The impacts of biodiversity loss is not a well-researched topic in EA. A small group of us have begun doing some research into the impacts of biodiversity loss (including mass extinction and its connection to ecosystem collapse) as a potential cause area that deserves more attention and resources.
After preliminary research we found very little active research within the EA community about this topic and only minor explorations from core EA organizations. If you know of substantial, recent research on this topic we would love to read it.
As a quick way to help our community by contributing to an under-explored topic, we invite you to fill out this 3 minute survey or respond in the comments to the question:
What is the strongest argument you know of for & against biodiversity loss as a cause area?
We also want to acknowledge that we have seen substantial research into climate change. We believe biodiversity loss warrants its own targeted research as a separate but related trigger for compounding devastating risk for life on Earth.
Even if the only point that matters at the end of the line is an individual's conscious experience (which I think is highly debatable), species themselves are inherently valuable in that the complex interplay of species, which we do not fully understand, is a huge part of the whole system that allows any individual consciousness to exist.
We know bees are critical and valuable because of their role in pollinating plants we eat. We know whales are critical and valuable because of their role in fertilizing the ocean so that phytoplankton (who produce most of ... (read more)
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Doesn't this depend on assuming negative utilitarianism, and suffering-focused ethic, or a particular set of assumptions about the net pleasure vs pain in the life of an 'average' animal?
> The experiences of individual conscious animals are what's valuable
Are you saying it's the ONLY thing that has value, and that everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong? (For example, I imagine this doesn't hold in preference utilitarianism, and maybe not in longtermist thinking.)
> the welfare of wild animals is basically... (read more)
How is value is derived from conscious experience? Don't you mean capacity to suffer is determined by degree of conscious experience , which in turn makes individual animals important/having value. This does not mean that species are valueless which then begs the question of, how are species valuable.
I am no ecologist or environmental scientist but I see biodiversity loss as a process not an outcome. The outcome is increased vulnerability of ecosystems to collapse.
You say you haven't seen a good argument for (2). What argument's have you ... (read more)