Title: Advancing Conservation in a Social Context Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
1Advancing Conservation in a Social
ContextSupported by the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation
- Thomas O. McShane
- Chair Coordinator
- ACSC Planning Group
- International Institute for Sustainability
- Arizona State University
- 13 December 2005
2Hypotheses to Conservation Challenges
- Complexity
- Institutions
- External Context
- Use of conceptual frameworks that emphasize
linearity, certainty, boundedness instead of
complexity and uncertainty. - Trade-offs are not captured. Mechanisms for
distributing costs and benefits are limited. - Local capacity is lacking in many disciplines
important for conservation. - Need to improve applicability and use of
cutting-edge scholarship. - Competing issues (e.g., energy development,
poverty, terrorism).
3Advancing Conservation in a Social Context Goal
-
- To advance sustainable conservation outcomes
through diverse, dynamic social processes.
4Advancing Conservation in a Social Context
Audience
-
- Those who have improving conservation outcomes
as one of their primary objectives. Such actors
would include - project and program staff working on field
projects - government environmental agency staff
- local, national and international conservation
and development NGOs - environmental staff of bilateral and multilateral
development agencies - academia involved in researching conservation
questions and, - donors with significant support for conservation
activities.
5Conservation Bazaar
A multidisciplinary mixing zone and market-place
- Dissemination of new knowledge, understanding and
capacity. - Reflection on practice and development of new
approaches. - Cross-linking and sharing between different
disciplines. - Connecting knowledge in new and different ways.
- Open testing, scrutiny and experimentation.
6 I N T E G R A T I V E R E S E A R C H
Monitoring, collecting and synthesizing existing
and emergent scholarship relevant to conservation
(both social and natural) in ways useful to
conservation actors.
7C O N S E R V A T I O N L O C I
Study and analysis of the institutions,
processes, nodes and connections that transcend
intervention sites. Stimulating conservation
actors to understand themselves and those around
them so as to do things better.
8F I E L D - B A S E D I N T E R V E N T I O N
Study, analysis and testing of existing and new
approaches and methodologies in the field.
Helping conservation actors to understand what
they do and what constrains them.
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10Conclusions
A multidisciplinary mixing zone and market-place
where ideas and practices are compared and
swapped for testing.
- Promoting process creating a space for multiple
dialogues - and stimulating these with research and
investigation. - A learning zone offering tools for thinking
- not protocols for action.
- A safe zone where people can bring issues and
problems - without fear or blame
- A work in progress