Conservation and Ethics
I.
II.
Ethics
The VALUE of BIODIVERSITY
A.
Instrumental
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
B.
Goods
Services
Information
Psycho-spiritual
Tools of Economic Valuation
Intrinsic
“Conservation is about choosing: how much land
and water will we relinquish for other species?” -Adams
Choices must be made, based on values
http://arctic.fws.gov/ecoregions.htm
CHARACTERISTICS OF CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
1) Focus = diversity
4) Multidisciplinary
2) Value Laden, Mission Driven
5) Science with an Evolutionary Time Scale
6) Adaptive & legally empowered
3) Advocacy/Crisis Oriented
http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic.asp
I. Ethics -Study of Moral Phenomena
...
• Moral phenomena –
• Moral considerability - what deserves moral
consideration
• Moral Values -
Value = basis for an estimation of worth
Ethics = systematic organizations of values
Community
“communities that have strong
bonds among their members and
clear ethics about their
relationship to the land draw on
deep wells of social capitol in the
form of trust, civic and religious
organizations, and traditions.”
II. The VALUE of BIODIVERSITY
- utilitarian
- anthropocentric focus
- biodiversity is valued only as serving human self-interests
- inherent
- boicentric
- value as an end in itself
- the intrinsic value of nature is controversial
A. INSTRUMENTAL VALUE
i.e. Frog secretions block HIV infections
Help from a friend? Antimicrobial peptides secreted by a
variety of frogs prevent HIV infection.
http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_froghiv.htm
A. INSTRUMENTAL VALUE continued
A. INSTRUMENTAL VALUE cont.
1. Goods - - direct economic benefits derived from uses of individual species
2. Services - indirect economic benefits derived "free" from functioning ecosystems
‘Biodiversity contains the accumulated wisdom of nature and the key to its future’
Meadows (1990)
1) In an ecosystem context, the value of genetic
variability within a species is defined by its role in
supporting complex interactions with other
species.
Australia, for example, has 15 of the world's 16 species of
wild soybean. These may prove to be extremely valuable
genetic stock in the future because, unlike current
commercial varieties, many of these wild plants have genes
that help them resist leaf rust diseases.
A. INSTRUMENTAL VALUE cont.
1. Goods - - direct economic benefits derived from uses of individual species
2. Services - indirect economic benefits derived "free" from functioning ecosystems
3. Information - content of the genetic code represents a resource of knowledge
Total Economical Value of an
Ecosystem
• USE Values
– Direct Use (commodity values)
– Indirect Use
• OPTION Value
• EXISTANCE Value
Tools of economic valuation:
• – assesses the benefits of a particular action
and compare them to the environmental costs of
that action
– Attempt to translate values associated w/ a decision
into a market value for direct comparison
• – attempts to determine, and maintain some
minimum level of renewable resource to regulate
activities
– Management based on an existence value (e.g.
minimum pop. Size of a species) rather than an
economic value
Example of CBA for three development options in Bacuit Bay,
Philippines
Development
1)
2)
3)
Tourism
Intensive
$6
Logging
Logging
$25
Banned
Sustainable $24
logging
Fisheries
Logging
Total
$9
$10
$25
$17
$0
$42
$16
$4
$44
Revenues are in millions of dollars over a 10 year period
WTP – (willingness to pay) how much would you
pay for the preservation of a given entity?
WTA – (willingness to accept) what would you
accept as compensation for losses suffered as a
result of an activity?
• “In developing ideas about the overall value of biodiversity
it has been natural to draw on existing arguments about
values of individual species (for review, see World
Conservation Union 1980; Norton 1988).
• Commodity value and other direct use values have intuitive
appeal because they reflect known values.
• But a key problem is that species need to be preserved for
reasons other than any known value as resources for
human use (Sober 1986).
• Callicott (1986) discusses philosophical arguments
regarding non-utilitarian value and concludes that there is
no easy argument to be made except a moral one.
• Species have some "intrinsic value" - reflecting the idea
that a species has a value "in and for itself" (Callicott 1986,
p.140) - and there is an ethical obligation to protect
biodiversity.”
B. INTRINSIC VALUE
vs.
B. INTRINSIC VALUE – By Whose Philosophy?
Other philosophies on intrinsic value of biodiversity:
Johnson: - species best thought of as "individuals" protracted through space and time
- ecosystems are "superorganisms"
Rolston - individuals have evolutionary ‘goals’
- therefore native ecosystems also have intrinsic value as ‘arenas’ for evolution
Callicott, Elliot:
- something has instrumental value if for its utility (to humans)
- something has intrinsic value if it is valued for its own sake
Norton: - distinction unnecessary
- instrumental value arguments lead to exactly the same conservation policy
Instrinsic Value vs. Instrumental Value
intrinsic
Developers
SMS
VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY
BURDEN OF PROOF
instrumental
Conservationists
CBA
III. Conservation Ethics
• Discipline within philosophy that articulates the ethical value
of the natural world
•





Arguments for priorities:
Each species has a right to exist
All species are interdependent
People have a responsibility to act as stewards of the Earth
People have a responsibility to future generations
Respect for human life and concern for human interests are
compatible with a respect for biodiversity
 Nature has spiritual and aesthetic value that transcends its
economic value
 Biological diversity is needed to determine the origin of life
A. Anthropocentrism
1)
from Western religious & philosophical tradition:
• God pronounced everything to be "good“, assigning intrinsic value to all forms of life
• Genesis (2:15) suggest the role of man as a RESPONSIBLE CARETAKER AND
STEWARD, rather than a tyrant
• objective intrinsic value of nature by divine decree.
• species ("kinds") are the focus of intrinsic value, not individual organisms
2). Non-Western Environmental Ethics
Characteristic
Islam
Buddhism
Taoism
Confuciansim
Source of value
in nature
External
(Allah)
Internal;
Budda-nature
Emergent;
The Tao
Emergent;
relational
Human attitude
toward nature
Respect for
creation is
respect for
creator
Lovingkindness;
solidarity
Harmony;
cooperation
Interrelated;
interdependent
Adapt
human
economy to
nature’s
economy
Conserve nature
to preserve
human society
Conservation
practice
Still desires;
Conserve
reduce
resources for
consumption;
future
contemplate
generations
nature
B. Biocentrism
SENTIENCE as the capacity to experience pleasure and pain (Bentham)
– how many species are included?
*SENTIENCE as a means to an animals’ survival (Goodpaster, 1978)
- first biocentric ethic
C. Ecocentrism
 no single organism is more important than
another. Ecocentrism does not even distinguish
between animate life and inanimate matter or
process. The entire "sphere" of life is important
Comparison of Western Environmental Ethics
Anthropocentrism
Judeo
-Christian
Biocentrism
Ecocentrism
Intrinsic
Human beings
Species/
creation as a
whole
Individual
organisms
Species,
ecosystems,
biosphere
nature
Instrumental
Holisticintrinsic
Individualistic
-intrinsic
Holistic intrinsic
Caretaker
One among
equals
Plain
member
and citizen
Value
man’s
place in
nature
Lord and master
4 Postulates of Conservation Biology
M. Soulé
1) diversity of organisms is good; ‘biophilia’
corollary:
2) ecological complexity is good;
corollary:
3) evolution is good;
corollary: interferences with processes of adaptation/speciation is bad
*4) biotic diversity has intrinsic value, regardless of its utilitarian
value;