Christian Gamborg

University of Copenhagen · Institute of Food and Resource Economics

What should we protect when managing and conserving wildlife? There’s no single answer. Competing values, and different prioritizations of values create ethical dilemmas and disagreements. Although the idea of “wildlife” is usually taken to mean animals not bred or controlled by humans, increasingly, wild animals are not just left alone to live the...

What is the attitude of the general public towards hunting? As a recreational activity, hunting stands apart from other forms of outdoor recreation like birdwatching in that it involves the pursuit and killing of wild animals. Today, it is in a tight spot. It has been criticized from animal ethics points of view, but it has also been commended as a...

Hunters in the Western world today do not need to hunt to obtain food and other animal products. So why do they hunt? This paper examines the motives of hunters, the motives ascribed to hunters by members of the general public, and the role motives play for the moral acceptability of hunting among members of the general public. It draws on a nation...

Ecological restoration involves a dual uncertainty or disagreement, one connected to changes in the environment and in human expertises, and another related to changes in views of acceptability over time and underlying value disagreements. While the former often is attended to under the notion of adaptive management, the latter is less often consid...

Calls for ethical management of wildlife in the international conservation community are increasing. However, it is not clear what this actually entails. Using a case of lethal (hunting) and nonlethal control (fertility control) of “chronically abundant” large herbivores such as white‐tailed deer in rural and suburban areas of the United States we...

Assisted reproductive technologies and genetic technologies can accelerate progress in breeding programs in dairy farming, but it is unclear how consumers will react to the use of these technologies. Using representative questionnaire data on Danish citizens (n = 2,036) this cross-sectional study examined consumer attitudes to the application of ad...

Woody biomass energy makes up a large share of renewable energy consumption in the EU, and the largest share in countries like Denmark. However, little is known about how the public perceive it. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey of the public in Denmark focusing on attitudes toward woody biomass for energy. The main fi...

A novel technology combining in vitro production and genomic embryo selection is currently under development in dairy cattle breeding. Adoption of this technology will probably accelerate genetic progress toward the main breeding goals of economic interest, as well as allow selection for traits of societal concern such as decreased methane emission...

Fences, access and large pastures What does the future establishment of so-called nature national parks mean for the experience, access and activity opportunities in these areas - will it be a battleground for different interests, or will it be a win-win situation with great support from the population? The starting point for the nature national pa...

The behavior among peers may be interpreted as usefulinformation in individuals' decision processes, althoughsuch observational learning is typically not accommodatedin consume choice models. This study incorporates in-formation about other consumers' behavior in a choiceexperiment to evaluate if it affects choice probabilities.Market share is used...

This study examined wildlife value orientations (WVOs) among university students on MScs focusing on the environment, nature management and conservation, animal science and disease control – in short, wildlife majors – who are pre-professional. It used a US survey instrument on WVOs delivered via an Internet-based questionnaire in 2018 (n = 180). M...

This paper examines conflicts and forest resource politics in Eastern Mau, which is part of the Mau forest complex in Kenya. Conflict hotspots are mapped based on geo-coded transect walks, observation points derived from a combination of qualitative interviews, and informal conversations with local residents. Conflicts are categorized in terms of t...

Greater production of agricultural biomass for energy generation means a greater overlap between the energy and agricultural value chains. The production of biofuels from food crops was previously criticised as conflicting with food production. Use of so-called 'marginal land' is proposed to overcome previous controversies. Using interviews and doc...

Landowners are shaping the landscape, sometimes through wildlife management for hunting purposes; however, no studies have looked at the connection between how landowners view wildlife (their wildlife value orientations—WVO) and, respectively, their attitudes to and stated game management practices potentially affecting the landscape. This study, u...

This paper explores ethical issues raised by the use of non-surgical, pharmaceutical fertility control to manage reproduction of white-tailed deer (WTD). A high density of WTD, espe-cially in suburban areas, has led to human-deer conflicts, conflicts traditionally solved by hunting, Recently, however, there has been a push towards non-lethal contro...

