par Fabian Schuppert, Centre for Ethics, University of Zurich.

Événement organisé dans le cadre des Ateliers de la démocratie.

Veuillez noter que la présentation et les discussions qui suivront se feront en anglais.

14h à 16h

2910 Édouard-Montpetit, local 309 (Métro Université-de-Montréal)

In the presence of anthropogenic climate change, gross environmental degradation, and mass
abject poverty, many political theorists currently debate issues such as people’s right to water,
the right to food, and the distribution of rights to natural resources more generally. However,
thus far many theorists either focus (somewhat arbitrarily) only on one particular resource
(e.g. water) or they treat all natural resources alike, meaning that many relevant
distinctions within the group of natural resources are overlooked. Hence, the paper will
start with an analysis of the various forms which natural resources can take and how this
might influence one’s conception of resource rights. In so doing, the paper argues that we
have to carefully distinguish between the actual physical resources people might control
and how we distribute these, and the life-sustaining benefits each and every person draws
from sustainable and functioning ecosystems. Based on this distinction, the paper will
argue for a right to the benefits of life-sustaining ecosystem services as a universal basic
right every person has. Further distributive claims with respect to particular physical
resources would thus be limited by the requirements of such a basic right.