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Who Values What Nature? Constructing Conservation Value with Fungi

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The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Physical Geography

Abstract

Humans depend on fungi to provide food and medicine and to maintain the environments we inhabit. Yet their conservation has not captured the attention of conservationists, perhaps because existing normative economic, ecological, and social ways of creating value for plants and animals are a challenge to adapt for fungi. Using a CPG perspective, this chapter argues that the value of fungi becomes clearer using alternative forms of accounting focused on interconnectivity. The concept of econo-ecologies refocuses value on the importance of work and exchange. For fungi, econo-ecological conservation is generated through sustainable livelihood practices and ethical biogeographies. Fungi can thus serve as a paradigmatic case, demonstrating how the interconnectedness of values can help to reclaim conservation as a site of ethical decision-making.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI, USA

    Elizabeth S. Barron

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  1. Elizabeth S. Barron
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Rebecca Lave

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Christine Biermann

  3. Université de Lausanne, Gryon, Switzerland

    Stuart N. Lane

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Barron, E.S. (2018). Who Values What Nature? Constructing Conservation Value with Fungi. In: Lave, R., Biermann, C., Lane, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Physical Geography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71461-5_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71461-5_18

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71460-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71461-5

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