Biodiversity
August 31, 2010
Biodiversity: What to do?
Everyone prioritises the way we use our resources to enable and enhance our lives. We manipulate our environment to our own ends; behaviour around our precious Biodiversity is a good reflection of this. We are hard wired into exploiting and modifying our circumstances to our best advantage.
However, protecting our biodiversity runs into a few philosophical problems. As most of our land is held in private ownership, this comes with certain rights. It’s exactly at this point where the conundrum starts to play out. On the one hand we have these rights that safeguard private property, yet we need to preserve biodiversity on the land that we privately own.
If we are to look at which landownership system can best manage the aims of biodiversity it would be land which is under state ownership. But this disregards the economic impact of rolling this state controlled system (Socialist State) out across the whole country.
So, how do we address the issue of biodiversity on private land? Not consistently! On the one hand the government has been whittling away at our private property rights. Local government attitude is much more pragmatic but are tightly constrained by the ever present economic environment. Both are mandated to protect biodiversity.
What policies are most likely to succeed? The Government’s socialist attitude will not succeed because when you take personal responsibility away you also take away the reason to care. The more responsibility you give with certain expectations attached and encouragement the more likely it will be successful.
The Government does not “trust” private ownership enough to deliver positive outcomes. This is reflected in the policy settings that have taken responsibility away. Set policies that strengthen private property rights, this then makes the land owner more responsible and more culpable which will deliver better results.
Let’s resolve this philosophical difference because without a consistent vision we will not make progress toward strengthening our weakening biodiversity.
Tony Armstrong
27/8/10
