Clare Palmer (Texas A & M University) on Conservation Policy in a Changing Climate
Channel: Radio-CRÉ
Date: 30/10/2017

"Conservation Policy in a Changing Climate: What Should We Try to Protect?"

Climate change poses threats to many wild species. But traditional policy responses – in particular, those that protect species by protecting their habitats - won’t remove the threat from a changing climate. Recognition of this has generated new, more interventionist
policy proposals to conserve species.

These proposals include assisted migration (moving species populations into different, more climate-compatible habitats) and the use of tools from conservation genetics to increase species’ resilience to the challenges of climate change. The primary aim of such proposals is to protect entire species from extinction and endangerment. But, in practice, such policies would, of course, have other effects. They would inevitably change
ecosystems. They would impact both the existence, and the welfare, of individual organisms, including sentient animals. Implementing such policies may also change human valuations of organisms and places. Can we value the wildness and resilience of a gnarled whitebark pine, if we know it’s been deliberately relocated and scientifically selected for resistance to fungal rust?

This paper assumes – for the sake of argument – that some of these interventionist policies, if implemented, would succeed in protecting target species. The focus here is on what this means for the other values at stake, in particular values relating to animal lives and welfare, ecosystems and wildness. Do interventionist species conservation policies significantly threaten these other values? If so, what should we try to protect? I’ll argue that while (in some senses) ecosystem and wildness values may be threatened, these values should not be prioritized over species protection. Animal welfare, on the other hand, I’ll argue, should be so prioritized. This is likely to rule out some interventionist species conservation policies (including attempts at the de-extinction of recently lost mammal species).

However, I’ll also argue that many interventionist species policies would not, over time, significantly threaten animal welfare, and that therefore we should seriously consider pursuing them.

Caméra et montage : Marc-Antoine Plouffe