CONSERVATION

When we were going up to the ice caves today, what we found interesting from a kiwi perspective, was the approach to conservation. In the scripts at this site (which is a national park) they said “Conservation of nature doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t participate in what we enjoy, but rather preserve the environment and habitat of the animals we are trying to preserve.” Then next door they were showing the animals that live there, “… and here is a game bird from the area that provides sport for shooters. Their population is about 600.” And then when talking about these same game birds they say that there are only XX breeding pairs left but that they are “… so stressed by the human presence that they very rarely breed.” Hmmm … they obviously have a very different idea regarding conservation than what we have. You get the impression that their approach is that, we as humans will do what we want, and the flora and fauna can adapt themselves to live around us as best they can.

Our general impression is that here in Austria the national parks are for the enjoyment of the people, as in walking, hiking, cycling, skiing, etc. And that is their predominant purpose and focus. In Croatia we had the impression that the national parks were the areas of land that were unusable (rocks and small scrubs). I like our approach better where our primary concern is for the preservation of nature, and our enjoyment works around that, even if land needs to exclude human use altogether.