Emotion and compassion as a KPI in the extinction accounting framework: compassionate rewilding as a core conservation element

Mira Lieberman

Chapter 34 in Handbook of Critical Environmental Accountability and Sustainability, 2026, pp 504-525 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: As the sixth mass extinction accelerates, conservation efforts remain rooted mainly in technocratic and managerial paradigms that prioritise species counts and ecological function over the moral status and lived experiences of individual animals. This chapter critiques mainstream rewilding as a conservation strategy and proposes compassionate rewilding as a transformative alternative grounded in emotion, ethics and deep ecology. By integrating emotion, specifically compassion, as a legitimate key performance indicator (KPI) within the extinction accounting framework, this chapter advances the case for an accounting model that values non-human lives beyond instrumental terms. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature spanning extinction governance, environmental accounting, animal ethics and ecosophy, it challenges the anthropocentric assumptions embedded in traditional conservation discourse. The chapter advocates for compassionate conservation: an approach that resists harm, centres sentient individuals, and acknowledges interdependence as both a philosophical imperative and a practical tool for biodiversity governance. In doing so, it argues that emotion is not antithetical to reason, but essential to transformative, inclusive and ethically accountable conservation practice.

Keywords: Rewilding; Compassion; Emotion; Ethics; Extinction Accounting; Ecosophy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802201765
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