The Earliest Traces 
of a Conservation Conscience 
The preservation of natural resources 
proves to be an ancient concept 
by Robert M. Alison 
Twenty-six years after my coronation, I 
declared that the following animals were 
not to be killed: parrots, mynas, the aruna, 
ruddy geese, wild geese, the nandimukha, 
cranes, bats, queen ants, terrapins, bone- 
less fish [prawns] . . . tortoises and por- 
cupines, squirrels, twelve-antler stags . . . 
household animals and vermin, rhinoc- 
eroses, white pigeons, domestic pigeons 
and all quadrupeds which are not useful 
or edible. . . . Forests must not be burned. 
Asoka, emperor of India, 
274-232 B.c. 
A great many North Americans 
would probably be surprised to learn 
that the conservation of natural re- 
sources is a subject that has plagued 
almost every civilization that has ever 
existed. The earliest attempts to com- 
bat the sometimes overly exuberant 
use of resources by humans date to 
at least the Egyptian period. Of 
course, certain problems have been 
specific to particular societies, and 
thus remedial actions, in the form of 
laws, have varied widely in degree and 
target. Nonetheless, examination of 
the legal prohibitions set forth by lead- 
ers of the more than twenty civiliza- 
tions that have appeared on the face 
of this planet, some of which have 
long since vanished, reveals consistent 
attempts by lawmakers to control the 
rates of natural resource consumption 
and environmental degradation. 
Some of the earliest recorded in- 
stances were no more than crudely 
worded statements of penalties to be 
imposed in the event that a designated 
marshland was destroyed or that trees 
in a certain area were cut down by un- 
authorized individuals. With increas- 
ing technological advancement came 
ever more fantastic embellishments, 
both in wording and sphere of effect. 
A few themes have consistently 
dominated the attention of conserva- 
tionists throughout the millenniums. 
Notable among these has been a more 
or less universal infatuation with the 
concept of wilderness preserves — land 
set aside by a government for the per- 
petuation of its resident flora and 
fauna. One of the first of these was 
constructed by Ikhnaton, king of 
Egypt, more than three thousand years 
ago. Others were established, on in- 
dependent initiative, by the Assyrian 
kings, beginning with Tiglathpileser 
I, in the eleventh century b.c.; the 
Greek city-states from the period of 
Xenophon (ca. 360 b.c.) onward; the 
Indian rulers beginning with Asoka; 
the Chinese from the reign of Hsiao- 
hsuan (ca. 100 b.c.); the Romans from 
a.d. 23; the Mongol Kublai Khan; the 
Aztec Montezuma; the Inca Pacha- 
cuti, and many more. 
Wildlife preservation, in the form 
of laws regulating the taking of wild 
animals, has been an equally persistent 
aspiration. The earliest relevant laws 
seem to have been spawned by the 
Middle Kingdom pharaohs, who is- 
sued the first hunting licenses in order 
to regulate the activities of waterfowl 
hunters in congested marshes. Restric- 
tions on the hunting of animals were 
put into effect in each of the known 
civilizations, including many limita- 
tions that had the effect of affording 
wild animals better treatment than 
that enjoyed by human residents. 
Protection of vegetation, particu- 
larly trees, has been another consistent 
endeavor. Indeed, the earliest law pro- 
tecting trees was formulated about 
1 900 b.c. by the authors of the Sumero- 
Babylonian Lipit-Ishtar law code, 
which prescribed a penalty of “one- 
half mina of silver” for cutting down 
a tree. 
Perhaps nowhere has the so-called 
environmental conscience, as a dis- 
tinct component of the global conser- 
vation movement, been so deeply 
rooted as in England. Consequently, 
a perusal of the numerous English laws 
enacted over the centuries affords a 
unique opportunity to appreciate the 
natural progression of concern, includ- 
ing relative priorities, that has oc- 
curred there. 
That is not to say that events in 
England have mirrored those else- 
where. But they reflect an unmistak- 
able regularity of theme. 
One of the most remarkably per- 
sistent features of the colorful and 
well-recorded history of England has 
been a steady, almost fanatic dedi- 
cation to the principles of natural-re- 
source conservation. Although the 
most determined advocates were those 
sovereigns who had special interests 
in the environment, virtually no Eng- 
lish king or queen after Alfred (ca. 
a.d. 892) was able to resist creating 
at least one outstanding contribution 
to the conservation cause. 
Owing to the successful Roman in- 
vasion of England in the first century 
a.d., a substantial influence of Roman 
law upon subsequent English law is 
evident to this day. Indeed, it was 
not until the reign of Ethelbert (ca. 
600) that major deviation from Roman 
doctrine was generated. The earliest 
English conservation law of which any 
record remains was formulated by Ine 
(ca. 700), whose Wessex law code stip- 
ulated that forests could not be 
73 
