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- Convenors:
-
Samantha Hurn
(University of Exeter)
Kate Marx (WWF)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Sessions:
- Friday 29 October, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Wildlife conservation challenges are notoriously difficult to solve. There are many established strategies including collaborating with social scientists and local stakeholders. However, increasingly more innovative theoretical and methodological approaches are required to achieve lasting success.
Long Abstract:
Wildlife conservation projects and initiatives aimed at the protection of endangered species frequently present managers and researchers with what are termed ‘wicked problems’ (DeFries and Nagendra 2017; Game et al. 2014; Haubold 2012; Mason et al. 2018). Wicked problems are difficult to solve because of the complexity and shifting nature of the contributing factors (Mason et al. 2018). These include competing interests of stakeholders, and in the case of wildlife conservation and endangered species protection, being embedded within complex ecosystems and entangled social, political and economic trade networks. There are many ways in which conservationists have attempted to solve wicked problems, including collaborating with social scientists and local stakeholders. However, increasingly more innovative theoretical and methodological approaches are required to achieve lasting success. This panel welcomes contributions from researchers and other stakeholders outlining proposals for theoretically and/or methodologically novel solitions or collaborations.
References cited:
DeFries, R. and Nagendra, H., 2017. Ecosystem management as a wicked problem. Science, 356(6335), pp.265-270.
Haubold, E.M., 2012. Using adaptive leadership principles in collaborative conservation with stakeholders to tackle a wicked problem: Imperiled species management in Florida. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 17(5), pp.344-356.
Game, E.T., Meijaard, E., Sheil, D. and McDonald‐Madden, E., 2014. Conservation in a wicked complex world; challenges and solutions. Conservation Letters, 7(3), pp.271-277.
Mason, T.H., Pollard, C.R., Chimalakonda, D., Guerrero, A.M., Kerr‐Smith, C., Milheiras, S.A., Roberts, M., R. Ngafack, P. and Bunnefeld, N., 2018. Wicked conflict: Using wicked problem thinking for holistic management of conservation conflict. Conservation letters, 11(6), p.e12460.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 29 October, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
The conservation of elephants (especially when driven by those from non-range countries) is made more complex in cultures where ‘owning’ individuals is widely accepted. How can a wide variety of stakeholders find common ground upon which to build conservation plans amidst shifting social pressures?
Paper long abstract:
Endangered Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) find themselves at the centre of debates involving land use, human-wildlife conflict, and environmental justice (Kopnina, 2016; West et al., 2006). In range states such as Nepal, ‘owning’ individuals for use in tourism, worship, or co-work is common practice (see Locke, 2016). Human perspectives on the ethics of using animals for tourism are changing, even in areas heavily reliant on the tourism industry for survival (Newsome and Hughes, 2016). These debates become inflamed when non-residents take on adversarial positions despite an acceptance of the ‘ownership’ or ‘use’ of endangered individuals among local communities. Novel approaches are needed if there is any hope of establishing a common ground upon which to build relationships which may benefit community members, international interests and endangered individuals.
Kopnina, H. (2016) Wild Animals and Justice: The Case of the Dead Elephant in the Room. Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy. 19(3):219-235.
Locke, P. (2016) Animals, Persons, Gods: Negotiating Ambivalent Relationships with Captive Elephants in Chitwan, Nepal. In Conflict, Negotiation, and Coexistence: Rethinking Human-Elephant Relations in South Asia. Oxford University Press.
Newsome, D. and Hughes, M. (2016) Understanding the impacts of ecotourism on biodiversity: a multiscale, cumulative issue influenced by perceptions and politics. D. Geneletti (ed.). Handbook on biodiversity and ecosystem services in impact assessment (276-298). Cheltenham. Edward Elgar Publishing.
West, P., Igoe, J. and Brockington, D. (2006). Parks and peoples: the social impact of protected areas. Annual Review of Anthropology. 35:251-277.
Paper short abstract:
Under Western emphasis on non-contradiction and purposive rationality (Bateson 1987:156), the realities of environmental care can be difficult to hold. Attending to practices of culling-for-conservation in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this paper examines the promise and challenge of holding contradictions
Paper long abstract:
While public conservation discourse in Aotearoa/New Zealand tends to frame animals in dichotomies of good and bad, allowing for some species to be seen as ‘killable’ (Lidström et al. 2015, Haraway 2008), this paper follows the practices of conservationists in Aotearoa/New Zealand who privately hold care for the lives and suffering of ‘pest’ animals, even as they continue to work towards a vision of a country free of them. This stance holds much in common with that which Parker Palmer refers to as “standing in the tragic gap” (2005), in which one remains responsive to the present even while continuing to work towards one’s hopes. Arguing for the possibilities of kindness and creative attentiveness that can arise through the refusal to prematurely resolve contradictions, this paper attends to practices of holding such tensions amid the pressures of mainstream scientific emphasis on non-contradiction (Zanetti 2003: 261) and purposive rationality (Bateson 1987:156). This paper also considers the affective and cognitive skills and strategies needed for holding apparent contradiction in our contemporary world.
References
Bateson, Gregory. 1987. Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
Haraway, Donna. 2008. When Species Meet Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lidström, S. et al (2015). Invasive Narratives and the Inverse of Slow Violence: Alien Species in Science and Society. Environmental Humanities, 7, 1-40.
Palmer, Parker. 2005. "The Politics of the Brokenhearted: On Holding the Tensions of Democracy." In Reflections on the Inner Life and Spirit of Democracy, 231–257.
Zanetti, Lisa. (2003). Holding Contradictions. Administrative Theory & Praxis. 25. 261-276.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will summarise the main obstacles surrounding the detection, prosecution and prevention of badger crime in England and Wales and report on the progress of a partnership between academics and NGOs to develop a badger crime reporting app.
Paper long abstract:
Badgers (Meles meles) are regarded as "one of the most demonised protected species" (Wildlife and Countryside Link 2018:5) in the UK. Despite their protection via the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, NGOs have noticed a marked increase in reports of illegal badger persecution in recent years, particularly through sett interference (Gosling 2017). The wildlife crime Conservation Advisory Group, composed of statutory conservation agencies and NGOs, finds that there is an enhanced conservation risk to the species from illegal persecution, which has resulted in badger crime being made a national wildlife crime policing priority (NWCU 2019). However, the likelihood of detection, apprehension and prosecution of perpetrators remains very low (Groling 2020). This paper will discuss the main obstacles surrounding the detection, prosecution and prevention of badger crime from the perspectives of those on the frontline of wildlife crime policing. These obstacles include resourcing, the role of perishable evidence, issues relating to the reporting and recording of crime data, and access to relevant expertise. There is a particular need for a more informed and streamlined process for crime reporting, and the paper will report on the progress of Project Badger, an ESRC-funded partnership between anthrozoologists at the University of Exeter, the Badger Trust and other stakeholders to develop a mobile crime reporting and evidence-gathering app which facilitates the three Rs of Recognise, Record and Report.