Editing Conservation Measure

{{Status|Canon}}
[[File:ConservationCEA.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Biological samples being analyzed in a conservation facility.]]
{{Quote|The Conservation Measure is the only sweet note in this discordant symphony we've arranged. It's the only constructive activity in decades of destruction.|Unknown Forerunner individual, likely the [[Librarian]]<ref name="ep4">''[[Iris]]'', Episode 4: [[The Great Connection]]</ref>}}

The '''Conservation Measure''',{{Ref/Reuse|ep4}}<ref>'''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 14''</ref><ref name="library">'''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary''' - ''[[Library (feature)|Library]]: Activation Index''</ref> also known as the '''Library Project''',<ref name= "FloodAd" >'''[[Halo: The Flood]]''': ''Adjunct''</ref> was a massive undertaking by the [[Forerunner]]s to index and preserve biological diversity in the [[Milky Way|Milky Way Galaxy]] before and during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]].

==History==
===Background===
When the possibility of the [[Halo Array]] was first proposed, the [[Librarian]] responded with outrage at the [[Builder]]s' idea of defeating the Flood by committing galactic genocide, and petitioned [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] and the [[Ecumene Council|Council]] to take measures to preserve the galaxy's life-forms in the event of the Halo Array's firing. As the [[Lifeworker]]s could halt medical science if they abandoned their duties in protest, Faber concluded that it would be less expensive to give in to the Librarian than fight her, so he agreed to her request.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 274''</ref> As a result, the installations involved in the Halo Array, including the Halos themselves as well as the [[Ark]]s which produced the rings—first the [[greater Ark]] and later [[Installation 00]]—were constructed to have surface conditions suitable for varying types of life, enabling the Lifeworkers to use them as biological preserves.

===Indexing===
[[File:Origins library.png|thumb|250px|Samples of lifeforms being categorized in a storage facility.]]
Due to the limited space on their installations and ships, only a small number of the indexed beings were maintained as live specimens: the majority were reduced, storing their genetic and neural patterns as data until the repopulation of their respective homeworlds.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 29, 57''</ref> A variety of other facilities aboard the installations, including the [[Library|Libraries]], were used to catalog and study the specimens.{{Ref/Reuse|library}} There were quite a few problems at first, mainly with regards to categorizing the races into specific categories.{{Ref/Reuse|FloodAd}}

Although the Conservation Measure spanned several millennia, escalating into a more widespread evacuation effort during the Forerunner-Flood war, the sheer number of planets in the galaxy meant that the Lifeworkers never had time or the resources to save even remotely all species. A total of 123 sapient, technologically-capable species inhabiting the three million worlds within the Forerunners' [[ecumene]] had been indexed by the project at time of the evacuation of [[Earth]],<ref name="s18">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 18''</ref> roughly four years before the end of the war.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 197''</ref> However, the Lifeworkers may have had to prioritize the preservation of some of these species over others due to their limited resources,{{Ref/Reuse|s18}} and a number may have perished with the destruction of the major preserves on the [[greater Ark]] and [[Omega Halo]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 307''</ref> On many of the indexed worlds, only a fraction of the sentient fauna would survive; on Earth, for example, only a thousandth of the large species could be saved according to pre-Array projections.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 27''</ref>

Research on the Flood in an attempt to find a means to defeat the parasite was an integral aspect of the Conservation Measure. For safety, the Conservation Measure dictated that [[Flood research facility|Flood research facilities]] be constructed in remote locations.<ref>'''Halo 2: Anniversary''', multiplayer map ''[[Lockdown]]'' description</ref> Toward the end of the Flood conflict, the Master Builder began to alter his pact with the Librarian and authorized the use of the Lifeworkers' biological specimens on the Halos for extended experimentation on the Flood.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 334''</ref> [[Human]]s, in particular, were subjected to rigorous tests on [[Installation 07]], due to the supposed immunity they appeared to exhibit to Flood infection. These experiments later proved to be in vain, however, with the [[Primordial]]'s revelation that no human was ever truly immune to the Flood.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 364-365''</ref> The fate of the human species continued to hang in the balance throughout the endgame of the conflict: after the [[Ur-Didact]] [[Composer|composed]] the most significant human population stored on Omega Halo, the Lifeworkers were forced to retrieve additional specimens from the nearly empty Earth in order to restore a sustainable population.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 316-317''</ref>

===Reseeding===
After the firing of the Halo Array and the subsequent defeat of the Flood, the surviving Lifeworkers on the Ark, under the leadership of the new [[Lifeshaper]], [[Chant-to-Green]], began the process of repopulating the galaxy in a stage referred to as the [[reintroduction]], sending all the races back to their respective homeworlds.{{Ref/Reuse|FloodAd}} 

While a success, the Conservation Measure also sent each race back to a [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 7]] scale, forcing the sentient races to start over.{{Ref/Reuse|FloodAd}} The period directly after the reintroduction was referred to as the "[[dark time]]", as some of the indexed species never recovered and subsequently became extinct.<ref>[http://halo.xbox.com/en-au/intel/related/text/kig-yar/9b24ebed-1954-471b-908d-951528e8120c '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Bestiarum'']</ref> The Librarian estimated that [[extinction]] events and irreparable environmental damage would occur on at least 18 worlds, with post-reseeding cataclysms on 31 worlds.<ref name="Term">'''[[Halo 3]]''', ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal]]s''</ref> Two reintroduced races—the [[San'Shyuum]] and [[Sangheili]]—would end up worshiping the Forerunners as gods, something the Forerunners hardly anticipated. The data concerning the Conservation Measure was preserved at the Ark, and was still preserved as late as [[2552]], a revelation which surprised [[343 Guilty Spark]].{{Ref/Reuse|Term}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Origins_samples.png|Cataloged lifeforms being loaded into a [[Keyship]].
File:Keyships.png|Keyships departing to reseed life in the galaxy.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo 3]]'' 
*''[[Halo: Legends]]''
**''[[Origins]]''
*''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
*''[[Halo 4]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Rebirth]]''
*''[[Halo: Broken Circle]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo Mythos]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]''
**''[[Sacrifice]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Epitaph]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

[[Category:Events]]