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