From biodiversity-based conservation to an ethic of bio-proportionality

Nature conservation has in recent decades become largely synonymous with biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity is a term with scientific meaning but in policy contexts it also carries a normative loading. Under this normative aspect, the notion of biodiversity has received little scrutiny. Upon examination it may be shown to set the bar of conservation too low. The goal of biodiversity conservation, as framed in the terms of the Convention on Biological Diversity, is to assure viability rather than abundance for species populations. This results in a tendency towards an “ecology of the minimal” which is compatible with large-scale human exploitation of natural environments. To equate conservation with biodiversity conservation is thus to tailor conservation to the requirements of “development”. In its implicit concession to human hegemony, biodiversity-based conservation reveals its underlying anthropocentrism. In this paper it is argued that, as an anthropocentric project, biodiversity-based conservation cannot assure the future of earth-life and that a bio-inclusive value base, which exceeds the requirement of biodiversity conservation, is therefore needed: over-reliance on the concept of biodiversity has skewed conservation policy towards a possibly self-defeating minimalism. As an alternative basis for conservation policy, an ethic of bio-proportionality is proposed. The goal of such an ethic would be not mere viability but optimization: it would seek not merely viable but optimal populations of all species. This has specific policy implications for human population and strengthens the case for increasing the extent of protected areas.