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Environmental Values

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Environmental Values

Native Species, Human Communities and Cultural Relationships

Environmental Values 17(2008): 353-373. doi: 10.3197/096327108X343121

ABSTRACT

Species are ordinarily conceived of as being native or non-native to either a geographical location or an ecological community. I submit that species may also be native or non-native to human communities. I argue, by way of an analogy with varieties of domesticated and cultivated species, that this sense of nativity is grounded by the cultural relationships human communities have with species. A further analogy is drawn with the motivations of varietal nativists - who seek to protect native varieties of domesticated and cultivated species for the sake of their cultural value - to argue for the consideration of the cultural value of native species in environmental policy decisions regarding invasive non-native species.

KEYWORDS

Species, culture, value, community

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