We can see here, in both the use and preservationist positions, the centrality of the anthropocentric premise. Nature conservation’s most acceptable and prevalent from15is a utilitarian one in that such areas are deemed necessary to preserve or protect for their potential human benefits, be it for ‘aesthetic’, ‘gymnasium’, ‘cathedral’ or ‘laboratory’ potential (see Chapter 2). Thus the use and preservationist positions are constrained by two orientations: at one extreme lies the emphasis on human needs being met in parks, while the other leads to overt opposition to the preservation and protection of natural areas as valueless ‘locking up’ of land. This conflict intensifies with the pressures of an exponentially increasing global population and the concomitant consumption of resources this entails.
As we have seen in Chapter 2, ecocentrically oriented philosophies have raised significant challenges to the anthropocentric focus on nature’s value lying in its relation to human needs. However, an extreme ecocentrist approach would actually challenge the fundamental rationale of protected areas themselves as a ‘Noah’s Ark solution’, for protected areas are in effect isolated islands of biodiversity. An ecocentric perspective would argue that we would not need protected areas if we did not have such an exploitative relationship with nature (see Chapter 2) and this is the heart of the protected area debate, particularly in relation to ecotourism.