Conservation Research, Policy and Practice

Abstract

Conservation research is essential for advancing knowledge, but to make an impact, scientific evidence must influence conservation policies, decision-making and practice. This raises a multitude of challenges. How should evidence be collated and presented to policy-makers to maximise its impact? How can effective collaboration between conservation scientists and decision-makers be established? How can the resulting messages be communicated to bring about change?Emerging from a successful international symposium organised by the British Ecological Society and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, this is the first book to practically address these questions across a wide range of conservation topics. Wellrenowned experts guide readers through global case studies and their own experiences.This is a must-read for practitioners, researchers, graduate students and policymakers wishing to enhance the prospect of their work 'making a difference'. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Giving stakeholders a voice in governance: Biodiversity priorities for New Zealand's agriculture

“…While our 'solution scanning' exercise helped elevate biodiversity groups and management actions distinct to New Zealand's social and environmental context (offsetting the influence of global institutes; Boyd, 2020), online surveys gave a wide range of stakeholders a voice to influence the final priorities-which were then decided by our advisor panel via a workshop discussion. For example, when the advisor panel was working towards reaching a consensus on the priorities, relational values were often raised to set out the rationale for selecting one biodiversity group over another.…”

Sustained Antarctic Research: A 21st Century Imperative

“…Many factors determine the influence, reception, and uptake of futures studies. 22 Judging impact and uptake can be elusive due to limited acknowledgment of usage beyond periodical literature attribution. In the policy arena, the origins and pathways to advice are often obscured as it is blended with other inputs and influenced by non-scientific factors.…”

“…20,21 Horizon Scanning-a systematic approach to retrieve, sort, organize, and prioritize information pertinent to the question posed-was used to identify the most important scientific questions from many. 22 The first Antarctic Science Horizon Scan (''the Scan'') was followed by an assessment of the technology and infrastructure required to deliver the research. The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (''the ARC''; Box 1) assessment included estimates of both cost and time to delivery.…”

Setting Statistical Thresholds Is Useful to Define Truly Effective Conservation Interventions

“…Biodiversity loss and degradation of natural ecosystems are the globally pressing emergencies to which scientists and practitioners need to find practical, socially acceptable and effective evidencebased solutions (Adams et al, 2019;Burivalova et al, 2019;Sutherland et al, 2020). To achieve this, development and validation of conservation interventions is essential to reduce threats, recover species and landscapes, and secure sustainable co-existence between local societies and wildlife (Sutherland et al, 2019;Treves et al, 2019;Littlewood et al, 2020).…”