Year: 2026 | Month: April | Volume: 13 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 493-510
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260451
Environmental Ethics in the Anthropocene: From Value Theory to Governance, Conservation, Consumption, and Organizational Sustainability
Yunita Djamalu1, Sukirman Rahim2, Abdul Haris Panai3, Marini Susanti Hamidun4
1Doctoral Program in Environmental Science, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia
2,3,4Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia
Corresponding Author: Yunita Djamalu
ABSTRACT
Environmental ethics has moved from a largely philosophical debate on the moral standing of nature toward a transdisciplinary field shaping conservation policy, environmental governance, sustainable production, consumer behavior, ecological restoration, and organizational transformation. Building on the attached literature base and integrating recent additions from the supplied extraction set, this review synthesizes contemporary scholarship on the normative architectures, empirical applications, and governance implications of environmental ethics. The review shows that recent literature has expanded the field in four major directions: first, by refining debates on anthropocentric, biocentric, ecocentric, virtue-based, relational, and rights-based frameworks; second, by translating ethical theory into practical domains such as biodiversity management, environmental impact assessment, green consumption, climate communication, mining and soil remediation, and marine and forest governance; third, by foregrounding pluralism, relationality, and stewardship as mediating concepts between intrinsic and instrumental valuation; and fourth, by embedding ethics in organizational innovation, stakeholder pressure, and sustainable performance. Across the literature, the strongest trend is a shift away from binary oppositions human versus nature, intrinsic versus instrumental value, science versus values toward integrative approaches that recognize normative plurality while preserving ethical accountability. At the same time, major tensions remain regarding rights of nature, moral standing of individuals versus collectives, colonial and postcolonial histories of conservation, and the political limits of sustainability governance under predominantly anthropocentric institutions. This review contributes a structured synthesis, four summary tables, and an updated analytical agenda for future scholarship. It argues that environmental ethics is most productive when treated not as an abstract supplement to environmental decision-making, but as the normative infrastructure through which environmental knowledge, institutions, and actions are interpreted, justified, contested, and transformed.
Keywords: environmental ethics; Anthropocene; biodiversity conservation; relational values; rights of nature; green innovation; sustainability governance
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