ABSTRACT
At the global level, the spread of invasive alien species is seen as one of the most serious threats to native biodiversity. The very existence of alien species is determined by reference states – baselines – which typically are times in the past before negative, most often human-induced changes, occurred. Setting baselines is no straight forward practice, yet in fields such as ecology, it is assumed first that it can be done and second that native ecosystems are somewhat better than systems affected by aliens. The profoundly value-based activity of setting baselines often tends to remain unexamined, though, not least because it is seen as a key ethical means to do good; that is, baselines serve to acknowledge that things were more right “back then”. Baselines are nevertheless no more than snapshots, because there are changes all the time in ecosystems, regardless of these changes being natural or undertaken by humans. Against this backdrop, we use the current and contested debate concerning invasive alien species to explore how values of species are produced and reproduced through the enactment – or not – of baselines. More specifically, this chapter offers an exploration of a conflict over alien and native species (and associated ideological and value-based frameworks) that took place during a massive refurbishment project at the former international airport in Oslo, Norway.
