Sammendrag
We propose to review some key philosophical challenges to the intuition that members of the current generation have an obligation to make land use sustainable for the sake of future generations. Should we limit the present generations’ use of land that will reduce their opportunities to increase their welfare in order to benefit future generations who do not yet exist? Which ‘future generations’ do we need to take into account? We shall argue that there is a need to extend the scope of obligations beyond national societies, and also beyond human species, i.e. a view that is still anthropocentric but at the same time includes nature as such. The concept of environmental rights will be discussed in order to reveal and analyze the complexity of the collective obligations we hold for using land. Further, we shall argue that our current ethical commitments are internally connected to our obligations towards future generations. We will explore several responses to motivational challenges that undermine any obligation to constrain consumption for the sake of future people (e.g. Parfit's non-identity problem (Parfit, 1986)). There is uncertainty as to whether depleting natural resources could really adversely affect future generations in a morally significant way compared to those that would exist if we conserve resources. While some environmentalists dismiss the problem, philosophers (e.g. (Arrhenius, Ryberg, & Tännsjö, 2010)) and economists (e.g. (Howarth, 1992)) try to solve it. We will address key aspects of both the scope of obligations problem and the motivation problem. Additionally, we will also show some practical implications by trying to answer why and to what extent we need to constrain land use. We propose to analyze the limits to increasing welfare that the present generation should observe in order to save enough for future generations (both their descendants and others).
Vis fullstendig beskrivelse