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Paper short abstract:

Reflexivity can help conservationists explore their own decisions on wicked problems. But is conservation becoming more self-aware? We offer examples of how proactive reflexivity is being done in conservation practice and science already. We also describe barriers, risks, and enabling conditions.

Paper long abstract:

Conservationists have been challenged to move beyond describing threats to nature to offering solutions. However, attempts at solutions often have complex costs, unintended consequences, and trade-offs with other social objectives, amounting to wicked problems that force conservationists to make subjective judgements on what is best. Our paper attends to the factors that influence those subjective judgements. We discuss how conservationists can themselves explore what they think and why, how they choose approaches to better contribute towards conservation and societal goals, or how they might re-evaluate those goals altogether.

Reflexivity – reflection within a specific context that leads to changes in perspectives and practices – may play a valuable role in guiding such efforts in conservation science and practice. Reflexivity can take diverse forms and occurs in many different spaces in conservation. For example, it can range from a researcher asking how their background, emotions, and training shape their methods, to how values held within the conservation community influence global conservation strategy. Is conservation becoming more self-aware? We offer several case examples illustrating how proactive reflexivity is being done in conservation practice and science already. We also describe associated barriers, risks, and enabling conditions.

Our paper draws on discussions and evidence generated during the 2020/21 Interdisciplinary Conservation Network (ICN) workshop series, organised by Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, which involved early-career conservation practitioners and scientists from all over the world.

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Paper short abstract:

The Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) is an allegedly extinct marsupial carnivore native to Australia, but, controversially, sightings continue. The energy of ‘believers’ could be harnessed to support biodiversity conservation and habitat protection, rather than dismissing their worldview as unscientific.

Paper long abstract:

The Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus) was or is a marsupial carnivore native to Australia. The last scientifically authenticated individual died in the Hobart zoo (Tasmania) in 1936, but sightings continue throughout Australia. There is ongoing debate between those who do and do not believe that the species is extinct, but from a conservation perspective the argument can be seen as academic: both world views in fact support identical conservation aims. In the face of our current global extinction crisis, the Thylacine, dead or alive, is a conservation icon that furthers at least two valid approaches to conservation.

Firstly, the very possibility of live Thylacines still existing in the wild provides a strong argument for habitat conservation that would protect biodiversity regardless of the Thylacine; we cannot afford to take the risk of not acting. Secondly, to many people, the Thylacine is as real as is Father Christmas or as is the Devil to many of us. The energy of these people should be harnessed to support habitat and biodiversity conservation initiatives, rather than alienating them as unscientific. In the words of one informant, “[We need to] prove its existence once and for all because otherwise the habitat that it relies upon will be gone”. Most conservation programmes globally depend on collaboration between scientifically trained conservation biologists and local (often Indigenous) communities with different belief systems.

Rather than debating the veracity of particular worldviews, the aims of biodiversity conservation and habitat protection are better served by more inclusive, cross-cultural approaches.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper describes the development and outcomes of a project concerned with creating novel ways of raising awareness of the plight of threatened Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and catalysing perceptual and behavioural changes in consumers of rhino horn products.

Paper long abstract:

South Africa’s populations of near threatened Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and critically endangered Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) have declined so dramatically as a result of poaching, that in 2012 the South African government declared a state of crisis. The conservation orientated project which will be presented in this session was funded by the National Geographic funding call, ‘Making the case for nature’. This specific call is aimed at overcoming the obstacles hampering communication of science that inspires public action, and supports projects which utilise the visual arts in creative and innovative ways to more effectively overcome apathy towards endangered species conservation. The resulting project 'Perceptions of Rhino Poaching' was primarily concerned with creating novel ways of raising awareness of the rhino poaching crisis in South Africa, and catalysing perceptual and behavioural change in consumers or potential consumers of rhino horn products. Environmental Humanities scholar Thom van Dooren's (2014) concept ‘storied mourning’ provided the theoretical underpinning for a film which was created as both a research artefact and a tool of scholarly activism. The film depicts aspects of the lives and deaths of individuals directly impacted by rhino poaching in ways which we hoped could encourage viewers to care about rhinos and as a result, lead to their eschewal of rhino horn products. In the session we will screen part of the film before discussing the responses of the different audiences (including consumers of rhino horn products) who have participated in pre- and post-screening surveys and interviews.