The challenges of defining definiti

The challenges of defining definitive ethical principles to establish the rights of nature means that the judgement of what is ‘right’ or 'wrong' in the 'use' of the environment invariably falls into the classification of situation ethics', with each situation being judged upon its own merits. The most prevalent overarching contemporary ethnic guiding human interaction with nature is the conservation ethic (Vardy and Grosch 1999), which can be interpreted as operating a both of nature anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric levels, i.e. the conservation of nature for human benefit, as well as conservation based on the recognition of the rights of nature to an existence. The conservation ethic is central to the key policies of sustainable development and a green economy, but also within the context of tourism. Holden (2003) suggests that it represents the moral reasoning of most tourism stakeholders, Emphasis is often placed on conservation for human benefit as demonstrated in the United Nations (UNWTO 2013) "Global Code of Ethics for Tourism' (GCE), Article 3, which states: 'All the stakeholders in tourism development should safeguard the natural environment with a view to achieving sound, continuous and sustainable economic growth satisfying equitably the needs and aspiration of future generations.’ The conservation ethic is also inherent in initiatives towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by tourism multinationals, the benefits of which are summarized by UNEP (2005: