The Politics of Specificity and Generalisation in Conservation Matters

Abstract

"In their article, 'Conservation as if Biological Diversity Matters,' the authors ask a question that has plagued conservation and development activists and scholars for decades now: How . . . can [the conflict between sustainable use and preservationist approaches to conservation] be eliminated, or at least minimised to enable a more effective conservation? And, in the time-honoured way of people committed to a particular solution who try to tackle this thorny question, they never deliver any realisable answers. Their own arguments, not to mention the general tone of the analysis, reveal the article as less a balanced examination of two perspectives and more a plea for the preservationist side."