What can be done to preserve ecosystems? A great deal. In the past 25 years, the number of square miles of protected wild lands throughout the world has tripled. The amount of protected rainforest has increased three times over as well, with more than 1,035,000 square miles of tropical rainforest now in parks or reserves.

Unfortunately, simply declaring a patch of ground a national park may not protect it. In the coming decades, the planet's limited resources will be stretched even further as human populations continue to soar. Every year, millions more people will be forced to grow and find firewood wherever they can. Wild areas will endure only if people people can survive without having to overexploit the land.

The preservation of habitat must work in tandem with development for human needs. Some new conservation intitiatives have already reconciled environmenta safeguards with the needs of local people. The Brazilian government, for example, permits people to tap rubber trees and gather Brazil nuts in its national parks. A new system in Kenya allows the controlled taking of ivory. In such ways, plants, animals, and humans can all benefit from balanced co-existence.