8. Ethical Issues in Biodiversity

1. 8. Ethical Issues in Biodiversity Larry D. Sanders Spring 2002 Dept. of Ag Economics Oklahoma State University

2. INTRODUCTION • Purpose: • to understand the ethical issues related to biodiversity • Learning Objectives: 1. To review the key issues related to biodiversity. 2. To understand the concept of species and extinction. 3. To understand the ethical dimensions of biodiversity and loss of biodiversity.

3. Biodiversity: Key Issues • Significance of species • Significance of ecosystem • Keystone species • Cost of waiting • Cost of acting • Valuation • Technological fix (zoos, reintroduction, cloning)

4. The Concept of Species • Determining categories of distinction can matter (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, members of species) • Moral rights for the species, or members of the species, or not at all • Legal rights for the species, or members of species, or not at all

5. Prospective Extinction • Extinction: “the death of birth” • Charismatic megafauna: tiger, blue whale, whooping crane, giant panda, gorilla, orangutan, cheetah, northern spotted owl • Perhaps more significant: likely loss of dozen/day, accelerating in 20th century • Human activity and/or natural cyclical processes?

6. Extinction: Rate is Accelerating (estimates vary) Extinction Rate • 1600-1900: 1 species became extinct every 4 years • 1900-1960: 1 species became extinct every year • 1960-2000: 100-40,000 species become extinct each year Human Population

7. Extinction: Scientific & Ethical Questions • How do we know if extinction is the result of natural processes or human activity? • Is human activity a part of the “grand scheme” of the natural process? • Should a species be saved for its own sake, for human sake, for the ecosystem sake, or not at all? • What benefits & costs should be considered & how should they be measured?

8. Number of Threatened Mammal Species by Country, 1996 * * Source:World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England

9. Number of Threatened Bird Species by Country, 1996 * * Source:World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England

10. Number of Threatened Reptilian Species by Country, 1996 * * Source:World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England

11. Number of Threatened Fish Species by Country, 1996 * * Source:World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England

12. Number of Threatened Invertibrate Species by Country, 1996 * * Source:World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England

13. Biodiversity: So What? • Humans need other species in the ecosystem? • For physical survival (current &/or future) • For psychic, intrinsic survival • Human duty to the ecosystem called “Earth”? • Irrespective of humans, all species have moral standing?

14. Biodiversity: So What? “…[D]iversity, the property that makes resilience possible, is vulnerable to blows that are greater than natural perturbations. It can be eroded away fragment by fragment, & irreversibly so. . . . “…’biodiversity’ …is the key to maintenance of the world as we know it.”--E. O. Wilson

15. Biodiversity: So What? “By grasping the objective status of species as real units in nature…, we may better comprehend the moral rationale for their preservation. …But when a species dies, an item of natural uniqueness is gone forever. “Species are living, breathing items of nature. We lose a bit of our collective soul when we drive species, prematurely and in large numbers, to oblivion.” --Stephen Jay Gould

16. Measuring Biodiversity Value is Problematic • Genes or phenotypic characters to preserve genetic diversity? • Genetic diversity can be used both for species diversity & ecosystem diversity • Massive undertaking; genetic composition not known for most species • Species definition often the proxy for determining biodiversity

17. Measuring Biodiversity Value is Problematic (continued) • Individual and comparative valuation of species and among species is hotly debated • Result is oversimplification: • Intrinsic value approach suggests proper level of biodiversity is to save all species (but leave unstated at what level to consider harm to humans) • Utilitarian approach suggests proper level is whatever is economically efficient

18. Habitat/Biodiversity Policy • Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 under review • Criticisms: • Species over Humans • Ignores Economics • “Taking” of Property Rights • Response • Species Critical to Ecosystem • Economics may favor Species • Property Rights Evolve

19. ESA (1973)--Background • Primary Goal: Conservation of endangered, threatened species & their ecosystems • Key Elements: • Listing; • Protections, Prohibited Activities & Enforcement; • Relief/exemption from sanctions

20. ESA--Process 1. Listing: • Species based solely on biological considerations • Requirement of designation of “critical habitat” must consider economic impacts; potential sites may be excluded if opportunity costs too hi 2. Regulatory Constraints • Protects listed species against “taking” (harming or degrading habitat); private land not protected • Prohibits federal actions that jeopardize species or adversely modify habitat • Can’t consider economics

21. ESA--Process (cont.) 3. Regulatory Relief --Allows granting of permits to take listed species --Incidental/conditional to approved conservation plan --Economics may be considered --Exemption possible

22. ESA--Property Rights • Some claims that ESA is unconstitutional “taking” private property rights w/o compensation (violates Fifth Amendment of Constitution) • Property rights always evolving, subject to limitations, & not inalienable nor absolute • Current ESA reform bills may ignore historic precedence, but do contribute to debate on redefinition of rights by society • ESA was amendment of property rights; standard practice to not compensate when prohibiting a “bad”; courts very cautious

23. References The Natural History Museum, London: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/projects/worldmap/diversity World Conservation Monitoring Centre: http://www.wcmc.org.uk/species/animals VP