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The values of wildlife embodied in protected areas. IUCN definition of protected area.
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IUCN definition of protected area "an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means.” Source: www.iucn.org 2010
IUCN values However within IUCN there is a dominant position amongst conservationists who promote a reification and commercialization of ‘nature’ based upon one dominant model of nature, economy, markets, progress and value Source: CSVPA SG email correspondence 2010 This dominant model is derived from the Western notion of a nature- culture divide which is in conflict with a multitude of non-western belief systems and values
Values Value: ‘relative worth, merit or importance’ of something: cannot be observed directly expression in the form of attitudes & behaviours • Values are critical: • personal goals: good & bad, right & wrong • interpret events and information • across situations & events
general beliefs/worldviews Values: attitudes: behaviours: values enduring culture and society • specific beliefs/specific attitudes behaviours • behavioral commitments/intentions changeable Source: Cary et al 2000
My team mascot… My best friend… Has a right to live… Kellert’s wildlife values typology experiential anthropomorphic totemic How beautiful… Worth every moment… aesthetic intrinsic
Wildlife values typology contd. negative utilitarian ecological Tasty… Endangered? Great chase! mastery Unique… conservation Environmentally significant… Pest! scientific
Values in conflict… • Conservation value v negative value • protection of dangerous wildlife ; human – wildlife conflicts • Intrinsic value v utilitarian value • poaching wildlife; clearing habitat for timber • Spiritual value v economic value • commoditization of ecosystem services
Unprecedented challenges for IUCN • Sustainable development • Nature conservation • Socio-environmental sustainability • Stabilization of impacts of climate and energy crises • To ensure human wellbeing • Support revisions of fiscal and economic systems that monitor ecological and carbon footprints and that internalize the ecosystem goods and services impacted by modern economies
In the face of globalizing trends • Commoditizing elements of the air we breathe • Increasingly giving monetary valuation to ecosystems • Monetarizing relations with other cultures to access and commercializing natural and cultural resources and expressions • Destroying biodiversity and cultural diversity at unprecedented levels
Protected area planning should consider all values • Humankind is composed of 10,000 or so cultures, each of which have their own belief and value systems to guide sustainable use of the natural environment • "It is not the ecologists, engineers, economists or earth scientists who will save spaceship earth, but the poets, priests, artists, andphilosophers." Source: Hamilton, 1993