Symposium

Title of Session: Political, Economic, and Ethical Contexts of Biodiversity Conservation

Organizer: Paul G. Heltne, Center for Humans and Nature 

Session Goals:
The primary goal is to provide a broadened understanding of the contexts which frame biodiversity conservation.  Success in conservation is no longer just a matter of passing a few laws, tightening a few regulations, or even building an army of volunteers.  We must admit that there exists a politics of conservation and explore its consequences.  We must also analyze the current economic order and the underlying worldview of Western culture. The symposium will initiate these discussions and envision the transformations that may be necessary to arrest the decline and destruction of the Earth’s natural diversity. 

Moderator:
Bruce Coull, Director, Center for Human and Nature, Dean Emertius, SChool of the Environment, University of South Carolina

Speakers:
Session chair:  Paul Heltne, Ph. D., Director, Center for Human and Nature 
George Rabb, President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological Society and activist in the formation of the Amphibian Survival Alliance 
Peter G. Brown, Ph. D., Professor, School of the Environment, McGill University, author of The Commonwealth of Life: Economics for a Flourishing Earth  
J. Ron Engel, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Meadville Lombard Seminary and University of Chicago Divinity School

Summary:
The conservation movement is troubled by the fact that, after 150 years of legislation and preservation, the planet’s biota planet are arguably more endangered than ever.  Following Gus Speth’s influential book The Bridge at the Edge of the World, this symposium engages the likelihood that we have much deeper analyses to perform.  We will explore a reformation of contemporary worldviews of conservation governance, liberal economics, and the character of our relationship with nature and each other.  The speakers will introduce the topics by addressing the questions:  ‘Can current conservation organizational structures meet the mounting challenges to Earth’s biota such as the extinction of the whole class of amphibians?  What are the characteristics of an economy that supports the Earth’s biotic systems as contrasted to the current economic systems which can survive only by over-exploitation?  What new covenantal relationships can be envisioned that would promote a flourishing existence for humans within nature?  The conservation movement has celebrated the founding of many major global, national, and local conservation organizations.   Major treaties and agreements, laws and regulations have been promulgated.  Preserves from acres to huge parks have been established.  A few endangered species have been rescued from the brink of extinction.  But many more species and ecosystems are in danger of collapse than at the end of WWII when IUCN was born.  The entire amphibian class is now endangered yet the response of the public and from conservation organizations is almost invisible.  What is it about us as humans, our organizations, and our economy that has led to this global crisis?  Governments and business still battle intensely against conservation activities, using primarily economic arguments.  Many individuals resent any idea that suggests a stewardship responsibility with respect to land, water, and air, as contrasted to their belief in outright and absolute ownership.  Interestingly, people living close to the land, often in what more affluent folks would call poverty, are much more aware of the diminishing world of nature but have little power to preserve the natural systems on which they depend.  What are the avenues of stewardship and covenantal relationships with nature which can light a new path to a flourishing existence for human and nature together?  Put another way, if the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan and other conservation measures are to secure species and the land and water on which they depend, will this indeed require a thorough revamping and reordering of the relationships of our human species to the natural world?  How do we go about rearranging our policies and practices as governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to live in a truly sustainable and harmonious relationship with the rest of Earthly life and systems?