Eco-ethics as the foundation of conservation

Abstract

Environmental ethics must be distinguished from ecological ethics. While the former concerns itself with the appropriate management of natural resources and is often guided by cost-benefit analysis, the latter (ecological ethics) is much broader as it spells out the relationships between man and nature; and also analyses those attributes of man which can make him an ecological animal. Eco-values are based on the recognition of intrinsic values of which reverence for life is one, and perhaps the most important one. Without recognizing some intrinsic values we do not have a basis which is sufficiently universal and comprehensive to talk either of environmental ethics or eco-ethics. The values of eco-ethics are an inherent part of ecological thinking.