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Critical Position Paper

Athabasca University

PHL 275 – Philosophy of Environment

Wild animals are the ones that suffer the most from human irresponsibility. Due to the loss of their habitats, hunting or capture, they are subjected to changes in the climate. In a few years, there will be no free specimens of a good handful of species. Wildlife is something as any specie of an organism, either plants, animals, or from any other kingdom that lives in its natural environment without interruption by human activities. There is a threat to wildlife elephants all over the world due to illegal hunting, poaching, and ivory trade.

The illegal killing of elephants to trade ivory for their tusks continues to be a significant threat to their populations. At the same time, the elephant population is decreasing; the human species on the continent has multiplied by ten, from 125 million to 1225 million, creating rivalry for land with these animals (Stiles, 2004). Poaching and illegal ivory trade must continue to be reduced, and solutions must be found to ensure the existence of elephants by the local population. In “The Radical Egalitarian Case for Animal Rights” by Tom Regan argues for the complete termination of commercial farming on the lands that it disrupts the animal’s rights in the sense of dipping them to the position of “mere things” ( Regan, 2011 ). Species discrimination is an infringement of the interests or rights of one biological species by another based on the belief in its superiority. By this concept, modern human society discriminates against animals and plants.

The monitoring program measures levels of illegal hunting through a calculation that divides the number of animals found poached by the total number of corpses found by guards or other means. When the number rises to more than 0.5, it means that more elephants died from illegal hunting than for other reasons. In 2011, the estimate amounted to 0.77, when 10% of African elephants were illegally killed. Since then, it had decreased to 0.53 in 2017. However, in 2018, it remained relatively unchanged. This level of illegal hunting is a cause for concern, as even in well-established and endangered elephant populations, the death rate is higher than the birth rate(Heltberg, 2001). Many African elephant populations are small, fragmented, and poorly endangered, making them even more at risk of poaching. While levels remain above 0.5 in Africa, the number of African elephants in other countries also continues to decline. The number of African elephants has dropped dramatically in recent years. Evidence shows that there are only around 400,000 gray giants (savannah and forest elephants) in all of Africa.

In the past many years, Africa has lost around 144,000 elephants. Most of the elephants were brutally killed by poachers looking for ivory. The greed for ivory in China continues. The raw material and the carved are very much in demand among the wealthier Chinese. Demand is also high in Thailand, Japan, and Vietnam. A kilogram of raw ivory is worth up to $ 1,500. In the form of objects, decorations, or status symbols, the Chinese buy what we are now loathing in this country. Descartes' underlying assumption is that reason is a "universal instrument". Accordingly, it is possible for a reasonably gifted being to react adequately to situations that require action, even in areas where the being would not usually be capable of extraordinary achievements due to its organic nature (Botzler& Armstrong, 1993). William Baxter's People or Penguins approves anthropocentrism, conveying inherent value to individuals and only practical value to non-humans. Baxter claims that the proper balance among opposing human interests will, in order to make an optimal level of contamination (Baxter, 1974).

Habitat degradation and loss of elephants is another issue. Currently, the areas where elephants live, as well as the routes they use in their migrations, are experiencing degradation and reduction due to the expansion of human settlements, plantations and the continued construction of infrastructure such as roads, canals, etc. This loss of their habitat exacerbates the conflict between elephants and humans, as animals are forced to invade human-occupied areas in search of food, negatively affecting farmers who ruin their fields. One of the most important forms of habitat destruction is through deforestation, which kills forests inhabited by certain elephant species. Of course, local and global pollution as well as global warming are also factors influencing habitat destruction.

According to Botzler & Armstrong (1993), Kant does not explain men unique position religiously but instead bases his dignity on the fact that he not only lives in a world of experience but also shares in the world of reason, which has an absolute value. On the other hand, our drives in the world of experience are subject to causal laws. We are autonomous as members of the world of reason, i.e., we can give ourselves the moral law. If all beings with this ability have dignity, the moral law is equivalent to the fact that we should never treat all reasonable beings only as means, but always as ends.

Animals are flexible in their behavior and capable of learning and not committed to precisely one way of life (Taylor, 1981). Therefore, one can imagine animal-friendly forms of use that enable animals to realize a form of well-being . Since we are currently far from such animal husbandry, the growing attractiveness of the vegan lifestyle is understandable. It does not eat meat and fish like vegetarianism, but also the use of any animal products. Peter Singer's utilitarian position gave the impetus to today's animal ethics debate. For utilitarianism, moral action is related to the goal of maximizing utility. The benefits are interpreted in Bentham's classic utilitarianism as pleasure. In Singer's so-called preference utilitarianism pleasure means satisfaction of interests. The best action is that it results in the best balance of pleasure/displeasure or the most satisfying interests. The prerequisite for feeling pleasure or being able to have interests is the sensitivity with which animals are included. Since Singer presupposes an equality principle in addition to the maximization principle, all sentient beings count equally in the context of the calculation(Singer, 1998). Those who weight animals weakly because they are not people are accused of speciesism (preference for their species). We give people (e.g., newborns or dementia) even if they do not have the skills of people.

If there are moral norms that are directly applicable to animals , one must ask why animals should count less than humans in this regard. If the prohibition of inflicting suffering also applies to animals, one should think that the pain of an animal has the same moral relevance as roughly a person. So, where there is no conflict between the moral right of a person and that of an animal should be taken into account. Why is it then weighted weaker in many cases? The argument is based on the reference to differences, some of which relate to skills and relationships.

