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Exploring diverse relationships between humans and the environment with a critical and solution-oriented lens.

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Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Nathan J. Bennett

I just published a co-authored Open Access article in the journal Conservation Biology titled “Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation“. In this article, we define conservation social science, examine the barriers to uptake of the social sciences in conservation, and suggest practical steps that might be taken to overcome these barriers.

Bennett, N., Roth, R., Klain, S., Chan, K., Clark, D., Cullman, G., Epstein, G., Nelson, P., Stedman, R., Teel, T., Thomas, R., Wyborn, C., Currans, D., Greenberg, A., Sandlos, J & Verissimo, D. (2016). Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation. Conservation Biology. Online, Open Access. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12788

AbstractFigure 1 - Barriers to mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation

Despite broad recognition of the value of social sciences and increasingly vocal calls for better engagement with the human element of conservation, the conservation social sciences remain misunderstood and underutilized in practice. The conservation social sciences can provide unique and important contributions to society’s understanding of the relationships between humans and nature and to improving conservation practice and outcomes. There are 4 barriers – ideological, institutional, knowledge, and capacity – to meaningful integration of the social sciences into conservation. We provide practical guidance on overcoming these barriers to mainstream the social sciences in conservation science, practice, and policy. Broadly, we recommend fostering knowledge on the scope and contributions of the social sciences to conservation, including social scientists from the inception of interdisciplinary research projects, incorporating social science research and insights during all stages of conservation planning and implementation, building social science capacity at all scales in conservation organizations and agencies, and promoting engagement with the social sciences in and through global conservation policy-influencing organizations. Conservation social scientists, too, need to be willing to engage with natural science knowledge and to communicate insights and recommendations clearly. We urge the conservation community to move beyond superficial engagement with the conservation social sciences. A more inclusive and integrative conservation science – one that includes the natural and social sciences – will enable more ecologically effective and socially just conservation. Better collaboration among social scientists, natural scientists, practitioners, and policy makers will facilitate a renewed and more robust conservation. Mainstreaming the conservation social sciences will facilitate the uptake of the full range of insights and contributions from these fields into conservation policy and practice.

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Figure 2 – Framework for a collaborative and integrated conservation science and practice

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This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged biodiversity conservation, conservation, Conservation and Development, Conservation Biology, Conservation Ethics, conservation law, conservation planning, Conservation Psychology, Conservation Social Science, Conservation Social Sciences, environmental decision making, environmental economics, Environmental Education, environmental governance, environmental humanities, environmental management, environmental philosophy, environmental social science, Environmental social sciences, Environmental Sociology, Human Dimensions, human ecology, interdisciplinarity, marine conservation, Nathan Bennett, natural resource management, Political Ecology, protected areas, social science, Society for Conservation Biology by Nathan J. Bennett. Bookmark the permalink.
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