The use of biotechnological tools in relation to insects have mainly been discussed in relation with regard to making crops resistant to certain insects or to combatting diseases, e.g. by making genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce malaria. In these cases, typically raised issues are risks to humans, insects becoming resistant to crop traits a...

Since 2001 Philosophy of Science has been a mandatory course at Bsc level at University of Copenhagen. This chapter describes experiences and lessons learned from three course taught at the Faculty of Science, spanning educations anchored in natural science, social science and the humanities (in Danish). Olsen, V., Dich, T., Gamborg, C., Gjerris,...

Developing large scale production systems for farmed insects to supplement or replace feed and food ingredients from vertebrate livestock is often heralded as a more sustainable way to produce animal protein than currently used livestock production methods and is receiving increased interest from a diverse set of stakeholders ranging from political...

Hunting can be seen as a confrontation between the human world and the wild nature. Today, however, it can be difficult to spot the wild in nature in a country like Denmark, where over 60% of the total area is used for agriculture, and only few spots are left to itself. Nevertheless, nature plays a major role for both hunters and those who are crit...

Denne rapport præsenterer resultaterne fra en lokal spørgeskemaundersøgelse, der er en del af et forskningsprojekt støttet af Villum-fonden: ”Økologisk restaurering af øvre Øle Å og nærliggende landskaber, Bornholm, Danmark”, herefter omtalt som Øle Å-projektet. Formålet med rapporten er at dokumentere typen og graden af lokal involvering i forbind...

http://rdcu.be/uLuz Control of wild animals may give rise to controversy, as is seen in the case of badger control to manage TB in cattle in the UK. However, it is striking that concerns about the potential suffering of the affected animals themselves are often given little attention or completely ignored in policies aimed at dealing with wild an...

Consumers are apprehensive about transgenic technologies, so cisgenics, which limit gene transfers to sexually compatible organisms, have been suggested to address consumer concerns. We study consumer preferences for rye bread alternatives based on transgenic or cisgenic rye, grown conventionally or without the use of pesticides, relative to tradit...

The domestication of new crops would promote agricultural diversity and could provide a solution to many of the problems associated with intensive agriculture. We suggest here that genome editing can be used as a new tool by breeders to accelerate the domestication of semi-domesticated or even wild plants, building a more varied foundation for the...

For nogle signalerer ordet økologi sundhed og naturlighed. Økologi er for denne gruppe borgere i en eller forstand ”god” eller ”rigtig”. For andre er økologi en dyr og forkert måde at producere fødevarer på, der hverken er sundere eller bedre end det konventionelle landbrug. Begreber som ”god”, ”rigtig” og ”forkert” er udtryk for det, som man kalde...

Insect rearing is often presented as a promising novel source of protein in many industrialised countries in the West. In this chapter, we will first give an overview of the different ethical concerns insect production for food and feed give raise to. This is followed by an elaboration of two of the ethical issues that have, so far, been least disc...

[In Danish - English below] Mennesket har gået på jagt i tusinder af år, men formålet har ændret sig. En gang var det for at overleve – i dag går mange på jagt efter naturens ro, spænding og kammeratskab. Nogle ser jagt som naturpleje, imens andre er på jagt efter trofæer. JAGT skildrer i historisk og nutidigt perspektiv forskellige forståelser af...

Popular-scientific article in the Danish magazine SKOVEN

Popular-scientific article in the Danish magazine SKOVEN

Popular-scientific article for Danish magazine SKOVEN

Popular-scientific article in Danish magazine SKOVEN

Recreational hunting can be seen as a way to take responsibility for acquiring one’s own meat. However, for many recreational hunters the focus rather seems to be on hunting as a hobby or sport than on the outcome of the hunt. Relating to this there is a debate about the moral justifiability of hunting where motives seem to play an important role....

According to the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA, 2016) their mission is ”to facilitate cooperation…towards the goals of education, research and conservation”. Livestock production is one of the leading causes of often-irreversible land use changes, greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity and different types of environmental d...

