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UTILITARIAN AND RIGHTS‐BASED ALTERNATIVES FOR PROTECTING SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST
Author(s) -
Spash Clive L.,
Simpson Ian A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1994.tb00374.x
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , anthropocentrism , threatened species , legislation , environmental planning , business , environmental resource management , natural resource economics , economics , political science , geography , ecology , law , sociology , social science , habitat , biology
Current legislation in Great Britain has set up a class of protected land under the designation Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). However, what values are to be protected, and how, are questions largely left unanswered. Areas which are designated as worthy of protection can still be threatened by gradual erosion due to rural development. The designation of a site as being of conservation value requires an agency which enforces protection from development. We highlight the conflicts which have arisen between landowners and conservationists over SSSI management and analyse the role of a conservation agency under alternative environmental philosophies. We show how the values underlying the motive for conservation will affect the environmental management process chosen. This provides contrasting views as to the future for countryside management, and focuses concern on the current trend towards the free market in which trade‐offs based upon the anthropocentric usefulness of nature are fundamental.