The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Mark Tercek © The Nature Conservancy

“Conserving nature is often seen as a selfless act, but I would argue that the time has come to insert a bit more self-interest into our mission.”

— Mark Tercek
President and CEO
The Nature Conservancy

It might be said that The Nature Conservancy was born of the impulse to protect nature by setting it apart from people. We can appreciate why such sentiment arose in 1950s America, when suburbs were gobbling up forests, and meadows were giving way to highway interchanges for a newly mobile society. “Buy it up, fence it off” became the unspoken motto for a nascent land-conservation movement.

While those pioneering land saves were indeed heroic, we may have inadvertently done ourselves a disservice by reinforcing a false dichotomy: people or nature. When people see themselves as separate from nature, it’s easy for conservation to be perceived as a luxury we can’t afford during economic hard times — and as just another special interest the rest of the time.

As the scope and scale of The Nature Conservancy’s work has expanded over the last half-century, however, a stronger appreciation of people’s relationship with nature has taken hold.

There is a growing recognition that our species’ sustenance, livelihoods, economies and well-being are absolutely dependent on an intact and healthy natural world. That’s true whether you’re a businesswoman in Chicago or a subsistence fisherman in the Coral Triangle.

A singular focus on securing biodiversity has evolved into a broader vision of conservation that ensures vibrant natural and human communities.

It’s not just a semantics shift, but a wholly different point of view. For The Nature Conservancy, this rethinking began emerging long ago as we recognized that working lands — ranches, farms, trawling routes and energy fields, for instance — play a critical role in the conservation landscape. Conservation has succeeded in those places precisely because people’s livelihoods and heritage are at stake.

Several articles in this issue of Nature Conservancy reveal how the people-or-nature dichotomy is eroding. Off the Alabama coast, the restoration of oyster reefs — funded by the federal economic-stimulus package — will surely enhance myriad forms of aquatic life. But is there any species that will benefit more than our own?

From buffering against storm surges to providing food and jobs, oyster reefs provide vital services that we’ve taken for granted — but that now are being revitalized through conservation.

Similarly, the mangrove forests that people have haphazardly cleared around the globe not only serve as crucial nurseries for the seafood we cherish but also increasingly are critical to human well-being as climate change raises sea levels and intensifies storms.

And on Maine’s Penobscot River, a restoration plan crafted by The Nature Conservancy and other partners will remove inefficient dams. The project will not only enable the restoration of salmon runs and coastal fisheries but also boost the ability of other dams to generate more energy. Success in Maine could provide a model for any number of places around the world.

Conserving nature is often seen as a selfless act, but I would argue that the time has come to insert a bit more self-interest into our mission. We will continue to value the pristine and find joy and inspiration in nature’s beauty, but conservation will command greater commitment and support only by continuing to refocus our plans and actions on the well-being of people.

Mark Tercek
President and CEO
The Nature Conservancy

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