Governing biodiversity: how to succeed in failing?

By Vincent Devictor, ecologist and philosopher of science, CNRS researcher at the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier.

Why does the ecological transition seem to be designed to last forever? Why are we so successful at failing when it comes to ecological policy? I propose to trace the reasons for the fiasco of biodiversity governance as a global political issue. In particular, I examine the disappearance of the political and ecological content of the biodiversity crisis: a managerial and accounting model of biodiversity obscures the causes of nature's destruction. In this model, ethical issues such as ecological and evolutionary dynamics are systematically sidestepped. In conclusion, I propose a few points to defend in order to reject this managerial model of the ecological crisis.

This conference marks the start of a new HiPhiS thematic cycle for 2023, entitled "Scientific Communication: Certainties, Uncertainties, and Decision-Making."