What values underlie farmers’ choice of breeding goals? Typical dairy breeding goals cover production traits (e.g. yield, feed conversion, and lactation curve) and functional traits (e.g. leg health, fertility and calving ability). One central and multifunctional trait correlated to all these traits is longevity. Even so, dairy cows in Sweden are o...

Free pdf copy available until 1 November from http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Thod_61OxpE94 This paper examines cooperation and competition among landowners, hunters, and other outdoor recre-ational land-users in Denmark in relation to recreational hunting. The study used an internet-basedquestionnaire, sent to representative samples of, respective...

Why are organised shoots involving birds that are farm-reared and subsequently released a dividing issue in several countries? As a contribution to answering this question the paper reports a national survey of landowners (n = 1207), hunters (n = 1130) and the general public (n = 1001) in Denmark. While there was broad agreement across all three gr...

This article examined wildlife value orientations among hunters (n = 1,130) and landowners (n = 1,207) in comparison to the general public (n = 1,001 adults) in Denmark, a highly urbanized European country. Respondents were categorized into four value types based on their responses to 19 statements. Significant differences in wildlife value orienta...

Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, IN PRESS, 2016 online http://dx.doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2015.0097 Given a growing global human population and high pressures on resources, interest in insects as a source of protein for human food (entomophagy) and for animal feed is growing. So far, the main issues discussed have been the embedded technical challe...

This article examined value orientations toward wildlife among the adult general Danish public in relation to age, sex, past and present residence, education, and income, using a U.S. survey instrument on Wildlife Value Orientations (WVO). The study used an Internet-based questionnaire sent to a representative sample of the Danish public in 2012 (n...

This article criticises the notion that critical/political/ethical consumerism can solve issues related to sustainability and food production. It does this by analysing the complexity of the concept of sustainability as related to food choices. The current trend of pursuing a sustainable food production through critical purchase decisions rather th...

I de senere år har en række dyrearter holdt deres indtog i Danmark til glæde for nogle og til gene for andre. Ulven er genindvandret til de jyske landskaber efter omtrent 200 års fravær. Det indebærer udfordringer for forvaltere af naturen, men samtidig rejser der sig naturligt en lang række spørgsmål hos danskere i både byerne og på landet – bland...

Organic farming is based on the concept of working 'with nature' instead of against it; however, compared with conventional farming, organic farming reportedly has lower productivity. Ideally, the goal should be to narrow this yield gap. In this review, we specifically discuss the feasibility of new breeding techniques (NBTs) for rewilding, a proce...

Is it acceptable, in principle, to shoot wild animals as a sport? The ethical controversy around recreational hunting is not only of academic interest but plays an important role in public and political discussions concerning the legitimacy of hunting. For the hunter, hunting is typically imbued with a perception of deeper meaning. For ardent non-h...

Humans have, as far as the archeological records show, always eaten insects, reaching over 2000 edible species today. Given a growing global human population and high pressure on resources, interest in insects as a nutrious protein source for human food (entomophagy) and novel protein source for animal feed is developing. Compared to most other sou...

Purpose The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to assess how concerned Norwegians are about fish welfare; (2) to investigate Norwegians’ willingness to pay for salmon filet made from welfare-assured farmed fish with high levels of welfare; and (3) to examine Norwegian opinions about the appropriate way to pay for better welfare standards in f...

Sustainable agriculture in response to increasing demands for food depends on development of high-yielding crops with high nutritional value that require minimal intervention during growth. Focus so far has been on changing plants by introducing genes that impart new properties, which the plants and their ancestors never possessed. By contrast, we...

Over 25 years ago, the ‘wicked problems’ concept was introduced into forestry to describe the increasingly complex work situations faced by many natural resource management (NRM) professionals and at the same time the demand and frequency of public involvement in NRM issues also grew. Research on the impact of these changes for NRM professionals re...

The article focuses on the interplay between two factors giving rise to friction in bioenergy governance: profound value disagreements (e.g. the prioritizing of carbon concerns like worries over GHG emissions savings over non-carbon related concerns) and regulatory complexity (in terms of regulatory measures and options). We present ethical and leg...

