Conservation is the protection, management and restoration of natural resources to ensure their sustainability for both humans and other organisms. It places value on the natural environment not only for its beauty and other intrinsic qualities but also for its usefulness for humans, and thus it allows limited human interference including for recreation, the sustainable extraction of resources, such as timber, minerals and fish, and habitat protection and restoration projects.
Conservation differs from preservation, which emphasizes maintaining resources in their current state, including minimizing the effects of humans on them. It prioritizes the intrinsic value of the natural environment and cultural artifacts over their potential human benefits and thus supports setting aside areas, such as wilderness areas, that are intended to be free from human activity and alteration.
The word conservation can also be used in a narrower sense, such as to refer to the careful and managed use of some specific type of resource. For example, the term energy conservation refers to efforts to minimize the use of energy.