Beavers and Biodiversity: The Ethics of Ecological Restoration
By C. Gamborg & P. Sandøe (2004)
Philosophy and Biodiversity. Cambridge University Press.
Abstract
This paper is about the value conflicts that lie behind ecological restoration initiatives. We focus on a case of beaver reintroduction in southern Scandinavia. We ask: what assumptions about the value of nature and biodiversity underpin nature restoration, and in particular species restoration? Beavers have been reintroduced not only to ensure their long-term survival as a species, but as agents that foster biodiversity and promote variation in the natural environment. In the paper, we show that appeals to biodiversity are made by both advocates and opponents of species restoration, but with very different results. We suggest that this is because two quite different conceptions of biodiversity are at stake. On one conception, biodiversity is constituted by certain “end-states”. On the other, it is defined by a certain kind of “historical” process.
Beavers and Biodiversity: The Ethics of Ecological Restoration (pdf)