E.O. Wilson says in his book “The Future of Life depends on figuring out profitable ways to reconcile the needs of the poor of the world with the needs to preserve biodiversity.” The cheapest and sanest way to preserve species is to protect the natural ecosystem in which they now live. E.O. Wilson in his wisdom recommends the five following steps to keep a future for Life on Earth:

1. Give struggling nations and poor people the means to capitalize on conservation.

2. Carbon credit trading is a profit-making enterprise. Carbon-absorbing sinks, such as newly planted forests are “sold” to polluting industries that need to make emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.

3. Bio-prospecting/harvesting of potential drugs from rainforest plants could be a source of local income.

4. Conservation groups could buy government contracts for land that would be leased to loggers and use it as a sanctuary.

5. Using genetically modified crops, livestock and farmed timber would increase productivity and thereby prevent further conversion of wildlands into cultivated farmlands. ~