Gill Ainsworth, Stephen Garnett and Heather Aslin 12 October 2010 The values of wildlife embodied in protected areas
Gill Ainsworth, Stephen Garnett and Heather Aslin12 October 2010
The values of wildlife embodied in protected areas
"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 definition of protected area
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 valueSource: 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
IUCN 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
Values
Values: attitudes: behaviours:culture and society
behavioral commitments/intentions
enduring
changeableSource: Cary et al 2000
behaviours
general beliefs/worldviews
values
specific beliefs/specific attitudes
Worth every moment…
experiential
How beautiful…
aesthetic
Has a right to live…
intrinsic
My team mascot…
totemic My best friend…
anthropomorphic
Kellert’s wildlife values typology
Tasty…
utilitarian
Unique…
scientific
Endangered?
conservation
Pest!
negative
Great chase!
mastery
Environmentally significant…
ecological
Wildlife values typology contd.
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
• 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
Unprecedented challenges for IUCN
• 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
In the face of globalizing trends
• 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, and
philosophers."
Source: Hamilton, 1993
Protected area planning should consider all values