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Ethics and biodiversity offsetting.

Mikael Karlsson1, Karin Edvardsson Björnberg1

  • 1Division of Philosophy, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 76, Stockholm, SE-100 44, Sweden.

Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
|August 7, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Biodiversity offsetting aims to compensate for environmental damage but faces ethical critiques. This study analyzes five key objections, offering recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to improve ethical considerations in offsetting projects.

Keywords:
anthropocentrismantropocentrismocommodification of naturecompensación ecológicaconservación de la naturalezaecological compensationinstrumental valueintrinsic valuejusticia socialmercantilización de la naturalezanature conservationno antropocentrismononanthropocentrismsocial justicevalor instrumentalvalor intrínseco人类中心主义内在价值工具价值生态补偿社会公正自然保护自然的商品化非人类中心主义

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Area of Science:

  • Environmental Ethics
  • Conservation Policy
  • Ecological Economics

Background:

  • Biodiversity offsetting is a widely used tool to mitigate environmental damage from development projects.
  • Significant ethical concerns and criticisms regarding the effectiveness and moral implications of offsetting persist.
  • Research has largely overlooked the ethical dimensions, potentially undermining the values offsetting aims to protect.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically identify and analyze ethical objections to biodiversity offsetting.
  • To explore these objections through various ethical frameworks, including intrinsic/instrumental values and anthropocentrism/nonanthropocentrism.
  • To provide actionable recommendations for improving the ethical application of biodiversity offsetting.

Main Methods:

  • Identification of five core ethical objections from scientific literature.
  • Examination of objections and counterarguments using deontological, consequentialist, and virtue-ethical paradigms.
  • Analysis incorporating anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric perspectives.

Main Results:

  • Ethical objections encompass intrinsic value violation, incommensurability of losses, knowledge gaps, impact on virtuous dispositions, and justice concerns.
  • Both anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric concerns were raised across different ethical framings.
  • Objections often stemmed from deontological or virtue ethics, while counterarguments frequently employed consequentialist reasoning.

Conclusions:

  • Common ground for practical application of biodiversity offsetting is conceivable despite differing ethical viewpoints.
  • Ten recommendations for policymakers (e.g., clarifying aims, legislating no-go areas) and five questions for practitioners (e.g., improving knowledge, stakeholder engagement) were formulated.
  • Encouraging ethical discourse is crucial for strengthening respect for biodiversity and human welfare in offsetting initiatives.