Global Climate Change and the Ethics of Species Conservation

Abstract: Global climate change, in combination with other ecological stressors, dramatically increases the number of species at risk of extinction. However, it also undermines traditional species conservation strategies, place-based preservation and ecological restoration. As a result, many conservation biologists and environmental ethicists have argued that if we are to preserve species under conditions of rapid ecological change, then we must embrace novel and more interventionist species preservation strategies, such as assisted colonization. However, there is another option, deemphasizing the goal of species preservation in ecosystem management. Appropriate goals and strategies for ecosystem management depend upon the values that are involved. In this talk I conduct a value analysis of ecosystem management goals and strategies under conditions of global climate change in order to determine when it is appropriate to adopt novel, interventionist strategies to accomplish species conservation, and when it is appropriate to shift ecosystem management goals away for species conservation.