Besides areas with primeval Nature, it is also necessary to protect man-made ecosystems. Under European conditions it is particularly important to turn into protected areas some near-natural landscapes which have never undergone great changes in land-use. One of these territories in the eastern Baltic region is the area of Matsalu Bay, which since 1957 has been the site of the largest Baltic nature reserve, possessing highly specific and valuable ecosystems. The Matsalu landscape is characterized by pasture lands, moist meadows, vast reed-beds, wooded meadows, and juniper groves, which have all been subjected to extensive human influence in the course of several centuries. Under contemporary conditions of management the preservation of these landscape types is somewhat difficult, but it is necessary to find suitable measures to effect it.

In order to facilitate the work of those who are faced with the difficult task of assigning priorities and guiding conservation action on a global scale, it is important that those countries which have jurisdiction over coastal areas start collecting, evaluating, and disseminating, data on the ecological status of their coastal zones. Only with such a data-base can the appropriate authorities effectively further the concept of conservation and sound management of marine resources. To these ends, also, the existing marine parks and equivalent reserves should be evaluated with special reference to the extent to which they provide adequate protection for representative examples of the ecosystems of the area, and to determine the need for additional areas to be protected.

As part of ongoing marine conservation programmes, IUCN/WWF is giving high priority to the identification of critical marine habitats either for the purpose of setting them aside as protected areas because of their fragility or high productivity, or for their research, education, or aesthetic, values. In cases where a ‘park’ is not the best solution to protect an area from pollution and other disturbances, IUCN/WWF, in cooperation with other organizations—international or national—is trying to help to influence the governmental authorities concerned to find the best possible solution to the problem, whether it concerns over-fishing, using wrong fishing methods (e.g. dynamiting), or is a matter of providing guidance to the authorities concerned to achieve a rational utilization programme of coastal marine resources. Such utilization is particularly important in those parts of the tropics where marine renewable resources play a vital part in the economy of tropical human populations, but where the native fishing cannot continue to supply yields that are sufficient to meet the (usually ever-increasing) demand.

Soil, vegetation, and rainfall, have been collected in the vicinity of a nickel–copper smelter at Sudbury, Ontario. The region is a major producer of many metals, and the large areas of forest desolation in the vicinity have been ascribed to sulphur dioxide fumigations over the past 80 years. In the present study, attention has been focused on potentially toxic heavy metals. Very elevated soil levels of nickel and copper were found, with values up to 5,104 ppm Ni and 2,892 ppm Cu within 1.1 km of the smelter. The concentrations decreased with distance to 49.8 km in one direction. Surface soils were the most contaminated, and a decline through the soil profile was found. Other metals such as iron, cobalt, and silver, showed a similar pattern of distance and depth, suggestive of an airborne source. Analyses of the foliage of three plant species also showed excessive levels of nickel and copper, as well as of aluminium. The levels declined with distance from the smelter.

The relative possibilities of soil versus aerial uptake are considered. The soils within 2–3 km of the smelter were markedly more acidic than those from farther away, and this was paralleled by their increased conductivity. Dustfall–rainfall collections and analyses of the soluble heavy metals indicated that a major aerial source of metals existed, and that the problem of metallic emissions is not merely one of the past. Heavy metals are persistent in soils, and the ecological consequences to date have perhaps only been masked around Sudbury by the sulphur dioxide damage, and the particular importance attached to it in the past.

Various social trends, not usually thought to be related to environmental conservation, are examined in relation to their impact on the conservation movement. The student rebellion of the 1960s is seen as an important force backing environmental causes. Leading as it did to a ‘return to the land’ and the development of alternative life-styles, it may become a significant pioneering effort towards finding a more viable relationship between Man and his environment. As a further outgrowth of the development of a ‘counter-culture,’ there is a renewed interest in those religious and psychological movements that seek to eliminate the dualities between body/mind, Man/Nature, matter/spirit, long imposed by traditional western philosophy. This is seen as having a potential for major changes in human attitudes towards nature conservation.

Seed germination and dry-weight production in Lolium perenne were examined in relation to growth on 12-years-old colliery waste separated into seven size-fractions. The size-range was from more than 4,000 μ to less than 125 μ, and the growth period was up to 30 days. Germination percentages after 6 days generally increased with decreasing particle-size, as did dry-weight. Shoot : root ratios also showed an inverse relationship with particle size.

After 30 days there was no distinction between dryweights on different particle sizes, except that on the largest fractions it had been found impossible to keep the plants alive. Problems of water-holding capacity are discussed, and the significance of soil particle-size in revegetation work is examined, it being concluded that an admixture of small particles is important for water retention and plant growth.