The first view of nature has started to move away from a customarily Western humans-apart-from-nature approach toward one that perceives individuals as a part of nature. Marietta (1988) defines these changes as an ethical shift towards new all-inclusive models of environmental ethics; he explains the apparent conflict among environmental holism and the wellbeing of individuals, including the viewpoints of anthropocentrism, eco-feminism, and pluralism. Another measure is installing warning systems that protect the cultivation fields by monitoring the elephants or the construction of defensive fences. In the long term, the development and implementation of appropriate land use plans are sought that guarantee the necessary space for elephants for their seasonal migrations and that contemplate the installation of measures to protect human infrastructures.

In the article entitled, “Is there a need for a new and environmental ethics?” by Richard Sylvan (1972), he defended a then-unorthodox interpretation of the intrinsic importance of the non-human and natural world. This argument comes under several considerations for the animals, such as animal testing and factory family. Animal testing would then most likely be justified because it is intended to remedy or prevent human suffering. However, there is no direct conflict here because it is not the inevitable suffering of an animal that helps a specific person. Animal testing is part of a long-term strategy that will only provide a more or less rational way to fight diseases. If we do not start from utilitarianism but individual rights, there is no conflict. The obligation to help others is indefinite and limited by the rights of other beings, not to be sacrificed to benefit strategies.

There are several measurements to protect the elephants from harm. The conflict between elephants and humans needs to be reduced. For this, there are immediate measures to raise public awareness of this problem to increase their support for elephant conservation. This measure relies on teaching new methods and tools to mitigate this conflictive situation both to local communities and to wildlife agents in the affected areas. These tools include techniques to safely chase away elephants from human-populated areas and return to forests, as well as the normalization of coexistence between humans and elephants and the potential benefits derived from this, such as those entailed sustainable and responsible tourism.

Another measure is the installation of warning systems that protect the cultivation fields by monitoring the elephants or the construction of defensive fences. In the long term, the development and implementation of appropriate land use plans are sought that guarantee the necessary space for elephants for their seasonal migrations and that contemplate the installation of measures to protect human infrastructures. An increased effort against poaching or illegal hunting by training professionals is dedicated to monitoring and preventing it, increasing patrols in protected areas, and conducting periodic evaluations of the distribution and number of elephants. In turn, it is necessary to develop national action plans for the conservation and protection of elephants that can be used by governments in taking conservation measures, as well as for the establishment of national parks that protect specific habitats and its fauna.

Another way is to eliminate illegal ivory trafficking by monitoring international wildlife trafficking that reduces threats to elephants (Burton, 1999). There is an elephant trafficking information system (ETIS) that identifies routes and countries of particular importance in illegal ivory trafficking. The protection of elephant habitats through the collaboration of governments, the population, and non-governmental organizations, to ensure the future of elephants; this includes, for example, the establishment of trans-boundary conservation areas, such as that of Kavango-Zambezi, which provides shelter to nearly 250,000 elephants. The research is needed to find new secure areas and improve the managements for elephants. The effectiveness of conservation projects lies in the evaluation of the conservation status of the different existing populations in different parts of Africa and Asia to better direct conservation efforts to the areas that require it most.

To conclude, animals are innocent creatures in this world. In a few years, there will be no free specimens of a good handful of species. Wildlife is something as any specie of an organism, either plants, animals, or from any other kingdom that lives in its natural environment without interruption by human activities. There is a threat to wildlife elephants all over the world due to illegal hunting, poaching, and ivory trade. Many African elephant populations are small, fragmented, and poorly endangered, making them even more at risk of poaching. We are currently far from such animal husbandry; the growing attractiveness of the vegan lifestyle is understandable. It does not eat meat and fish like vegetarianism, but also the use of any animal products. Peter Singer's utilitarian position gave the impetus to today's animal ethics debate. Due to poaching for the Asian ivory market, ivory trade in the EU, the elephants' natural habitat is diminishing, Human-animal conflicts and an increasing number of elephants are being killed during armed conflict the reasons of decline the population of elephants. However, there is still hope because many global organizations are committed to protecting the elephants. Many measures, projects, and actions take place worldwide, and protection centers have been created.). There is an elephant trafficking information system (ETIS) that identifies routes and countries of particular importance in illegal ivory trafficking.

References

Baxter, W. F. (1974). People or penguins: The case for optimal pollution. New York.

Botzler, R. G., & Armstrong, S. J. (1993). Environmental ethics: Divergence and convergence.

Burton, M. (1999). An assessment of alternative methods of estimating the effect of the ivory trade ban on poaching effort. Ecological Economics, 30(1), 93-106.

Heltberg, R. (2001). Impact of the ivory trade ban on poaching incentives: a numerical example. Ecological Economics, 36(2), 189-195.

Marietta, D. E. (1988). Ethical holism and individuals. Environmental Ethics, 10(3), 251-258.

Regan, T. (2011). The radical egalitarian case for animal rights. Food Ethics, 31.

Regan, T. (2004). The case for animal rights. Univ of California Press.

Singer, P. (1998). A utilitarian defense of animal liberation. Environmental ethics: Readings in theory and application, 96, 105.

Stiles, D. (2004). The ivory trade and elephant conservation. Environmental Conservation, 31(4), 309-321.

Sylvan, R. (1973). Is there a need for a new, an environmental, ethic? In Proceedings of the XV World congress of philosophy (Vol. 1, pp. 205-210). Sophia, Bulgaria: Sophia Press.

Taylor, P. W. (1981). The ethics of respect for nature. Environmental ethics, 3(3), 197-218.