ABSTRACT
The chapter explores how to handle conflicts between the value of environmental conservation and other important goods of development—in particular, the good of enhancing the quality of life of the poor and the near-poor. It begins with an analysis of some of the empirical issues that define the challenge of environmental preservation. The evidence concerning the direction and rate of change in global environmental quality is alarming. The chapter discusses some of the underlying value issues in environmental policy and ethics. The environment is valuable because it is important to the realization of human needs, and human needs are intrinsically important. If environmental quality is exclusively instrumental, then ethics require that we carefully assess the overall consequences of a given set of policy choices and then choose that option that maximizes human well-being. Central to environmental reasoning is the fact that environmental choices impose substantial effects on future generations—good and bad.
