Introduction

This introduction presents the book’s main research questions together with a summary of its chapters. Nature conservation is inherently normative, grounded in value judgments, and cannot be conceived apart from a conservation ethics. The latter revolves around three central groups of questions. The first asks what we are conserving: what is nature, and what kinds of change should be resisted? The second asks why we engage in conservation: what values lead us to appreciate nature, and what do they entail in practice? The third asks how we can conserve nature in an ethically responsible manner: which other ethically significant interests, not directly related to nature protection, should be considered in conservation, and how should they be addressed? This latter practical question is crucial for the success of conservation action, but it cannot be adequately addressed without first engaging with the more theoretical questions of what and why.