Ch. 2— Importance of Biological Diversity • 55 



turing public attention. First, the concept is 

 complex to grasp. For this reason, efforts to so- 

 licit support have appealed to emotionalism 

 associated with the loss of particularly appeal- 

 ing species or spectacular habitats (86). Al- 

 though effective in many cases, this approach 

 has the effect of limiting the constituency and 

 the boundaries of the problem. A second reason 

 is that the more pervasive threats to diversity, 

 such as habitat loss or narrowing of agricul- 

 tural crop genetic bases, are not dramatic events 

 that occur quickly. The difficulty is one of re- 

 sponding to a potentially critical problem that, 

 for the average person, seems to lack immediacy. 



Finally, promoting the case for biological 

 diversity maintenance is also difficult because 

 of the proliferation of environmental problems 

 brought to public attention in the last decade 

 or two, including acid rain, ozone depletion, 

 the greenhouse effect, and loss of topsoil. "All 

 these environmental problems have the apoca- 

 lyptic potential to destroy, yet in every case the 

 cause, imminence, and scope of that power are 

 subject to polarizing (and eventually paralyz- 

 ing) interpretation" (29). 



Notwithstanding these difficulties, the envi- 

 ronmental movement of the 1970s elevated 

 environmental quality to a major public policy 

 concern. Although the momentum of public at- 

 tention may have slowed in the 1980s, it is clear 

 that concern for the environment remains 

 firmly entrenched in the collective conscious- 

 ness of the American public. A 1985 Harris poll, 

 for example, indicated that 63 percent of Ameri- 

 cans place greater priority on environmental 

 cleanup than on economic growth (41). 



Balancing Interests and 

 Perspectives 



In assessing the level of public resources to 

 be directed toward maintaining biological 

 diversity, it is important to maintain a frame 

 of reference of how, when, and for whom bio- 

 logical diversity is important. Such a perspec- 

 tive should consider: 



1. varying perceptions on the value of biologi- 

 cal diversity and threats to it; 



2. an awareness that only some diversity can 

 be or probably will be saved; and 



3. a recognition that resources available to 

 address efforts are limited. 



As mentioned earlier, biological diversity is 

 not at present a pervasive concern for many 

 people, or at least there is no consensus that 

 as much diversity must be conserved as possi- 

 ble. While earlier sections of this chapter iden- 

 tified large constituencies that value biologi- 

 cal diversity, some elements of society remain 

 apathetic to the issue, and others support ef- 

 forts to eliminate various components of diver- 

 sity. For example, considerable resources are 

 directed to reducing populations or even elim- 

 inating entire species of pests, pathogens, or 

 predators that threaten agriculture and human 

 health. In terms of public policy, such efforts 

 imply a need to recognize that in some cases 

 diversity maintenance and other human inter- 

 ests can conflict. It should be noted, however, 

 that conflicts stem less from the existence of 

 diversity than from the altered abundance of 

 particular species. 



CHAPTER 2 REFERENCES 



1. Achiron, M., and Wilkinson, R., "Africa: The 

 Last Safari?" Newsweek, Aug. 18, 1986. 



2. Agrawal, S.R., "Trees, Flowers and Fruits in 

 Indian Folk Songs, Folk Proverbs, and Folk 

 Tales," Glimpses of Indian Ethnobotany, S.K. 

 Iain (ed.) (New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, India: 

 Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., 1981). 



3. Alaman Castro, M.C., Casanova Pena, C, and 

 Bueno Perez, M.A., "La Recognida de Germo- 



plasma por el Noroeste de Espana," Plant Ge- 

 netic Resources Newsletter 53:41-43, 1983. 



4. Alaska Consultants and Stephen Braund & 

 Associates, Subsistence Study of Alaska Es- 

 kimo Whaling Villages (Washington, DC: U.S. 

 Department of the Interior, 1984). 



5. Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, Alaska 

 Eskimo Whaling (Barrow, AK: 1985). 



6. AhNiazee, M.T., and Oatman, E.R., "Pest Man- 



