Introduction

Most literature on the future can be broken down into two categories – the normative (what is desirable) and the objective (what is possible or probable). In the field of ecology and conservation the normative has dominated, even if there is little explicit futurology. Documents such as the World Conservation Strategy, and even more the glossy pictures of pandas, are examples of pious hopes. The real world today, and possibly the world of the future, is a much nastier place. There are enough armaments to destroy nature and the world 50 times over, there is endemic poverty, pollution and increasing despoliation of the world's resources.