To sum up, the dereliction of industrially damaged land will be overcome by the natural processes of weathering, erosion, and leaching, moderated selectively by the influence of vegetation. Old pit-dumps in the Forest of Dean, ancient quarries as at Barnack in Lincolnshire, and the old peat diggings that now constitute the Norfolk Broads, all bear witness to the healing of man-inflicted destruction, given time. But in such a small country as Britain, with such a crowded population, we cannot leave these damaged areas for a sufficient length of time to heal naturally. Instead, we can, and we must—in the interests of health, good living, and the conservation of our assets in land—minimize the destruction which we leave behind, and ensure the conditions under which natural processes will most effectively and most speedily repair such damage as we cannot repair ourselves. So we must establish a landform appropriate to the use to which the land is to be put. We must ensure the adequacy of mineral nutrients for the soil which we wish to regenerate. And we must establish a vegetation that will contribute to those soil-forming processes whereby toxic elements are leached and nutrients retained.

Aquaculture, like any other industry, has the potential to generate pollutants for which the aquaculturist may be held legally responsible. Some of the pollutants created by aquaculture operations include both organic materials originating from excess primary production or inefficient supplemental feeding and toxic compounds such as herbicides, pesticides, and fish poisons. It is possible to utilize excess organic effluents for beneficial purposes such as culturing additional algal and animal species.

Construction of aquaculture facilities can result in physical alteration of the environment—including changes in circulation patterns, increased sedimentation, interference with freshwater input to the estuary, and direct destruction of productive areas. Intensive raft-culture may interfere with natural estuarine production.

Finally, the potentially serious threat from wide spread dissemination of culture species is discussed. Possible problems include introduction of pathogens and all of the ecological problems that are commonly associated with introduced species.

Covering broad areas of tropical shorelines are unique plants known as mangroves, which exhibit several structural and physiological modifications to the saline environment—especially in their root systems. Prop-roots and pneumatophores, two obvious modifications, allow mangroves to play a role in coastal geomorphology, either as land-builders or as stabilizers of substrates derived from classical sedimentation processes.

Current data show that: (1) Provided with proper substrates, mangrove seedlings can be raised in the laboratory for later planting in the field, although on exposed beaches success ratios may be low. (2) Larger mangrove plants (1.0–5.0 m in height) may be transplanted with relative ease and appear to succeed with few or no mortalities resulting from the techniques used. (3) Pruning of mangroves appears to be a successful method of mangrove control, allowing their utilization for stabilization around housing developments. (4) Fossil evidence for mangroves as shoreline developers is suggested by the discovery of a fossil mangrove reef off the Miami, Florida, coast. However, submergence of near-by mangrove areas has occurred, as evidenced by sea-grass beds growing above buried peat in the bay bottom. (5) Black Mangroves may be more useful than Red Mangroves as shoreline stabilizers due to their cold-hardiness, ability to tolerate disturbed substrates, and rapid production of pneumatophores. (6) Insect and isopod damage to mangroves has been documented, and it has been suggested by several research workers that such damage may lead to increased erosion of coastlines in many areas of southern and central Florida. In addition, boring activities in Red Mangrove seedlings may result in decreased numbers of seedlings being available for new mangrove growth and colonization. (7) Mangroves have been suggested for use as stabilizers of substrates in conjunction with planned filling and sea wall construction.

In environmental terms the after-treatment and subsequent utilization of worked-out opencast mining areas is of the greatest importance. One of the largest extractive industries in the world using the opencast method is that of sand and gravel. Ready Mixed Concrete Limited is the largest sand and gravel producer in the United Kingdom, and is pioneering new approaches to the problems of after-treatment.

Unlike other forms of development, mineral workings constitute a temporary use of land of comparatively short duration, yet often involving considerable areas. Therefore the planned after-treatment and after-use of the worked-out areas is of the utmost importance.

Dry gravel workings can either be filled with waste materials and restored to the original ground-level or the soils can be replaced, so that a new surface is created on the floor of the excavation. In both cases the new surfaces can be made available for agriculture, playing fields, or other forms of development. Flooded gravel workings can also be filled in a similar manner. However, the British Government is now anxious to retain many of these artificial lakes for water sports and other leisure purposes. If the new lake areas are to be made available for public leisure and recreation, then large sums of capital expenditure will be necessary. Leisure Sport Limited has been formed for the purpose of designing, building, and operating, centres of this kind.