Knowing But Not Doing: Selecting Priority Conservation Areas and the Research–Implementation Gap

Conservation Biology - Tập 22 Số 3 - Trang 610-617 - 2008
Andrew T. Knight1, Richard M. Cowling1, Mathieu Rouget2, Andrew Balmford3, Amanda T. Lombard1,4, Bruce M. Campbell5
1Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 77000, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa
2Biodiversity Directorate, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag x101, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
3Conservation Biology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom.
4Marine Biology Research Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa
5Research School of Environmental Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin 0909, Northern Territory, Australia, and Centre for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia

Tóm tắt

Abstract:  Conservation assessment is a rapidly evolving discipline whose stated goal is the design of networks of protected areas that represent and ensure the persistence of nature (i.e., species, habitats, and environmental processes) by separating priority areas from the activities that degrade or destroy them. Nevertheless, despite a burgeoning scientific literature that ever refines these techniques for allocating conservation resources, it is widely believed that conservation assessments are rarely translated into actions that actually conserve nature. We reviewed the conservation assessment literature in peer‐reviewed journals and conducted survey questionnaires of the authors of these studies. Two‐thirds of conservation assessments published in the peer‐reviewed scientific literature do not deliver conservation action, primarily because most researchers never plan for implementation. This research–implementation gap between conservation science and real‐world action is a genuine phenomenon and is a specific example of the “knowing–doing gap” that is widely recognized in management science. Given the woefully inadequate resources allocated for conservation, our findings raise questions over the utility of conservation assessment science, as currently practiced, to provide useful, pragmatic solutions to conservation planning problems. A reevaluation of the conceptual and operational basis of conservation planning research is urgently required. We recommend the following actions for beginning a process for bridging the research–implementation gap in conservation planning: (1) acknowledge the research–implementation gap is real, (2) source research questions from practitioners, (3) situate research within a broader conservation planning model, (4) expand the social dimension of conservation assessments, (5) support conservation plans with transdisciplinary social learning institutions, (6) reward academics for societal engagement and implementation, and (7) train students in skills for “doing” conservation.

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Conservation Biology

Tập 22 Số 3

610-617

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