrazing. Extensive cultivation, based on soil ‘mining’, subjects more and more land to physical and chemical soil degradation, leading in turn to decline in soil fertility and crop yields. Both overgrazing and extensive cultivation accelerate soil erosion in the area, reducing available cropland, while siltation and flooding cause serious damage to property and infrastructure.

Lack of effective land-use planning, uncontrolled population growth, and introduction of the Tanzanian village agricultural production system in a semi-arid area, have contributed to the present deplorable state of affairs. In general, the area shows increasing environmental degradation and resource depletion, while very little conservation effort is being made to reverse the trend. These results indicate that a sustainable resource management plan is urgently needed for the area.

The Summer Villa estate was famous for its wildness, preservation of Nature, pleasant climate, and beautiful scenery in the Qing Dynasty when the natural ecosystems were strictly conserved by the Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong (1703–93). Plants on the estate played an important role in this embellishment, 28 out of the 72 noted scenic sites being named after plants or plant etc. materials. The estate has been seriously destroyed in the last 150 years by wars, fires, and natural disasters, before the foundation of the new China. The damage was especially serious in the Hill Area, comprising some 80% of the estate.

The present vegetation in the Hill Area is the result of reafforestion in the 1950s. Seven different plant communities, composed of natural and artificial elements, are now found there, most extensive of which is the Pinus tabulaeformis artificial forest with Vitex chinensis dominating the shrub layer. Some of these communities are unsuitable for the scenic spots on which they stand, some are not adaptable to the habitats, some have problems such as consisting of single species — so resulting in susceptibility to pests and offering little possibility for birds to make their nests and mammals to colonize.

The natural environment in the estate is becoming widely degraded, with serious SO2 and Pb pollution caused by tourism and urbanization. Plants — especially needleleaf trees — are sensitive to these pollutants.

This paper discusses the process of designing for Nature in the Hill Area of the Summer Villa estate, much of the work being concerned with problems of the present vegetation and the best approach to deal with them. To create Nature for the City of Chengde and at the same time recover the natural beauty in the Summer Villa estate, much attention is paid to the natural characteristics of suitable plants — especially those ‘historical’ natural species which can adapt to the present habitats. Five subsidary landscape areas with different plant characteristics in different habitats have been designed. Maps of the ‘historical’ natural vegetation, the present vegetation, and designs for Nature in the Hill Area, have been drawn and are here reproduced for practical use.

This paper describes up to two decades of unassisted plant recovery from uncontrolled tracked-vehicle disturbance within tundra meadows on two physiographically distinct high-arctic coastal lowlands. Data are presented which emphasize the status of species-richness and above-ground vascular biomass. Although they exhibit similar vascular floristics, the undisturbed vegetation communities of the two sites differ greatly in terms of the abundance of dominant species. In particular, Salix spp. characterize the larger, more mesic hummocks of the Baffin Island site, while Cyperaceae characterize the more level and generally wetter meadows on Devon Island. Despite these differences, both vascular and cryptogamic species-richness are consistently reduced under a variety of low-intensity disturbance regimes in different vegetation-types. In many cases these reductions are significant. In addition, total vascular biomass is significantly reduced in 88% of all stands. Reductions are most severe among woody species and, in cases where the biomass of monocotyledons was increased, these increases were more than offset by the losses among dicotyledons. This is contrary to the situation in mesic low-arctic meadows, where significant biomass increases among graminoids have more than offset losses among dicotyledons after less than 8 growing-seasons.

The literature of mechanical disturbance in the high-arctic is briefly reviewed, and it is noted that few long-term data are available, there being virtually none which address either cryptogamic species-richness or vascular biomass. The data presented here reaffirm previous short-term findings that lateral reinvasion by rhizomatous graminoids is slower than in the low-arctic. In addition, it has been determined that even after 18–20 years, seedling establishment by dicotyledons is virtually lacking in multi-pass tracks, and is limited to only the driest microsites (hummock tops and sides) in single-pass tracks. The few colonists are mostly slow-growing, woody species and are not likely to recover to predisturbance levels of biomass in mesic sites in the foreseeable future.

The prospect for a natural return to predisturbance levels of species-richness among cryptogams is equally unlikely, as the microhabitats in which many of them were found are often significantly reduced in extent or are lacking altogether. In some cases, ruderal bryophytes that are not found in the undisturbed formation have colonized the disturbed substrates, that are apparently not being invaded by the original species — further exacerbating natural restoration.

At present, most of these impacts occur on a limited spatial scale, although cumulative impacts were also documented. However, even small patches recover quite slowly and with fewer species than were originally present. Bared surfaces, or strips, if larger than about 1 m across are, typically, invaded from the edges inwards, few types other than ruderal grasses (e.g. species of Phippsia and Alopecurus not found in the undisturbed formation) being able to colonize the centre. Only the wettest meadows, which are naturally poor in species, approach or match former levels of species-richness and vascular biomass.

Given that these impacts are of limited extent and relatively low intensity, by comparison with large-scale resource exploration and minerals' extraction, the findings indicate that the meadows of the high-arctic need to be considered separately from their low-arctic counterparts when planning for even the most mitigative developments. Many of Canada's high-arctic lowlands provide important seasonal or year-around habitats for the region's terrestrial herbivores, yet only one has received any legislative protection. As pressure continues to build-up for increased access to the region for purposes of resource exploitation (Hazell, 1991), wilderness recreation (MacLachlan, 1988), and military sovereignty (Hazell, 1991), it is worth considering the ability of the more productive components of these ecosystems to recover from even a fraction of the impacts which, unfortunately, we may expect them to incur.

