Abstract
Militarisation of conservation (sometimes known as 'green militarisation') is an issue of growing international interest. Rhino horn is immensely valuable (in 2013 its value exceeded that of gold or cocaine), and its illegal trade has attracted widespread attention. Conservationists have declared a 'war' on poaching, with extensive military resources deployed to combat it. This sometimes includes operations which are referred to, particularly in the media, as 'shoot-to-kill'. These can be tantamount to extra-judicial killings. We scrutinise this issue using 'Just War' principles, to explore whether the 'war' on poaching meets the criteria expected of armed conflict. Our perspective suggests that it fails both ethical and pragmatic examination. This piece encourages conservation scientists, and the public, to consider which actions are justified in protecting wildlife, and how we should rethink conservation policy to achieve ethical, successful outcomes for both people and wildlife.
Highlights
Militarisation of conservation is an issue of growing international interest
Militarisation is conspicuous in conservation policy in South Africa where poachers may be armed foreign nationals, leading some conservation officials to frame the issue in terms of national security (Lunstrum 2014)
Examination of Just War principles support the conclusion that the use of the language and methods of war to tackle rhino poaching in South Africa cannot currently be justified
Summary
Using lethal force to protect wildlife from poachers is an extreme example of conservation action. The Tradition demands that actions that can cause harm to others, i.e., going to war, can be undertaken only if there is a compelling, morally justifiable reason – a just cause, that they are undertaken with the right intentions, authorised by those who have the legitimacy to sanction the suspension of the normal rules prohibiting this kind of action, that the harms that the action may produce in both the short and long term are proportional to the injury that has been suffered, that there is a reasonable prospect for success, and that there are not alternative options that may do less harm and still produce results, i.e., war is a genuine last resort Each of these criteria, and how they should be applied in contemporary affairs, is hotly debated by Just War scholars. The principles overlap in the sense that a judgment on one principle may depend on how another is judged – for example whether declaring a ‘war’ is proportionate for achieving the desired goal is related to the amount of harm that will be necessary to inflict to achieve that goal (proportionate force)
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