Ubuntu through Umuntu: Balancing Ecological Justice and Social Justice in Nature Conservation

Abstract

As biodiversity is rapidly declining conservationists call for drastic change. Proposals to give a significant share of the earth's surface to nature gain support, despite the social justice concerns they are associated with. Conservationists argue that justice scholars should be more concerned with ecological justice (justice for nature) anyway. They claim that we should prioritise ecological justice over social justice in nature conservation. The ethics of ubuntu offers insights that challenge this claim. In my thesis, I will therefore question: From a relational ubuntu ethics perspective, should we prioritise ecological justice over social justice to avert environmental destruction? In two arguments I will set out why we should not prioritise ecological justice over social justice. First, argue that ubuntu shows that we cannot live in harmony with nature unless we critically reflect on our conception of social and ecological justice to make them compatible. Secondly, I argue following the ubuntu logic that a well-developed sense of social justice combined with engagement with nature allows us to develop a sense of ecological justice, which underlines an important connection between ecological and social justice. These arguments add and give relevance to the social justice concerns about plans to designate significant parts of the earth solely to nature.