The Argument for Deference in Ecosystem Management
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26694/pensando.vol17i40.8658Keywords:
Deference, Ecological Ecosystems, Environmental valuesAbstract
Many environmental and animal theorists argue that ecological systems and wildlife populations should be engineered toward realizing rational human designs to improve wild animal welfare, promote justice for wild animals, or maximize resources for people. These views are transformational with respect to ecological systems and species populations, rather than deferential towards spontaneous ecological and evolutionary processes determining the future of managed ecological spaces and assemblages. In this paper I advocate for deference in ecosystem management on environmental values, species/organism impartiality, and humility grounds. I also defend deferential views against critiques that have been advanced by proponents of transformation to improve animal welfare, as well as argue that macroscale anthropogenic change, including climate change, strengthens rather than undermines the case for deference. Although I do not provide a comprehensive argument against transformation in general or transformation to improve wild animal welfare in particular, the considerations that support deference also generate a substantial presumption against transformationalism.
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