Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance, uncertainty and learning

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance, uncertainty and learning
Abstract
Despite significant progress in understanding climate risks, adaptation efforts in biodiversity conservation remain limited. Adaptation requires addressing immediate conservation threats while also attending to long term, highly uncertain and potentially transformative future changes. To date, conservation research has focused more on projecting climate impacts and identifying possible strategies, rather than understanding how governance enables or constrains adaptation actions. We outline an approach to futureoriented conservation that combines the capacities to anticipate future ecological change; to understand the implications of that change for social, political and ecological values; and the ability to engage with the governance (and politics) of adaptation. Our approach builds on the adaptive management and governance literature, however we explicitly address the (often contested) rules, knowledge and values that enable or constrain adaptation. We call for a broader focus that extends beyond technical approaches to acknowledge the sociopolitical challenges inherent to adaptation. More importantly, we suggest that conservation policy makers and practitioners can use this approach to facilitate learning and adaptation in the context of complexity, transformational change and uncertainty.
Publication
Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume
25
Issue
7
Pages
1401-1408
Date
6/2016
Language
en
ISSN
0960-3115, 1572-9710
Short Title
Future oriented conservation
Accessed
02/05/2019, 17:39
Library Catalogue
DOI.org (Crossref)
Citation
Wyborn, C., van Kerkhoff, L., Dunlop, M., Dudley, N., & Guevara, O. (2016). Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance, uncertainty and learning. Biodiversity and Conservation, 25(7), 1401–1408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1130-x