The Ethics of Conservation Biotechnology: A Conceptual Engineering Approach

FAIN: DOC-293796-23

Northeastern University (Boston, MA 02115-5005)
Ronald Sandler (Project Director: February 2023 to present)
Clare Palmer (Co Project Director: June 2023 to present)

Research and writing a multi-author volume on the ethics of biotechnology. 

This collaborative research project aims to provide ethical guidance for conservation applications of biotechnologies such as gene editing, synthetic biology, and gene drives. The project team, which includes experts in conservation philosophy, animal ethics, environmental justice, and Indigenous philosophy, will develop conceptual and evaluative resources that are inclusive of a broad range of values and informed by high-rate anthropogenic change. Project outcomes will include academic publications with interdisciplinary reach, conference presentations at interdisciplinary venues, and public-facing scholarship.

Associated Products

Public-facing Project Website (Web Resource)
Title: Public-facing Project Website
Author: Ronald Sandler
Abstract: Public-facing project website where project publications and other products will be made publicly available.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://cssh.northeastern.edu/ethics/the-ethics-of-conservation-biotechnology-a-conceptual-engineering-approach/

Roundtable on Ethics and Environmental Technologies (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Roundtable on Ethics and Environmental Technologies
Author: Clare Palmer, Bernice Bovenkirk, Ronald Sandler
Abstract: Participants discussed the ethics of emerging technologies in conservation context as part of an international conference, Rethinking Ethics - Reimagining Technology, hosted at the University of Twente, Netherlands
Date: 10/5/2024
Conference Name: Rethinking Ethics - Reimagining Technology

Should We Engineer Species in Order to Save Them? (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Should We Engineer Species in Order to Save Them?
Abstract: Professor Sandler will explore the ethical and philosophical issues raised by the growing use of bioengineering in conservation. He will discuss why it is that conservation practitioners are interested in employing biotechnological tools, some of the ways in which they could be (and are already) being used, and why their use is so interesting from an ethical and philosophical perspective. The discussion will be grounded in actual and proposed cases, such as cloning black-footed ferrets, genetic control of introduced rodents, genetic modification of the American chestnut, and “de-extinction” of mammoths and thylacines. He will also introduce evaluative perspectives that can be useful for working through the cases, including from environmental ethics, environmental justice, and philosophy of technology.
Author: Ronald Sandler
Date: 3/25/2024
Location: Northeastern University
Primary URL: https://calendar.northeastern.edu/event/60th_annual_robert_d_klein_lecture

Conservation Ethics and Biotechnology (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Conservation Ethics and Biotechnology
Abstract: This talk will explore the ethical and philosophical issues raised by the growing use of bioengineering in conservation. Sandler will discuss why it is that conservation practitioners are interested in employing biotechnological tools, some of the ways in which they could be (and are already) being used, and why their use is so interesting from an ethical and philosophical perspective. The discussion will be grounded in actual and proposed cases, such as cloning black-footed ferrets, genetic control of introduced rodents, genetic modification of the American chestnut, and “de-extinction” of mammoths and thylacines. He will also introduce evaluative perspectives from environmental ethics and philosophy of technology that can be useful for working through the cases.
Author: Ronald Sandler
Date: 11/19/2024
Location: North Carolina State University, Genetic Engineering and Society Center (on zoom)
Primary URL: https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/event/colloquium-f24-11-19/

Should We Ameliorate 'Nature'? (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Should We Ameliorate 'Nature'?
Author: Ronald Sandler
Abstract: In this talk Sandler argues that the concept of 'nature', which has several conceptual defects, should be ameliorated rather than abandoned in conservation philosophy.
Date: 06/26/2024
Conference Name: International Society for Environmental Ethics Annual Summer Meeting

Conservation Philosophy After the End of 'Nature'? (Article)
Title: Conservation Philosophy After the End of 'Nature'?
Author: Ronald Sandler
Abstract: The concept ‘nature’ and the role it has played in conservation philosophy have been criticized on theoretical and ethical grounds. Theoretical critiques include that it is ambiguous and implies a false human-nature dichotomy and/or human exceptionalism. Ethical critiques include that it has been used to justify unjust conservation practices, such as colonial erasure and displacing Indigenous and local peoples from their lands. More recently, the concept has been criticized on the grounds that under conditions of high rate and magnitude anthropogenic change it is not reliable for guiding effective conservation decision-making. Do these critiques imply that theorists and practitioners ought to develop a conservation philosophy without ‘nature’? Drawing from work by Steve Vogel and Sally Haslanger, I advocate taking an ameliorative approach to ‘nature’, rather than abandoning the concept altogether. ‘Nature’ is not an ontologically privileged category that has special moral or value properties, but sufficiently ameliorated it nevertheless has a crucial role to play in the future of conservation philosophy.
Year: 2025
Access Model: Subscription, but preprint will be posted on project website
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Environmental Ethics

Gene Drives and Island Rodent Eradications: Ethics, Animal Welfare and Conservation (Article)
Title: Gene Drives and Island Rodent Eradications: Ethics, Animal Welfare and Conservation
Author: Yasha Rohwer
Author: Clare Palmer
Abstract: Proposals to eradicate rodents threatening native seabird populations on islands using tools including poisons and – potentially – gene drives are becoming increasingly common. Focusing on the case of Gough Island, this paper analyzed such proposals from two ethical perspectives—the value of the lives and welfare of individuals, and the conservation value of saving populations. It was argued that from many ethical positions, and for both welfare and conservation reasons, a gene drive intervention, were one available, would be better than no intervention or the use of poison. However, it was also argued that the standard conservation stories given for island rodent eradications may ignore significant complexity. In the case of Gough Island, for instance, the rodents, as well as the seabirds, are significant reservoirs of biodiversity. Hence, rodent eradication can result in the loss of some conservation value. While this does not mean that rodent eradications should be ruled out, recognizing that they may bring conservation loss as well as welfare loss would be a first step toward more firmly grounded ethical justifications for eradication
Year: 2025
Access Model: Subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Environmental Ethics

Biodiversity Conservation and Mus musculus: a consistency problem (Article)
Title: Biodiversity Conservation and Mus musculus: a consistency problem
Author: Jeremy Searle
Author: Clare Palmer
Author: Yasha Rohwer
Abstract: The house mouse, Mus musculus, is often thought of as a ‘pest’ species in biological conservation, in agriculture, and in urban areas. As a result, populations are frequently targeted for control and eradication. However, Mus musculus also shows notable within-species biodiversity: it has genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally distinct subpopulations. Conserving biodiversity is usually taken to be the paramount duty of conservation biology, not least because biodiversity is claimed to be intrinsically valuable—valuable merely for what it is. But the biodiversity in mouse populations is often overlooked; in particular, conservationists do not call for the unique diversity represented by threatened mouse populations to be protected. In this essay we argue that this is illustrative of the inconsistent valuing of biodiversity in conservation. If biodiversity is intrinsically valuable, then it should be valued however it reveals itself. And yet, in examples presented here, unique populations of house mice with clear biodiversity value are threatened by eradication campaigns on islands and by changing agricultural practices on the Swiss-Italian border. The inconsistent valuing of biodiversity in the case of Mus musculus raises important questions about whether the “intrinsic value” of biodiversity in conservation is, in practice, conditional on other implicit assumptions.
Year: 2025
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Conservation Biology

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