wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

VALUES AND FUCTIONS OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS47Position Argument ExamplesTheism All entities are God, in the image of God, or Many world and native religionscreated to glorify GodNature The intuitive feeling of humanity’s unity with Pythagoras, Francis of Assisi,mysticism all nature Baruch Spinoza, Herman Hesse,Rosa Luxemburg, Guido Gezelle,John Muir, Henry ThoreauHolistic This world is the “best” of all possible worlds, Plato, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnizrationalism with a maximum economy of premises andfundamental laws, a maximum diversity ofresulting phenomena, and its consistency, order,or “harmony” 21Table 3/2: Other arguments used to attribute intrinsic moral value to non-human entities.even the whole biosphere. In some of theseholistic approaches, individuals are notvalued as such and may be sacrificed for thesake of a whole (e.g. species conservation innature conservation). The Convention onBiological Diversity (UNCED 1992) explicitlyacknowledges “the intrinsic value ofbiological diversity” and consequentlyattributes intrinsic value to both species (taxa)and ecosystems. (See also §4.10 below.)People who cannot draw a boundary betweenentities with and without moral standing musteither attribute intrinsic value to every being(ethical holism) 19 , or to no being at all(nihilism).Apart from the non-anthropocentristarguments mentioned above, various otherarguments with strong metaphysical premisesare used to attribute intrinsic moral value tonon-human entities (Table 3/2). 20Except for nihilists, everyone can agree thatintrinsic value exists and that there are morallyrelevant characteristics, but different groupsof people identify different characteristics asmorally relevant.As intrinsic values normally cannot becompromised, the different positionsregarding which entities have intrinsic moralvalue will have an over-riding impact on howconflicts are judged, and may themselves bethe main cause of conflict. 22 If someparticipants in a conflict assume that theintegrity of non-human beings is of intrinsicmoral value (for example, a sacred cow), theywill not accept solutions which otherparticipants, who only look at the instrumentalvalue of these entities (e.g. a cow as aprovider of milk and meat), would interpret asfair and well-balanced compromises 23 .In spite of differences on the level of ethicaljustification, there is some convergence atthe level of practical conclusions and politicalrecommendations, as similar conclusions canbe reached from different premises 24 . Mostpeople at least agree that all human beingshave intrinsic moral value. Enlightenedenvironmentalists and economists will agreethat environmental and economic decisionmakingshould take all kinds of valuesseriously into account.The following section analyses theinstrumental values of mires and peatlandsfor human beings.3.3 TYPES OF INSTRUMENTALVALUESInstrumental values (functions, services,resources) can be subdivided into materialand non-material life support functions withvarious subdivisions (see Table 3/3).