Wildlife, Conservation and Conflict in the Anthropocene: New Forms of Stewardship?

Humans have won the battle for dominating the Earth. Many species are threatened with extinction in this Anthropocene Age, with significant declines in vertebrates, birds, corals, and important habitats (Butchart et al. 2010). The growth of agriculture has enabled huge increases in human populations but has also threatened many species (Rands et al. 2010). Wild fish stocks once considered limitless are now threatened due to overharvesting, including huge declines in sharks, rays, and skates (Pikitch 2005). Some threats, such as local hunting, are relatively easy to control, but conservation has not dealt with the underlying issues such as "population and economic growth, [and] technological development" (Mace 2010, 251) that that are integral to human domination of the Earth. With their "victory," humans are faced with conservation and ethical dilemmas. The two books reviewed here overlap in dealing with contemporary challenges to conservation and species preservation in the Anthropocene. Both examine the complex and often intense relationships between wildlife and humans. The book edited by Catherine Hill, Amanda Webber, and Nancy Priston presents an array of different strategies to deal with human-wildlife conflicts, which are multiplying as human populations increase near wildlife. Jamie Lorimer's book challenges many of the assumptions that traditional conservationists have concerning the Anthropocene.

Lorimer proposes a new post-Anthropocene era, the "Cosmoscene," in which humans will forge a time of multispecies flourishing to replace traditional conservation's focus on a false separation between humans and nature. He argues that the assumption of the "end of nature" is valid only if we accept that it is identified as "human absence" (p. 7). His thesis borrows from Emma Marris' (2011) book, Rambunctious Garden, in taking an "upbeat" view of the present state of biodiversity. Like Marris, he critiques the fixed nature view of traditional conservation that regards the pre-industrial world state of nature, with its emphasis on preservation of pristine protected areas, as optimal. While traditional conservation views invasive species and hybrids as threats, Lorimer sees potential for positive contributions from these "global swarmers." Indeed, he suggests, they are necessary to cope with emerging threats such as climate change.

In contrast to equilibrium ecology, which seeks to preserve fixed climax communities, he suggests that humans should conduct "wild experiments" that engender novel ecosystems and produce "new hybrids" that will provide dynamic reserves to deal with future challenges. These experiments need not be guided by hypotheses or theory but rather should be designed to generate surprises. He views postindustrial land that has been disturbed, and brownfield sites that look ugly but have dynamic ecologies, as promising. By way of contrast, he disparages the ruralist ideal that seeks to replace such areas by "greenwashing" them with lawns and "amenable plant species" (p. 167). Indeed, he cites criticism of these agricultural conservation lands as the "McDonalization of the countryside" (pp. 94–95) with farming that does not allow for local variation. He argues that we need to view wildlife as including those species that live around us in urban areas and within our bodies; in other words, we need to reconceptualize what nature means. He describes the delight that UK urban ecologists find in "barren soil and brownish vegetation" because they find them "teeming with "beetles" and "ballooning spiders" that have flown across the English Channel (p. 159). He argues that traditional conservationists are focused on maintaining sterile fixed ecosystems of the past while we should welcome vital new life forms and processes.

Lorimer's book emphasizes the theoretical underpinnings of the argument for novel ecosystems, a discussion that may be difficult for readers not familiar with the terminology of biophilosophy used by post-Foucauldian scholars such as Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, and Donna Haraway. Lorimer describes his work as "part critique, part manifesto" (p. 6) through which he intends to offer constructive criticism and to open a conversation with traditional conservation. He concedes the...