From wilderness to cohabitation: Literature review on human presence in environmental ethics

Abstract

Land use and biodiversity conservation are increasingly recognized as ethical and value-laden topics rather than merely ecological or socio-technical problems. While this has increased multidisciplinary and participatory approaches in research, explicit engagement with environmental ethics, where those questions are scrutinized though an ethical lens, remains limited. To address this need, we reviewed how the environmental ethics literature defines and characterizes active human presence across different environments, how it frames human impacts on nonhumans, and the assumptions and normative implications articulated by these perspectives. Using a narrative approach, we identify four main narratives from environmental ethics on human and nonhuman coexistence: wilderness, rural stewardship, urban cohabitation, and relational narratives. By synthesizing these narratives, our findings offer conceptual tools that can support sustainability researchers, practitioners, and policymakers reflect more critically on the ethical dimensions of land-use decisions and better navigate contested visions of desirable landscape futures.

Graphical abstract