[SydPhil] Presentation For the Real World Challenges Series

[Christopher Lean]

Dear all,

I will be providing a public communication of my (Christopher Lean) recent publication for the Real World Challenges Seminar Series at Cambridge Press. Please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested. Sign up here: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/pz8mCL7EwMfwRO4XvCBfytyc1VY?domain=cassyni.com
Real World Challenges Seminar Series<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/eaV0CMwGxOtkq8W9lfkhOt83AUG?domain=cassyni.com>
Host: Cambridge Prisms
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM (GMT+10) (Live event)

Open border ecosystems: Against globalised laissez-faire conservation

Christopher Lean

Ecosystems are increasingly being represented as marketplaces that produce goods for humanity, and because of this, economic metaphors for increasing efficiency have been introduced into conservation. A powerful model for economic growth is the globalised free market, and some are implicitly deploying it to suggest changes in conservation practice. Ecological globalisation is the position that we should not control the free movement of species and rewilding occurs most efficiently through non-intervention. When species can move and interact with new ecological systems, they create novel ecosystems. These novel arrangements create experimental markets in nature’s economy, providing opportunities for the efficient production of goods for humans, also known as ecosystem services. When invasive species supersede local populations, it indicates previous biotic systems were inefficient, which is why they were replaced, and therefore, it is wrong to protect indigenous “losers” from extinction. Those who defend indigenous species are accused of being xenophobic against recent biotic migrants. This position is flawed both empirically and morally as there is a disconnect between these economic and political arguments when applied to human economies and nature’s economy.

C. H. Lean (2025) Open border ecosystems: Against globalised laissez-faire conservation. Cambridge Prisms Extinction


[cid:e32082df-b47a-4ac6-b40f-6172255b5af6]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/sydphil/attachments/20250925/2cd154de/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 383725 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/sydphil/attachments/20250925/2cd154de/attachment-0001.png>