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or the diversity of biotic communities which is vital for the resilience of
ecosystems. In addition, I argue that these positions are inseparable from
an anthropocentric valuation of nature because they aspire to keep eco-
systems in conditions that are supportive of human well-being.
In the
nal section
of this chapter, I set out a range of duties and
principles to guide decision-making on what activities are appropriate
from an ecological perspective and how those that are approved should
be conducted. These principles, which are drawn from the scienti
c
and ethical considerations I explore in the preceding sections, are of
general application to our relations with nature. Collectively they present
an
in that they seek to capture a realistic conception
of our place in nature, to re
'
ethic of humility
'
ect an appreciation of the enormous good
fortune that has resulted in the development of ecological conditions
that provide a support mechanism for human life, and to recognise that
our ignorance of how natural systems work and our dif
culty with
predicting how they will behave or change demands a more humble
approach to the way in which we use nature. It is an ethic which, in Aldo
Leopold
swords,representsanalteredviewofhumanityinitsrelation-
ship with nature as citizen rather than conqueror of the natural world.
2
'
c foundations for ecological law
If we are to design legal and institutional structures for the effective
protection of ecosystems, we need, as a prerequisite, to have some
comprehension of how the interaction between species and their envi-
ronments results in the development of systemic structures and func-
tions, of the nature of those systems and of the characteristics they
possess that enable them to maintain functionality in a way that provides
support for biotic communities. We also need to establish whether our
knowledge of their behaviour is suf
2.2
Scienti
cient to predict how ecosystems
may react to human disturbance. In this section, I examine how the
understanding of ecosystems has changed over the last eighty years, and
identify the aspects of this changed understanding that are most relevant
for deciding how law might be used to reduce the contribution that our
actions make to ecological degradation.
2
A. Leopold, A Sand County Almanac with Essays on Conservation from Round River,
reprint (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) quoted in P. Curry, Ecological Ethics:
An Introduction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011), p. 95.
