Beyond ecosystem services and nature?s contributions: Is it time to leave utilitarian environmentalism behind?

The Nature?s Contributions to People (NCP) approach, developed as theoretical backdrop for the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), aims to provide a more inclusive discourse in sustainability science, while addressing some of the limitations of the ecosystem services (ES) framework. Some critical initial reactions to the NCP approach have revolved around the costs of departing from the ES concept, after its hard-won influence in science and policy. In this paper we argue that the main fault of the NCP approach is precisely the opposite. Namely, to claim to be nurturing a paradigm shift while perpetuating, under a new jargon, the most problematic tenets of the ES framework and utilitarian environmentalism in general. These include a dualistic, anthropocentric and utilitarian representation of human-nature relationships, which, we argue, are among the ultimate reasons behind the global environmental crisis. We propose a departure from the prevailing ontological conception, moral framing and legal coding of human-nature relationships. Specifically, a shift from a morality of utility to a morality of care, a reallocation of property rights, and the extension of the community of justice to non-human entities.

Automated summary

The NCP approach aims to provide a more inclusive discourse in sustainability science, but some critical reactions have focused on the costs of departing from the ES concept. This paper argues that the main fault of the NCP approach lies in perpetuating problematic tenets of the ES framework and utilitarian environmentalism.