The aim of the book is to inform the general public, the scientific community and policy-makers of the ethical issues that are salient in current thinking about the environment. The experts have also made proposals for international action according to their analysis of the current situation of their discipline.
The book covers the most important notions and principles in current environmental ethics, such as sustainability and future generations.
International organizations are taking a growing interest in environmental issues. Governments are also increasingly aware of the need to develop environmental policies. At the same time, environmental ethics is a new area of applied ethics; though it is not as well developed as bioethics, there is a growing body of knowledge, there are experienced scholars as well as teaching and research schools. Despite growing interest in and awareness on environmental issues, the ethical dimension of environmental problems is often neglected in policy-making. The purpose of the book is to bring scientific and ethical expertise and policy-making together in presenting the latest situation regarding environmental ethics and in pointing out opportunities for international action.