wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

FRAMEWORK FOR WISE USE139well-being. With respect to animals,ethology (behavioural studies) mayfacilitate such assessment. This principleimplies, for example, that - in case ofpathocentrism or biocentrism - it is notpermissible to kill animals “just for fun” asin recreational hunting and fishing.The principle of distributive justice: Whenthe basic interests (“needs”) of humanbeings compete with the basic interests(“needs”) of non-human entities, bothinterests should be fairly taken intoaccount.The principle of distributive justice wouldrequire us to devise ways of transformingsituations of confrontation between humanbeings and non-human entities intosituations of mutual accommodationwhenever possible 78 . Sometimes, however,the clash between basic human interestsand the basic interests of non-humanentities could not be avoided. The mostobvious case would arise from the needfor human beings to consume non-humanbeings as food. The principle ofdistributive justice entails that it is morallypermissible for human beings to kill otherorganisms for survival. For if human beingsrefrained from eating other organisms theywould be sacrificing their lives for the sakeof these other organisms. The otherorganisms are not of greater intrinsic value,so there is no obligation to further theirinterests at the cost of the basic interestsof human beings.The principle of restitutive justice: Whennon-human rights have been infringed byhuman beings, the harm has to becompensated or repaired.This principle parallels the anthropocentricprinciple of compensation. It should applywhenever the application of the principleof distributive justice leads to an inevitableinjustice to non-human entities. In order torestore the balance of justice betweenhuman beings and non-human entities, thecompensation should provide an amountof good that equals (as far as can bereasonable estimated) the amount of harmto be compensated for.This section reflects a premise of thisdocument that it is essential to listen to andconsider different points of view if conflictsare to be resolved. As mentioned in §3.2,participants in any given conflict may includeboth anthropocentrists and nonanthropocentrists.As stated in that section,convergence at the level of practicalconclusions may be reached in spite ofparticipants starting from different premises.5.9 DIALOGUEIn the resolution of conflicts regarding miresand peatlands, the most important GeneralConsideration is that parties may havedifferent moral positions and that they havethe right to have different preferences; themost important principles are those of clarity,information, motivation, and responsibility;the modifier takes into account that aspectsof space and time may modify the principles(while recognizing that there is alsoresponsibility for the larger scale and longerterm); the most important instrument isdialogue.One of the reasons why this document hasgone to such lengths to discuss thecharacteristics of peatlands, differentapproaches to values, and the causes ofconflicts is that understanding the otherside’s point of view is the first and essentialstep in dialogue. The decision frameworkwhich this document recommends is a rationalprocedure which, if followed, should resolveor minimise most conflicts. It can only do so,however, if it is informed by understandingand conducted through dialogue.