Grinevald, Jacques

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82 Environmental Conservationsiasm, effusing hope for the New World's environmentalfuture if only human population-pressures can be curbedand foreseeable catastrophes avoided.WILLIAM G. BERBERET, President ofNAEECollege of Liberal ArtsWillamette UniversitySalemOregon 97301, USA,ARTHUR B. SACKS, Past President ofNAEEInstitute for Environmental StudiesUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison1225 West Dayton StreetMadison, Wisconsin 53706, USA,&NICHOLAS POLUNIN.EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON NEW MANAGEMENT OF THEENVIRONMENT IN RURAL AREAS, HELD AT THE COUN-CIL OF EUROPE, STRASBOURG, FRANCE, DURING 20-22OCTOBER 1987As a contribution to the Campaign for the Countryside,from 20 to 22 October 1987, 80 specialists and representa-tives from ten European countries took part in a seminarconvened jointly by AIDEE (Association Internationaledes Entretiens Ecologiques) and the Council of Europe. Thetheme of the seminar was 'for a New Management of theEnvironment in Rural Areas'. Statements on the technical,scientific, legislative, economic, financial, social, cultural,administrative, and political, aspects clearly demonstratedthe seriousness, the diversity, and the complexity, of theproblems to be solved—such as the conflict resulting fromthe right of farmers to a decent income, and the need toprotect natural resources and landscapes.The evolution of agriculture does indeed come upagainst two obstacles which do not, at first glance, have anyobvious relation to each other: excess production anddegradation of the environment. However, control of theformer leads to a progressive reduction of cultivated areas,thus leading to abandoned areas—wastelands—which canonly be kept in ecological balance by the maintenance of atleast a minimum of agricultural activity. Agricultural pol-icies must therefore aim at protection of the environment,even and especially in 'marginal' areas. What is beneficialto farming is, in general, also beneficial to the environment,and vice versa.Any future policy must thus look to both sectors, namelythe environmental and the agricultural, so that ecologicaland socio-economic needs become compatible. It is societyas a whole—at local, regional, national, and European, lev-els—which must make a special effort. This presupposes aspirit of solidarity shared by all, at the levels of planningand execution. Such were the main conclusions of thisSeminar, which should be noted also beyond the bounds ofthe European Continent.HAYO H. HOEKSTRADocumentation and Information Centrefor the Environment and NatureConseil de VEuropeB.P. 431 R6F67006 Strasbourg CedexFrance.CONFERENCE ON GAIA : THEORY, PRACTICE, AND IM-PLICATIONS, HELD AT WORTHYVALE MANOR, CAMEL-FORD, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, UK, 21-24 OCTOBER1987This meeting was attended by more than fifty scientistsor otherwise ecologically-minded people, who found Wor-thyvale Manor, in Cornwall, a very nice place for such aConference, which ranged around atmospheric chemistJames Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis, proge-nitors of the Gaia hypothesis. The full proceedings of theConference are to be edited by Peter Bunyard & EdwardGoldsmith, Editors of The Ecologist.Substantial control of The Biosphere by its living com-ponents having long been recognized among biologists*, ittook an atmospheric chemist, James E. Lovelock, to bringit out in the 1970s, as the main basis of what he called 'TheGaia hypothesis'. This was developed essentially togetherwith the Boston microbiologist Lynn Margulis, and paperson it were subsequently published in various scientificjournals. Furthermore, Lovelock's conception of the Earthas a living organism was popularized in various books andarticles, including his own book entitled Gaia: A New Lookat Life on Earth (Oxford University Press, 1979; reprintedwith a new Preface, 1987, xiii + 157 pp.), while a furtherbook by him, entitled The Ages of Gaia, is now in press.The reception of this Gaia concept was more or less coldin academic circles but was often welcomed among non-biologist holisticians. Lovelock's viewpoint of our globalhabitation of the Earth's surface as constituting part of a'continuum of living matter' including the vital atmos-pheric envelope, is now being integrated by internationalscientific research programmes such as the InternationalGeosphere-Biosphere Programme (of ICSU) and the Eco-logically Sustainable Development of The Biosphere Pro-ject (of IIASA). Many planetologists are in line with thisview of our 'living planet', but global ecologists are lesskeen and have trouble with Lovelock's great optimism andlack of biological sense*.The programme of this Gaia conference indicated thevery wide scope of discussions and included the followingmain papers (in order of presentation): 'A History of theIdea of The Biosphere', by the undersigned; 'The Evolutionof Gaia', by James E. Lovelock; 'Daisy World Mechanism:Does the Coupling between Life and the EnvironmentLead to Self-regulation?', by Andrew Watson; 'Mecha-nisms or Machination? Is the Ocean Self-regulating?', byMichael Whitfield; 'Biological Modulation of Ocean Sal-inity', by Gregory Hinkle; 'Life as a Geological Force', byPeter Westbroeck; 'Microbial Mechanisms ofGaian Con-trol', by Lynn Margulis; 'Gaia, Epistemological Implica-tions', by David Abram; 'Gaia, Implications for the Phi-losophy of Science', by Jerome R. Ravetz; 'Gaia, Implica-tions for Evolutionary Theory', by Mae-Wan Ho; 'Gaiaand the Cosmology of Amazonian Indians', by Martin vonHildebrand; 'Gaia, Implications for the Social Sciences',by Matthias Finger; and 'Gaia, Implications for the Eco-logical Movement', by Peter Bunyard.The debate was a lively success, in part because manyecologically-minded people disagreed with some appar-ently too-optimistic ideas supported by James Lovelock,Lynn Margulis, and her son Dorian Sagan (whose father isthe astronomer Carl Sagan). Indeed, Dorian Sagan and hismother are very enthusiastic about Man-made or 'spacebiospheres', while many ecologists are not. In my owncontribution, I had emphasized the necessity to questionthe supposed novelty of the Gaia concept, recalling V.I.* See for example, Professor John R. Postgate, FRS, in A'cirScientist, 118 (1607), p. 60, 1988.-Ed.https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S037689290002868XDownloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:29:46, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available atConferences & Meetings 83Vernadsky's work and the biogeochemical studies of theYale ecologist G.E. Hutchinson, which collectively bridgedthe gap between Vernadsky's concept of The Biosphere andthe modern science of ecology. In short, the Earth as anin-part 'living organism' is a better metaphor than that of aspaceship. We are neither passenger nor pilot of The Bios-phere, but only a thinking and a living part of it, with,however, capabilities now to steer it practically where wewill.JACQUES GRINEVALDInstitut Universitaired'Etudes du Developpement24 rue RothschildCH-1211 Geneve 21Switzerland.VATICAN STUDY WEEK : A MODERN APPROACH TO THEPROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT, HELD IN ROME,ITALY, DURING 2-7 NOVEMBER 1987From time to time the Pontifical Academy of Sciencesorganizes a Study Week to investigate particular scientificissues. Within recent years the topics have included cli-mate, particle physics, and expansion of the universe. Thelatest one, held in early November 1987, was entitled 'AModern Approach to the Protection of the Environ-ment'.It is said by Vatican officials and Pontifical scientists thatthe idea originated with Pope John-Paul II himself. Per-haps because of the appalling pollution in his nativePoland, or perhaps because of the close association be-tween environmental decline and pervasive poverty in theThird World, the Pope has issued some stringent remarkson the environment. In Nairobi, for instance, during thecourse of his 1985 visit, he asserted that'It is a requisite of our human dignity, and therefore aheavy responsibility, to exercise dominion over thecreated world such that it may truly be for the enjoymentof the human family. The exploitation of the riches ofnature must occur according to criteria that take intoconsideration not only the present needs of people, butalso the needs of future generations... Progress in the fieldof ecology, the growing awareness of the need to protectand conserve limited natural, non-renewable resources,are in harmony with the demands for healthy gover-nance. God is glorified when the created world serves theneeds of global development of the entire human fa-mily.'Whatever the source of the inspiration behind the latestStudy Week, it attracted some leading scientists. Therewere Peter H. Raven and John D. Ives from the UnitedStates, Francesco di Castri now from