Managing Biodiversity: How to Fail at It?

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

Why does the ecological transition seem designed to last forever? Why do we manage to fail so spectacularly when it comes to environmental policy? I propose to trace the reasons behind the failure of biodiversity governance as a global political issue. In particular, I examine the disappearance of the political and ecological substance of the biodiversity crisis: a managerial and accounting model of biodiversity obscures the causes of nature’s destruction. In this model, ethical questions as well as ecological and evolutionary dynamics are systematically sidestepped. In conclusion, I propose several points to advocate for in order to reject this managerial model of the ecological crisis.

This conference kicks off a new HiPhiS thematic series for 2023, titled “Scientific Communication: Certainties, Uncertainties, and Decision-Making.”