Environmentalists consider invasions by exotic species of plants and animals to be one of the most serious environmental problems we face today, as well as one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss. Alan Carter argues that in order to develop and enact sensible policies, it is crucial to consider two philosophical questions: (1) What exactly makes a species native or exotic, and (2) What values are at stake?

In this paper, Tony Lynch and David Wells argue that environmental politics needs more than piecemeal institutional efforts or calls for a set of ‘new’ values and that is a realistic, comprehensive, and effective policy programme.

John A. Curtis argues that there may be instances where assessing wildlife for monetary valuation might be quite reasonable and useful for public policy, even when there are strong arguments against valuation of wildlife and nature.

Peter Lucas argues that even though it is widely acknowledged that social theorists can make an important contribution to our understanding of environmental risk, there is however a danger that the current ascendancy of social theory will encourage a tendency to assimilate issues around environmental risk to those at stake in entrenched debates between realist and constructivist social theorists.