"BANC, challenging conservation." Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-258) and index.

Finding nature -- Constructing conservation -- Nature lost -- Conservation and the global village -- Culture and the countryside -- Making nature -- Nature and the wild -- The conservation landscape -- Nature, landscapes, lives -- Releasing the wild. The countryside is changing faster than ever. Fifty years of conservation achievements in the UK are now being confronted by a new complextion of economic forces that are driving change in the countryside. At the same time, new ideas in conservation are altering the role that it is being asked to play in negotiating the transition from past to future. This revised edition of Bill Adams' classic work Future Nature tackles the new challenges in the countryside and wildlife conservation head-on through a new Introduction and Postscript, with updated arguments about naturalness and our social engagement with nature. These are complemented by a new Foreword from Adrian Phillips. Concepts such as biodiversity and sustainability, and changes in our understanding and appreciation of and concern for nature, offer unprecedented opportunities. Bill Adams explores the scientific, cultural and economic significance of conservation. He argues that it must move beyond the boundaries of parks and reserves to embrace the whole countryside. The importance of conservation for the future is enormous. It holds the potential to create new spaces for nature, both in the landscape and in our lives and imaginations. This factual, beautifully written and thought-provoking book offers a fundamental reassessment of conservation, its importance and how to achieve it--back cover.