"While our survival depends on the use of other species, we need not and should not use them cruelly or wastefully". (page 9)
"We have a right to the benefits of nature but these will not be available unless we care for the system that provides them". (page 14)
"A use is sustainable if it is within the resource's capacity for renewal". (page 9)
"Renewable resources are the base of all economies: people cannot live without them. They include soil; water; products we harvest from the wild such as timber, nuts, medicinal plants, fish, and the meat and the skins from wild animals; domesticated species raised by agriculture, aquaculture and sivilculture; and ecosystems such as those of the rangelands, forests and waters. If used sustainably, such resources will perpetually renew themselves. But because much present-day fishing, exploitation of forests and use of grazing land are not sustainable, the future of human communities is threatened. " (page 28)
"Minerals, oil, gas and coal are effectively non-renewable. Unlike plants, fish or soil, they cannot be used sustainably." (page 10)
"In most countries wild species and uncultivated ecosystems are an important resource. Harvests need to be regulated if they are to be sustainable. Local needs should have priority over external commercial and recreational uses." (page 41)
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