According to one recent estimate, there are one sextillion animals on Earth that may be sentient, most living in the wild. Yet wild animal welfare is neglected by intergovernmental bodies such as the IPCC. This talk discusses the importance and difficulty of developing a framework for evaluating interventions targeted at improving wild animal welfare. It considers how a model recently developed by Rethink Priorities might be used to quantify wild animal welfare and discusses different theories of population value, identifying sources of uncertainty. It ends with a discussion of preventing the spread of wild animal suffering to other planets. Tim Campbell is a philosopher and research fellow at the Institute for Futures Studies (IFFS) in Stockholm and the Mimir Center for Long Term Futures Research. His research focuses on topics in ethics related to population change, personal identity over time, whole brain emulation, and, most recently, wild animal welfare.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6b7XRoaq8Q