The momentous subject of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and their effect on The Biosphere's stratospheric ozone shield is treated rather generally but in sufficient depth where necessary in three main sections dealing with (i) scientific background and current status of ongoing investigation, (ii) the major technological uses of CFCs and available or foreseeable alternatives to them, and (iii) the policy status and regulatory activity involving present or proposed future restrictions in CFC emissions.

It being unlikely that life, at least as we know it, would have developed on Earth without an ozone layer in the stratosphere to ‘filter off’ harmful ultraviolet rays from solar radiation, the prospect of continuing manufacture in developing countries of its destroyers is highly alarming, especially as these destructive CFCs may take more than a decade from emission to reach the levels around 40 km altitude at which they do the most harm.

The concept of The Biosphere as the integrated living and life-supporting system comprising the peripheral envelope of planet Earth together with its surrounding atmosphere so far down, and up, as any form of life exists naturally, stems from the writings of V.I. Vernadsky in the 1920s but has only emerged and become widely accepted in the latest decades. Yet it is quite one of the largest and most important entities with which humans have to deal, being, moreover, the only natural habitat and life-support of Mankind and Nature and, as such, needful of safeguarding and healthful maintenance.

No other meaning than the above should be attached to the term Biosphere, the importance of which concept and actuality being such that it should be far more widely known than is currently the case — to which end a small conference was held in 1987 and a larger one is contemplated in 1990 on the theme of Threats to The Biosphere and Imperative Countermeasures.

Other activities on behalf of The Biosphere include the ‘Johnny Biosphere’ media campaign of Dr John R. Vallentyne, those of The World Campaign for The Biosphere and its sponsoring World Council For The Biosphere, and the newly-established [International] Vernadsky Foundation which it is hoped will have, as one of its main objectives, the fostering of due reverence for life in its full Biospheral context.

Within the apparent strength of proud, successful, cohesive agencies are often found characteristics that inhibit their ability to adapt successfully in an environment of change. Organizations can be so successful that they feel invulnerable to public petition. They can stereotype, and dismiss as uninformed ‘outsiders’ or biased trouble-makers, any others who criticize them. Janis (1967) has described such organizational tendencies as groupthink behaviour—where proud and successful, professional organizations such as the USDA-Forest Service (USFS), consider themselves superior to the public, and where any external criticism is filtered, rationalized, and stereotyped to minimize the need for organizational introspection and change.

This article looks at how groupthink tendencies were a normal, understandable part of USFS behaviour in the 1950–60s—and how these tendencies inhibited its adaptation to a post-industrial American society that was increasingly concerned with forest recreational and amenity values. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 1970) was the first of several laws that directly confronted the utilitarian, developmental values and the groupthink tendencies in federal natural resource agencies. Responding to NEPA (1970) and other legislative and policy changes of that era, the USFS has latterly become a much more sexually and professionally diverse agency, that is more open to public input than formerly. This volte-face has reduced the probability of groupthink operating in the agency, and consequently improved the latter's prospects of a useful and equitable future.

Conflicts between national parks and their surrounding human communities are apparently disfunctional for both. Both groups would appear to have incentives to resolve or at least reduce these conflicts. A major difficulty is the achievement of ready communication and trust between the powerful urban-based park authorities and the rural, possibly illiterate, local human populations who may have suffered at the hands of the park authorities in the past. Because of their greater power, the national park authorities are in the best position to take the first steps towards establishing trust—by making some positive concessions, and binding themselves in some way to real, rather than token, local participation in decision-making.

Local elected officials with responsibilities both to their local electorate and to the objectives of central government, might be suitable agents for bringing the various parties together. When once effective communication is established, the early identification of areas of common interest, and positive actions to promote these, will continue the trust-building process and enable more difficult issues to be addressed. The identification, in advance, of options or alternatives that appear to be mutually beneficial, ‘positive sum’ solutions, will facilitate this and provide incentives for the initial participation of all parties.

This approach to protected areas management will require new skills and training for park staff—in social and political as well as biological skills. It will also require a shift in the ruling paradigm of protected areas. The concept of national parks as inviolate havens of untouched Nature, controlled by an all-powerful central government agency, will have to give way to concepts of conservation through careful manipulation to achieve both conservation and local human development objectives. Although this approach is being hailed by conservation leaders through such worthy devices as Biosphere Reserves (Batisse, 1982), these concepts do not yet seem to have the international status that is required for their extensive adoption, nor do they necessarily build conflict-management processes into the management regime.

The approach suggested above is not without risk both to park authorities and to the local human communities; but clarification of both conservation and development objectives should reduce such a risk and help to identify the information and analytical needs for working towards a mutually beneficial solution.

