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Related papers
Practical solutions for making models indispensable in conservation decision-making
Diversity and Distributions, 2013
Aim Decision-making for conservation management often involves evaluating risks in the face of environmental uncertainty. Models support decision-making by (1) synthesizing available knowledge in a systematic, rational and transparent way and (2) providing a platform for exploring and resolving uncertainty about the consequences of management decisions. Despite their benefits, models are still not used in many conservation decision-making contexts. In this article, we provide evidence of common objections to the use of models in environmental decision-making. In response, we present a series of practical solutions for modellers to help improve the effectiveness and relevance of their work in conservation decision-making.
Mental models for conservation research and practice
Conservation Letters
Conservation practice requires an understanding of complex social-ecological processes of a system and the different meanings and values that people attach to them. Mental models research offers a suite of methods that can be used to reveal these understandings and how they might affect conservation outcomes. Mental models are representations in people's minds of how parts of the world work. We seek to demonstrate their value to conservation and assist practitioners and researchers in navigating the choices of methods available to elicit them. We begin by explaining some of the dominant applications of mental models in conservation: revealing individual assumptions about a system, developing a stakeholder-based model of the system, and creating a shared pathway to conservation. We then provide a framework to "walk through" the stepwise decisions in mental models research, with a focus on diagrambased methods. Finally, we discuss some of the limitations of mental models research and application that are important to consider. This work extends the use of mental models research in improving our ability to understand social-ecological systems, creating a powerful set of tools to inform and shape conservation initiatives.
CONSERVATION DESIGN: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Tundra to tropics: …, 2008
Conservation design entails 1) characterization and assessment of a landscape's capacity to support wildlife, 2) predictive modeling and mapping of species population response to this landscape, 3) assessment of conservation opportunities given those predicted patterns in occurrence and abundance, 4) strategic enhancement of landscapes to achieve conservation goals, and then 5) subsequent monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the conservation actions that follow from this process truly lead to gains for wildlife and wildlands. Conservation design should recognize the dynamical nature of populations and the landscapes they inhabit. It should also balance needs of individual priority species against those of species aggregates. Ideally, aspects of this process should generate recommendations for management which recognize future trends in landscape conditions. Each of these endeavors is infl uenced by issues associated with scale: temporal, spatial, and thematic. The future of conservation design will likely include shifts from static, pattern-based models of specieshabitat response to dynamical projections of process-based models, with commensurate recognition of the uncertainty that accompanies those projections.
. The role of participatory modeling in landscape approaches to reconcile conservation and development. Ecology and Society 15(2): 13. [online] ABSTRACT. Conservation organizations are increasingly turning to landscape approaches to achieve a balance between conservation and development goals. We use six case studies in Africa and Asia to explore the role of participatory modeling with stakeholders as one of the steps towards implementing a landscape approach. The modeling was enthusiastically embraced by some stakeholders and led to impact in some cases. Different stakeholders valued the modeling exercise differently. Noteworthy was the difference between those stakeholders connected to the policy process and scientists; the presence of the former in the modeling activities is key to achieving policy impacts, and the latter were most critical of participatory modeling. Valued aspects of the modeling included stimulating cross-sector strategic thinking, and helping participants to confront the real drivers of change and to recognize trade-offs. The modeling was generally considered to be successful in building shared understanding of issues. This understanding was gained mainly in the discussions held in the process of building the model rather than in the model outputs. The model itself reflects but a few of the main elements of the usually rich discussions that preceded its finalization. Problems emerged when models became too complex. Key lessons for participatory modeling are the need for good facilitation in order to maintain a balance between "models as stories" and technical modeling, and the importance of inviting the appropriate stakeholders to achieve impact.
4. Multidisciplinary approaches for conservation issues
2021
HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. 4. Multidisciplinary approaches for conservation issues Rachid Cheddadi, Fausto Sarmiento, Alain Hambuckers, Majda Nourelbait, Anne-Marie Lézine, Pierre Taberlet, Francesco Ficetola, Alexandra-Jane Henrot, Kangyou Huang, Louis François, et al.
Necessary but challenging: Multiple disciplinary approaches to solving conservation problems
Facets, 2017
Contemporary conservation problems are typically positioned at the interface of complex ecological and human systems. Traditional approaches aiming to compartmentalize a phenomenon within the confines of a single discipline and failing to engage non-science partners are outmoded and cannot identify solutions that have traction in the social, economic, and political arenas in which conservation actions must operate. As a result, conservation science teams must adopt multiple disciplinary approaches that bridge not only academic disciplines but also the political and social realms and engage relevant partners. Five reasons are presented that outline why conservation problems demand multiple disciplinary approaches in order to move forward because: (i) socio-ecological systems are complex, (ii) multiple perspectives are better than one, (iii) the results of research must influence practice, (iv) the heterogeneity of scale necessitates it, and (v) conservation involves compromise. Presenting reasons that support multiple disciplinarity demands a review of the barriers that impede this process, as we are far from attaining a model or framework that is applicable in all contexts. Two challenges that impede multiple disciplinarity are discussed, in addition to pragmatic solutions that conservation scientists and practitioners can adopt in their work. Overall, conservation researchers and practitioners are encouraged to explore the multiple disciplinary dimensions of their respective realms to more effectively solve problems in biodiversity and sustainability.
Future Directions for Conservation
The use of target baselines or reference states for conservation and restoration has become increasingly problematic and impractical, due to rapid environmental change, the paradigm shift in ecology from a static to a dynamic view of nature, and growing awareness of the role of cultural traditions in the reconstruction of baselines. The various responses to this crisis of baselines will to a significant extent determine the future direction of nature conservation. Although some hold on to traditional baselines and others try to refine or redefine the reference concept, the debate is currently dominated by two widely diverging reactions to the crisis: while the so-called ‘new environmentalists’ or ‘new conservationists’ declare the whole baseline notion obsolete, replacing a backward-looking approach by a forward-looking one, the ‘re-wilders’ push the baseline back to a deeper, more distant past. This article provides a critical assessment of the debate on these conversation options, with a special focus on the differences between Old World and New World perspectives.