Document: REE-3-24-1

The promises and limitations of scientific approaches to conservation.

NOSS, R.F.*

Conservation Science Inc., 7310 NW Acorn Ridge, Corvallis, OR 97330 USA ¹

Abstract:
Scientists have played a leading role in biological conservation for several centuries. For example, in the seventeenth century European scientists, concerned about species extinctions, influenced governments to establish reserves to protect such declining mammals as the European bison. In the eighteenth century the concerns of scientists over the destruction of forests on European colonies led to laws prohibiting the clearing of forests, especially on tropical islands. Yet, these activities of scientists were removed from their scientific professions. The direct contribution of science to conservation is a more recent phenomenon, beginning with such utilitarian disciplines as forestry and game management. Although American ecologists have long sought to influence land protection decisions, beginning in 1917 with the work of Victor Shelford and his committees of the Ecological Society of America, only recently have they had much sway. The increased influence of scientists in conservation in recent years raises vexing issues concerning objectivity versus advocacy and the role of values in science. Applied sciences such as conservation biology are mission-oriented, but the mission is defined and directed primarily by values (including ethics), not by scientific reasoning or facts. Science cannot tell us where to go, it can only help us get there once we decide. Competition among value systems is a major impediment to progress in conservation. The interaction of conservation science with value systems, which are largely culturally determined, deserves serious, multi-disciplinary consideration.

Keywords: conservation, values in science

This abstract is being presented at: 4:10 PM in session:
Symposium # 24: Re-thinking the "and" in Humans and Nature: Ecology at the Boundary of Human Systems.