The paper investigates science-policy interaction in forestry in developing countries. It uses the case of REDD+ in Zambia, and links theoretical considerations with practical strategies. Science-policy interaction in the case of REDD+ is analyzed through two theoretical frameworks: the Knowledge Transfer Model and the Transaction Model. Based on i...

From January 2013, a new EU Directive 63/2010/EU requires that research using animals must undergo a harm-benefit analysis, which takes ethical considerations into account (Art. 38 (2) d) - a so-called 'project authorization' (Art. 36). A competent authority in each member state has to ensure that no project is carried out without such a project va...

Resurrection efforts are not just about ways of changing animals but about ways of changing nature. The re-creation of extinct species seems to steer right into a long-standing ethical debate about the (right) use of technology, about what constitutes a fair distribution of harms and benefits, and about the nature and extent of our responsibilities...

A new nationwide survey under the auspices of a research project Hunting, Wildlife Management and Society shows that while almost half of the population is in favor of hunting in general, more than half are negative in relation to restocking for hunting purposes. A majority of the population considers that hunting and game management is of great im...

What is the impact of animal production on the world before it becomes the meat we eat? There is little doubt that livestock production substantially affects its surroundings. FAO talks about 'a long shadow' cast over the environment, nature and landscapes on a global scale - and in specific countries. If we take it as a premise that meat productio...

Bioenergy is increasingly promoted as an energy carrier in a time of climate change where there is a pressure to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Also a strong interest in increased energy security and even self-sufficiency serves as motivating factors for a shift towards more bioenergy use. The supply and demand of bioenergy is to a high degree st...

This chapter examines some of the main research methodologies for studying traditional forest-related knowledge (TFRK). Initially, we address ethical issues, asking, for example, what constitutes proper handling of research results. The relationship between TFRK and modern science is then discussed from a methodological perspective, after which an...

This chapter reflects on the major findings of the lead authors of this book regarding traditional forest-related knowledge (TFRK) using five criteria for distinguishing the unique character of traditional knowledge: (1) its attention to sustainability; (2) relationships to land; (3) identity; (4) reciprocity; and (5) limitations on market involvem...

This chapter refl ects on the major fi ndings of the lead authors of this book regarding traditional forest-related knowledge (TFRK) using fi ve criteria for distinguishing the unique character of traditional knowledge: (1) its attention to sustainability; (2) relationships to land; (3) identity; (4) reciprocity; and (5) limitations on market invol...

Increasingly, ethical concerns are being raised regarding bioenergy production. However, the ethical issues often do not stand out very clearly. The aim of the present paper is to improve on this situation by analyzing the bioenergy discussion from the perspective of land use. From this perspective, bioenergy production may give rise to ethical pro...

First, we present a critical account of Environmental values’ pluralism. As was just mentioned, O’Neill, Holland and Light detect a questionable account of rationality in most ethical theories. They therefore permit substantial ethical theories no role in resolving conflicts. We argue that their critique is less powerful and has a somewhat narrower...

Several studies have indicated that scientists are likely to have an outlook on both facts and values that are different to that of lay people in important ways. This is one significant reason it is currently believed that in order for scientists to exercise a reliable ethical reflection about their research it is necessary for them to engage in di...

This paper examines the challenges that climate change raises for animal agriculture and discusses the contributions that may come from a virtue ethics based approach. Two scenarios of the future role of animals in farming are set forth and discussed in terms of their ethical implications. The paper argues that when trying to tackle both climate an...

Use of gene technology in forestry has been referred to as a help towards producing more efficient forms of plantation forestry, to generate cost-efficient renewable energy and to solve major environmental problems. However, the very same technology has also been met with initial distrust in several parts of the world, a distrust especially pronoun...

Demystifying the gap between theory and practice in planning natural resources management participatory processes

De-domestication is the deliberate establishment of a population of domesticated animals or plants in the wild. In time, the population should be able to reproduce, becoming self-sustainable and incorporating 'wild' animals. Often de-domestication is part of a larger nature restoration scheme, aimed at creating landscapes anew, or re-creating forme...