We are optimistic about the ability of our social institutions to respond to the challenges of environmental degradation, but recognize that (a) restoring environmental quality to a world inclined towards rapidly-increasing consumption of resources and generation of wastes will require profound institutional changes, and (b) environmental challenges cannot be separated from the global-scale issue of achieving an equitable distribution of resources. Conventional economics practically ignores environmental consequences, and is inadequate to the challenge of environmental restoration. A new way of ‘doing business’ is called for.

Three industries — energy, agriculture, and automobiles — have a responsibility to become the avant garde of global environmentalism, owing to the large toll which they exact in resource utilization and pollution, and for the almost universal role that each of these industries plays in the planet's diverse societies. In order to effect changes of an appropriate magnitude, these industries will need to reorient their priorities and goals — as will the institutions with which they routinely interact, including governments, research and development, and financial institutions.

The African Giant Snail is a dependable source of animal protein for a large proportion of Nigerians. However, in the past few decades, the supply of this Snail and two others of different genera but similar use, has declined. The causes, examined in this paper, which affect its collection and decline in forest reserves are due to a combination of socio-economic and cultural factors: a cultural orientation of the rural dwellers towards the collection and utilization of snails for food, cash, traditional medicine, and sacrifice; indiscriminate destruction of snail habitats due to ignorance or neglect of the resource; and lack of incentives and inadequate data for snail management.

Snail collection is a legitimate occupation of rural dwellers. However, because forestry laws in Nigeria regard snails as minor forest products, no legislative, conservational, or management, controls can be effected — hence their collection will continue in future because of their value to Mankind. As the African Giant Snail is fast approaching local endangered status, the fear exists that, unless effective conservation measures are taken urgently, the survival of this biotic resource would appear to be in jeopardy. It is suggested that: (a) representative forests in each ecological zone should be preserved for wildlife conservation; (b) smallholder snail-farming should be encouraged among rural and urban dwellers to de-emphasize its collection from the optimal wild source; and (c) research should be conducted on the ecology and biology of the major snail species to develop a database from which their management within the reserves can be effected.

Genuine or American mahogany is obtained from trees of the genus Swietenia (S. mahagoni, S. macrophylla, and S. humilis), and is one of the premier timbers of international commerce. The trade in mahogany commenced almost five centuries ago with S. mahagoni from the Caribbean; but following ‘commercial’ extinction of this resource, trade became centred on mahogany populations in South and Central America (S. macrophylla). The trade in mahogany is predominantly from primary forests, and has led to population and genetic resource declines — particularly in the Caribbean and Central America. More recently, there have been an increasing number of ‘commercial’ extinctions in South America. As the resource declines, pressures mount to accelerate the illegal extraction of mahogany from National Parks and lands reserved for indigenous (‘Indian’) peoples. Inability to control this trade threatens mahogany populations and genetic resources throughout its range, at the same time adversely affecting the livelihoods of indigenous peoples in the process.

Mahogany often regenerates poorly following logging operations that are conducted using current management practices, and further research is required to determine the optimum biological and economic conditions for in situ silviculture. Attempts to cultivate mahogany in plantations have met with little success in the Americas, due mainly to effects of the shoot-borer (Hypsipyla grandella), a moth larva that damages terminal shoots, so leading to excessive branching and reduced timber value (Figs 3 and 4). The success of mahogany plantations in the neotropics will require the development of an integrated pest-management system, perhaps involving the incorporation of pestresistant genotypes within agro-forestry or mixed plantation systems.

It is vital that appropriate silvicultural and trade practices are adopted to ensure sustainable mahogany extraction, while at the same time conserving an adequate population and genetic resource-base. To this end, effective trade monitoring and resource-regulation measures must be introduced to assist in controlling illegal trade and to encourage a scientifically managed, sustainable, utilization of mahogany. Two of the three mahogany species, S. humilis and S. mahagoni, have been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The third and only other recognized species of Swietenia, S. macrophylla, should also be considered for listing in CITES Appendix II, thereby benefiting from the international trade-monitoring and resource regulation requirements consequent upon such listing.

Rawa Aopa is a large swamp in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia — the only major peat-swamp in this mainly mountainous island. Its vegetation and fauna are still quite poorly known. The existing information is summarized here. With the creation of new villages as part of Indonesia's transmigration programme, the human population in this area has increased very rapidly. Pressure on natural resources — especially soils and forests — is increasing, and primary forests are dwindling rapidly. This in turn increases the threats to Rawa Aopa, as erosion in its catchment area inevitably leads to a rapid silting up of the swamp. The swamp has a potential as a source of food (fish and sago) and income (rattan and other products), and it might to some degree become a tourist attraction.

From a scientific point of view, the gaps in the knowledge about water-regime, vegetation, and fauna, ought to be remedied. In order to attain sustainable utilization of this area, a thorough plan ought to be made for the whole catchment of Rawa Aopa. The most important measure to take is the protection of the forests covering the hills and the surroundings of the swamp. Also important very widely is the protection of soils. Furthermore, it is recommended to include the northern part of the swamp in the already-existing Rawa Aopa—Watumohai National Park.