Le matrici etiche nella conservazione della biodiversità

Ethical issues and general conflicts of values intrinsically dominate the field of conservation. Therefore, in their practical efforts, conservationists need to refer not only toconcepts and theories, but also to more practical tools for decision making. In this paper it is described an already existing tool, the Ethical Matrix, originally designed to deal with issues in the field of food ethics, in its potentiality to support decision making in the field of conservation.The Ethical Matrixis a conceptual tool devised to help identify stakeholders and their needs by supplying ethical analysis with a transparent, articulated and clear framework of the relevant principlesinvolved in a decision-making process. After briefly detailing what an EM is, the paper discusses its relevance for the main kinds of moral issues arising from conservation. It will then be sketched the outline of a general EM to be used in conservation by individuating classes of stakeholders and debating the general ethical principles and their applicatio