Such a broad assessment may help address these gaps in protection before they become crises. Addressing the gaps will require a range of strategies, including the establishment of reserves, which may be either public or privately owned lands managed primarily to conserve native biodiversity. However, it will also require attention to lands that are managed principally for other purposes, such as agriculture, forestry, recreation, or housing, but where biodiversity goals are recognized and integrated as important secondary purposes. It also adds variety and interest to our daily lives, thereby enhancing our appreciation and aesthetic enjoyment of nature. In a world that tends to place stronger emphasis on monetary value, these values are often underemphasized.
Biodiversity conservation makes good economic sense.
Scale refers to both space and time. Spatial scale is important because many conservation actions are undertaken on small sites without regard to larger ecological patterns and processes. For example, protecting a rare plant within a five-acre reserve may seem like a good idea, but the site may not be large enough to accommodate environmental disturbances that are characteristic of the ecosystem in which the plant evolved. A consideration of the larger landscape pattern and associated disturbances will be needed if ecological processes are to be maintained. Similarly, temporal scale is important to biodiversity management.