Ethical relevance of relational conceptualisations for biodiversity protection

The objects of biodiversity conservation (BDC) are challenging to define in ethical terms. The concept of biodiversity, in its various forms (genetic, species, and ecological), is predicated on the existence of complex relationships between organisms, populations, species, habitats, and ecological conditions. Moreover, the different levels of biodiversity are interdependent, and their relationships are critical to the resilience and adaptive capacity of species, ecosystems and cultures. The concept of relationality is thus fundamental to the comprehension as well as protection of biodiversity. However, precisely the inherently relational nature of biodiversity and human-nature relationships poses a considerable challenge for biodiversity ethics in the context of modern moral theories. A ‘relational shift of thought’ is increasingly being called for by conservation scholars as the most promising approach to BDC and the needed ‘deep leverage point transformation’ for sustainability. The IPBES Conceptual Framework (2015) and the subsequent Nature Futures Framework (2023) both place significant emphasis on the human-nature relationality, relational values (in addition to intrinsic and instrumental ones), and the relationally justified plurality of cultural, contextual and value perspectives to human-nature relationships. However, given the concept of relationality is one of significant complexity, it is important to understand its meanings, what is the ethical relevance of various relationalities, and the potential for relationality to provide ethical assistance for addressing biodiversity loss. In this presentation, the modes and uses of the concept of relationality in the BDC discourse will first be reviewed briefly to elucidate their ethical relevance. It is then argued that the ontological, agential and epistemological aspects of relationality should also be considered when seeking ethical guidance for BDC. It is contended that, in addition to providing space for other ethical stances, taking relationality seriously and making relational strategies work in BDC calls for critical scrutiny of and conceptual revisions in the dominant modern Western ethics, disclosing a novel relational approach to ethical theory. It is therefore essential to further explore the challenges and possibilities of relational ethics. The presentation is related to an EU-funded Marie-Skłodowska-Curie research project on Relational Biodiversity Ethics REBET (2025-2027).