France, John Jeffersfrom Britain, Carlos Chagas and Valdemar Rodrigues fromBrazil, Mohammed A. Ayyad from Egypt, and StjepanKeckes from UNEP. Nor were the participants all naturalscientists. Karl-Goran Maler, of the Stockholm School ofEconomics, was there too, with his strong interest in envi-ronmental affairs—together with a number of Italian lumi-naries, notably Giovanni Battista Marini-Bettolo.During the course of the week we discussed a range ofissues, including tropical forests, 'acid rain', the 'green-house' effect, spread of deserts, ozone-layer depletion, soilerosion, and mass extinction of species. True, many ob-servers believe that certain of these issues are aggravated byrapid growth of human numbers. But during the StudyWeek, it was considered pointless, if not counter-prod-uctive, to raise the population question: both 'sides' wouldknow the other's position, and an exchange of views wouldsurely prove sterile. While making their position on popu-lation briefly plain, then, the scientists decided to registertheir dissent, and leave it at that—even though some ofthem pronounced the population problem to be the biggestenvironmental issue of all.On the final morning there was a half-hour audience withthe Pope. He presented a brief speech, in which heremarked that'This [environmental protection] topic merits most care-ful attention and is truly one of tremendous importanceat the present moment in the history and development ofour modern world. ... Technology, as the transfer ofscience to practical applications, must seek the good ofhumanity and never work against it. Therefore, scienceand technology must be governed by ethical and moralprinciples. ... Technology has not always respected theenvironment, [and] has led to situations causing greatconcern by reason of the irreversible damage done, bothlocally and world-wide. ... [There are] very seriousinroads on forest resources in many countries.'The adverse effects on the environment can be cor-rected in the causes that produce them only by teachingpeople a new and respectful attitude towards the envi-ronment—an attitude that ensures the rational use of thenatural resources which have to be preserved and passedon for the use of future generations... In developingcountries there is an acute problem of the destruction offorests in the wet tropics and of desertification in the drytropics—problems that threaten the feeding of the popu-lation. ... In the industrialized countries there is theworrying problem of waste products in gaseous, liquid,solid, or radioactive form. Imprudent practices havecaused very serious damage to nature. Uncontrolled dis-charges have resulted in acid rain, trace substances in theenvironment, and the contamination of the seas, as forexample the Mediterranean.'Pontifical Academy leaders suggest that the Pope mayeventually issue an Encyclical on environmental concerns.If so, it would surely help the environmental cause. Werethe Vatican Curia to mobilize the message through thehierarchy of bishops and the other channels for theChurch's communications, it could eventually reach 800million people around the world, or one in six of the entirehuman community.NORMAN MYERSConsultant in Environment and DevelopmentUpper Meadow, Old RoadHeadingtonOxford 0X3 8SZEngland, UK.NINTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TROPICALECOLOGY, HELD AT BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY, VA-RANASI 221005, INDIA, DURING 11-16 DECEMBER1987:Major Conclusions and Future OutlookThe IX International Symposium on Tropical Ecology,including the International Conference on Rehabilitationof Disturbed Ecosystems: A Global Issue, organized by theInternational Society for Tropical Ecology, was held atSwatantrata Bhawan, Banaras Hindu University, during11-16 December 1987. The academic meetings were at-tended by some 450 delegates, including about 100 fromabroad, and represented 26 countries in all.Besides 15 sessions devoted to contributed papers, 5day-long sessions devoted to poster presentations, and 4plenary lectures, the Symposium included a number ofhttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S037689290002868XDownloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:29:46, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

Conference on Gaia: Theory, Practice, and Implications, held at Worthyvale Manor, Camelford, Cornwall, England, UK, 21-24 October 1987

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