Demystifying the gap between theory and practice in planning natural resources management participatory processes

Interaction with stakeholders in larger EU projects is notoriously difficult. Questions concerning the representativeness (i.e., who should be involved), issues (i.e., interaction about what) and purpose (i.e., why involve, and for the benefit of whom) need to be addressed and, subsequently, suitable methods must be applied. This paper presents the...

Extensive habitat and species deterioration have been widely documented. At the same time public concern about wildlife management is on the rise, resulting in an increasing number of human-wildlife conflicts. A better understanding of basic human-wildlife relationships is required to facilitate development of wildlife management practices that are...

How can stakeholders within the fisheries community engage in constructive ethical discussions? Drawing on experiences from previous debates surrounding the human use of animals, this paper presents a proactive approach whereby stakeholders can create a framework for ethical discussion of capture fisheries.

English online edition: Gjerris M, Gamborg C, Olesen JE & Wolf J (eds.) (2009): Earth on fire. Climate change from a philosophical and ethical perspective, University of Copenhagen)

Since 1990 crop based products which may be used as food are not allowed in the Danish heating supply system – for ‘ethical’ reasons. This ethically founded resistance seems to flourish in other parts of the world as well: you cannot burn food when there is hunger in the world. At the same time, setting agricultural land aside or growing non-food c...

Animal breeding was, until the beginning of the twentieth century, a relatively uncontrolled activity based mainly on the animal's physical appearance. The early animal breeders did not really have the knowledge and tools to predict and control what they were doing. This changed in the first half of the twentieth century, when Mendelian genetics wa...

The agenda in forestry is expanding, as we want to do more things at the same time. Society is becoming more pluralistic, with more parties having a say. This leads to a situation where aims and functions are potentially conflicting, leading to dilemmas. Whatever solution we choose, we will do something which appears to be bad and prevent something...

With bigger control comes a higher degree of accountability prompting ethical questions concerning the application of science based breeding and other forms of modern biotechnology. Is breeding induced animal welfare problems acceptable? How should we react to the possibility of crossing the species barrier? In other words, what are the ethical lim...

In this paper we suggest and critically discuss new ways in which the gap between forest science, policy making and practice can be spanned – using the lessons from a just completed four-year Latvian–Danish project as a case for working towards better transfer of scientifically based knowledge into forestry. Forest covers nearly 50% of the Latvian...

One of the possible strategies for including sustainability objectives in animal production systems of the future is to embed these objectives in the planning phase of research programmes through a process of ethical reflection. This paper presents an attempt, within a European Network (project) on genomics of host-pathogen interactions, to engage...

Animal welfare and the ethical issues it raises have been discussed intensively for a couple of decades. The emphasis has been on the direct effects of housing and husbandry, but more attention is now being given to problems originating in selective breeding. European attempts to adjust animal welfare legislation to deal with these problems have be...

Biodiversity has high priority these years – not many would argue against a concern for biodiversity. However, our prioritising of biodiversity is dependent upon the level of nature we are addressing. Big mammals, such as wild boar, are lacking in Danish nature. They have been here before, why not reintroduce them or allow for natural migration? Wi...

The paper examines the notion of sustainable farm animal breeding. A brief explanation of why sustainability matters is offered first. After this, the historical development of the concept of sustainability is charted. The authors then turn to review published literature with a bearing on sustainable farm animal breeding. Little has been written di...

Across Europe, even-aged, production-orientated, intensively managed tree plantations are beginning to be regarded in the same way as old industrial complexes; they are something belonging to a different era —and should be abolished or converted to something else. What exactly should these “conventional” forests be converted into? Which functions s...

Regarding the environment, and more specifically, resource extraction and management, examples of harm include pollution or loss of drinking water, elk damage to trees, bark beetle attacks on trees, and windthrow. Here the notion of minimising lost resources is central to any interpretation of the notion of harm. But when it comes to the management...