In order to be able to recommend the most compatible land-uses for adoption in a multiple land-use system, in terms of the resultant impacts on soils and vegetation in mature ecosystems, the impact of logging operations and recreation in the Caspian region of Iran was studied. Four forest communities were selected and, with an analytical approach, the bulk density, percentage of plant cover, number of individual plants, plant height, and the number of plant species encountered, in 36 sample plots (20 × 1 m) located on various slopes and aspects, and used for logging or recreation at different intensities (unused, transitional, used), were recorded.

The effectiveness of data, in terms of demonstrating the statistically significant differences, was tested by the method described in Conquest (1983). T-statistics for two means were used to discern statistical differences.

The results of the study indicate that the effect of logging is greater than that of recreation on soil bulk density, whereas the effect of recreation is greater on plants than that of logging. Aspect has no effect on the resultant impact, but steep slopes are more susceptible than gentle ones. With increases in altitude, the degree of impact decreases. Ecosystems having loamy clay soils and a greater proportion of monocotyledonous than dicotyledonous species, located on gentle slopes at the higher altitudes investigated, tend to resist the impacts of both logging and recreation best.

National parks in ‘developing countries’ have tended to deviate from the western model of strict protection in order to include economic development of local people in their park management philosophy. Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, has been managed in such a way as to allow for limited collection of grassland products to meet vital needs of villagers for structural material.

Nearly 60,000 people are annually allowed to cut thatch and reed grasses for a nominal fee during two weeks in January: such visitation amounts each year to over 216,000 visitor-days. The total weight and value of grass products removed from the Park each year is estimated at 11,132 metric tonnes, worth NR 9.9 millions (about US $450,000). Subtraction of labour and permit costs yielded a net value of about NR 5.5 millions (about US $250,000) to the local economy. Individual villagers save about NR 2,000 (US $90) in costs for thatching material, and about NR 500 (US $25) for building canes, compared with what they would have to pay for other materials to build a house. Alternative products available in the market were considered to be unaffordable substitutes by more than 75% of the villagers questioned.

Villager attitudes toward the Park are becoming more positive as they begin to realize that the Park is a valuable, needed source of managed resources that are not so easily, or not at all, available elsewhere.

An optimal management of large Karst sites, with emphasis on the conservation of cave fauna while allowing recreational use, is proposed. A detailed study of the relative biological value of each section in a reference cave, the east Belgian ‘Grottes de Han’ Cave, was made in comparison with 40 others in Belgium.

Computer analysis provided a selection of optimal routes through the Cave. Each different route reflects the synthetic coefficients derived to weight biological and aesthetic values. This method of optimal cave resource control, developed to prevent deterioration in underground environments, can also be applied to other natural sites visited by humans.

Demand of the construction industry for coral rock in the Maldives will soon reach the limit of supply capacity using existing collection techniques. It is estimated that, at the current rate of consumption, the supply of living coral rock from inner atoll ‘faros’ in North Malé will be exhausted within 30 years. Current mining practice has already necessitated the collection of living coral rock from outer atoll ‘faros’ which actually protect the integrity of the islands against the erosive influences of monsoon storms.

Biological surveys of mined sites (compared with controls where no mining activity has taken place) indicate a dramatic reduction in coral variety and abundance and in some cases an almost total depletion of living coral after mining. At intensively-mined sites, diversity and abundance of coral-reef fishes is also markedly reduced, with some reef species commonly used as baitfish entirely absent. The time taken for reefs to recover from mechanical damage has been shown by other research work to be extremely variable, with some cases showing no recovery in some circumstances. Shallow-water reefs that have been colonized by slow-growing ‘massive’ corals, such as those which have been mined in the Maldives, may take a minimum of 50 years to recover to their former state—under optimum conditions.

Observations on mined reefs in the Maldives show that recovery over the last 10 years has been minimal, and therefore suggest that recovery times may be much in excess of 50 years. Indeed many of these reefs may not recover at all unless some attempts are made to re-establish corals at these sites. It is also clear from the study of reclaimed and dredged sites and those where less-intensive mining has taken place, that regeneration of corals is occurring. It is quite probable that the rate of recovery is dependent on the intensity of the disturbance which initially took place.

Alternative building materials are available in the form of concrete blocks. Use of these blocks is more cost-effective than use of coral rock; however, there is a lack of any quality control, which would be needed to promote the widespread use of concrete blocks as a substitute for coral. Recently, recommendations have been approved by the Government of Maldives for the execution of a feasibility study on mining an inner atoll faro which could potentially provide building material for as long as the next 500 years.