"Despite a century of conservation science, advocacy and education, extinction rates and habitat loss have increased greatly. Current extinction rates are about 1,000 times higher than estimated background rates,[6] leading some scientists to speak of ‘defaunation’[7] caused by humanity’s impact within a new geological era labelled the ‘anthropocene’.[8]

At the heart of the crisis within biodiversity conservation is a simple question which divides the global conservation movement: What gives nature its value? Is conservation’s raison d’être purely instrumental, preserving habitats and species because of the ‘ecosystem services’[9] they provide for human thriving, or can we speak of intrinsic or inherent values within species and ecosystems and, if so, on what are these values based?"