Conservation, ecological justice and harm to nature - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 98

to coastguard rescues; cleanup of beaches and waterways; and loss of
tourism revenue because of perceptions of pollution (UNEP, 2011).
The work of ecological economics provides multiple criteria by
which to evaluate the value of natural resources, wilderness, animals,
fish and other species, and although once again anthropocentric or
human-centred benefits of protecting species are generally drawn upon,
biocentric values may also be incorporated into such valuations (see
Orr, 1991; Richardson and Loomis, 2009). In the context of global
warming and massive environmental transformation, key problems
persist, such as rising carbon dioxide emissions and rapid biodiversity
loss. The conception of certain forests as exemplars of 'pristine nature'
(without human presence) and their value as carbon sinks is reshaping
the relationship between traditional users and their environments.
This, too, involves a revaluing, including for profit, of the environment,
especially in relation to indirect uses such as carbon sequestration and
watershed protection. In terms of climate change there are suggestions
that the developed world should pay forest dwellers to 'protect' forests
- another form of valuation.
In the context of courts, both economic and nonmarket valuation
constitutes part of the deliberations over the nature of harm and
potential damage claims against perpetrators (Duffield, 1997). In
determining the seriousness of environmental harm, for example, courts
may examine criteria such as:
• immediate and direct impact of the environmental crime
- environmental impact (for example, dead fish from polluted water)
- social impact (for example, air pollution and health problems)
- economic impact (crops damaged by pollution)
• wider efects in environmental, social and economic terms
- global, transboundary (for example, pesticides into watercourses)
- diffuse impact (for example, water pollution in rivers, the sea and
on beaches)
- cumulative effects (for example, multiple sources of pollution)
- long-term effects (for example, health impact from radiation)
• human fatality, serious injury or ill health
- human fatality
- serious injury (for example, loss of limb or loss of sight)
- ill health (for example, persistent respiratory problems)
• health of lora and fauna
- animal health (for example, endangered species killed or poisoned)
- flora health (for example, air pollution affecting crops and plants).
(Magistrates' Association, 2009)