4 Coastal and Marine Protected Areas
29
management system meets strict protection criteria. A monitoring programme on the
conservation status of the listed sites allows threats to be identified which, if serious,
can lead to the site being inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, a process
similar to the Montreux Record. A nomination for the Wadden Sea has yet to be prepared.
Three areas of the Wadden Sea, including the Lower Saxonian Wadden Sea National
Park, are designated as biosphere reserves. The Man and the Biosphere Programme is
not a convention, but an international programme aimed at conserving representative
natural areas. Criteria for designation as a biosphere reserve include representativeness, diversity, naturalness and effectiveness as a conservation unit. Biosphere reserves
are generally managed with a highly protected core area and a surrounding buffer zone.
4.5
The Ethical Argument: Respect for Nature
Equally importantly, but promoted globally to a far less extent, is the ethical argument
for maintaining protected areas as 'refuges' from human activities on a large-scale. The
1991 revision of the IUCN/WWF/UNEP world conservation strategy, Caringfor the Earth,
took a major step forward in recognising openly that if human behaviour is to change
sufficiently to preserve the planet's life support systems and a significant amount of its
biodiversity, a universally shared set of ethical values is needed (IUCNIUNEPI
WWF 1991). A 'world ethic for living sustain ably' was therefore developed, using principles of natural science, democratic social traditions, and ethical and religious traditions:
''All life on earth, with soil, water and air, constitutes a great, interdependent system - the biosphere.
Disturbing one component can affect the whole. Our survival depends on the use of other species,
but it is a matter of ethics, as well as practicality, that we ensure their survival and safeguard their
habitats.
• Every human being is part of the community of life, made up of all living creatures.
• Every human being has the same fundamental and equal rights.
• Each person and each society is entitled to respect of these rights.
• Every life form warrants respect independently of its worth to people.
• Everyone should take responsibility for his or her impacts on nature.
• Everyone should aim to share fairly the benefits and costs of resource use.
• The protection of human rights and those of the rest of nature is a worldwide responsibility that
transcends all cultural, ideological and geographical boundaries:'
This draws on basic tenets of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
the UN World Charter for Nature, which recognise that "every life form is unique, warranting respect regardless of its worth to humankind". Thus, the world ethic is not a
radical new approach. The concepts of ' respect for nature' and the recognition that all
life forms have intrinsic value, are deeply rooted. The scientific perspective also emphasises the ethical significance of the holistic, community or system-based approach,
i.e. that all species are components of our life support system. Promotion of such an
ethic is viewed as essential, since people's behaviour is dependent on their beliefs, and
widely shared beliefs are often more powerful than government legislation.
At the same time, it has to be recognised that there is inevitable conflict between
human rights and the rights of nature, between meeting human needs or demands and
29
management system meets strict protection criteria. A monitoring programme on the
conservation status of the listed sites allows threats to be identified which, if serious,
can lead to the site being inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, a process
similar to the Montreux Record. A nomination for the Wadden Sea has yet to be prepared.
Three areas of the Wadden Sea, including the Lower Saxonian Wadden Sea National
Park, are designated as biosphere reserves. The Man and the Biosphere Programme is
not a convention, but an international programme aimed at conserving representative
natural areas. Criteria for designation as a biosphere reserve include representativeness, diversity, naturalness and effectiveness as a conservation unit. Biosphere reserves
are generally managed with a highly protected core area and a surrounding buffer zone.
4.5
The Ethical Argument: Respect for Nature
Equally importantly, but promoted globally to a far less extent, is the ethical argument
for maintaining protected areas as 'refuges' from human activities on a large-scale. The
1991 revision of the IUCN/WWF/UNEP world conservation strategy, Caringfor the Earth,
took a major step forward in recognising openly that if human behaviour is to change
sufficiently to preserve the planet's life support systems and a significant amount of its
biodiversity, a universally shared set of ethical values is needed (IUCNIUNEPI
WWF 1991). A 'world ethic for living sustain ably' was therefore developed, using principles of natural science, democratic social traditions, and ethical and religious traditions:
''All life on earth, with soil, water and air, constitutes a great, interdependent system - the biosphere.
Disturbing one component can affect the whole. Our survival depends on the use of other species,
but it is a matter of ethics, as well as practicality, that we ensure their survival and safeguard their
habitats.
• Every human being is part of the community of life, made up of all living creatures.
• Every human being has the same fundamental and equal rights.
• Each person and each society is entitled to respect of these rights.
• Every life form warrants respect independently of its worth to people.
• Everyone should take responsibility for his or her impacts on nature.
• Everyone should aim to share fairly the benefits and costs of resource use.
• The protection of human rights and those of the rest of nature is a worldwide responsibility that
transcends all cultural, ideological and geographical boundaries:'
This draws on basic tenets of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
the UN World Charter for Nature, which recognise that "every life form is unique, warranting respect regardless of its worth to humankind". Thus, the world ethic is not a
radical new approach. The concepts of ' respect for nature' and the recognition that all
life forms have intrinsic value, are deeply rooted. The scientific perspective also emphasises the ethical significance of the holistic, community or system-based approach,
i.e. that all species are components of our life support system. Promotion of such an
ethic is viewed as essential, since people's behaviour is dependent on their beliefs, and
widely shared beliefs are often more powerful than government legislation.
At the same time, it has to be recognised that there is inevitable conflict between
human rights and the rights of nature, between meeting human needs or demands and