Examining the Values Allocated to the Natural Environment: Non-human beings in focus: The Case of Some Selected Districts in East Gojjam Zone

Abstract

Value is a worth given to something either for its consequential utility for the valuers or a worth given for its own sake. While the former way of evaluation is called extrinsic value, the latter is called intrinsic value. Any kind of approach we adapt to anything emerges from a kind of value we allocate to the thing in question, i.e., kind of value people attribute to the natural environment in general and to non-human, in particular, determine people's treatment, evaluation, action and attitude toward the being in focus. Supposing that the ever-increasing environmental crisis is anthropogenic, this paper is trying to examine the kind of value allocated to the environment and non-human beings in East Gojjam. A qualitative approach and case study design were employed to achieve the objective. Both Primary and secondary dated dates were collected. To collect data, focus group discussion, semi-structured interview, key informant interview, and document review were employed as data collecting instruments. Hence, the participants: officials and exports from the office of wildlife protection, office of natural resource management as well as the office of forest enterprise, local people and religious leaders were purposively selected, and the sample size was determined by data saturation. Finally, the collected data was analyzed thematically. The research found out that the kind of value ascribed to environments is extrinsic. Treating animals and plants as the mere means for the manifold end of human being paves the way for human beings to have untrammeled intervention in the environment.