Dear Colleagues,

While there has been a plethora of high-profile global initiatives aimed at biodiversity conservation, a recurring conclusion is that conservation is essentially operationalised best at the local scale. This Special Issue aims to contribute to conservation impact by featuring case studies of localised conservation initiatives. It will showcase “what works (or does not work) in conservation and why” and thereby, provide a resource of ideas for those working at the frontlines. It will also direct the attention of the academic community to research topics that can create more effective and, therefore, sustainable efforts in the future.

This Special Issue focusses on the human dimensions of conservation, spotlighting case studies of localised initiatives which have substantially integrated human well-being outcomes within their design. This means they address social phenomena, (e.g., governance, politics, culture, demographics, socioeconomics), social processes (e.g., social organization, decision-making and local development) or individual attributes (e.g., values, beliefs, knowledge, motivations) (Bennett et al. 2017). These aspects of sustainable governance are integral to informing “transformative change” agendas which are necessary to ensure sustainable nature–society relationships in the future.

The published case studies should have substantial and rigorous application of knowledge, theory and methodologies from classic social science disciplines, applied social science disciplines or the arts and humanities (Bennett et al. 2017) and have an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary design (Pooley et al. 2014). The case study approach usually includes a rich description of the ethnographic context. We ask that contributions supplement this with a critical analysis of empirical observations, conceptual frameworks and methodologies applied. This is a base which lends to a minimum level of generalisability and insight to practitioners on the usefulness and appropriateness of the study in other contexts.

Noting long-standing observations on the deficiency of peer-reviewed studies in the literature from periphery countries and the importance of sharing experiences to create more efficient conservation in the field, we would like to address this inequality in the geographic representativeness of published works. Therefore, we particularly welcome case studies on biodiversity hotspots and conservation priority areas such as the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Neotropical (Di Marco et al. 2017) and Mediterranean regions, which are identified as understudied in the literature.

Some topics for consideration include:

• Management of political risks and uncertainty
• Justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (e.g., integrating use of multiple knowledge systems, engagement with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities)
• Using sustainable development agendas as vehicles for conservation (e.g., localisation of and managing trade-offs in the UN Sustainable Development Goals)
• Reflections on conservation as a social practice and the science of sustainability, e.g., from the fields of science and technology studies (STS), public understanding of science (PUS), political ecology, etc.
• Conceptualisations of sustainable human–nature relationships (e.g., managing human–wildlife conflicts, holistic socio-ecological approaches)

References:

Bennett, N.J. et al. (2017). Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation. Biological Conservation, 205: 93-108. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.10.006

Di Marco, M., Chapman, S., Althor, G., et al. (2017). Changing trends and persisting biases in three decades of conservation science. Global Ecology and Conservation, 10, 32-42. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.gecco.2017.01.008

Pooley, S.P., Mendelsohn, J.A. & Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2014). Hunting down the chimera of multiple disciplinarity in conservation science. Conservation Biology, 28: 22-32. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1111/cobi.12183

Dr. Lisa Ernoul
Guest Editor

Ms. Sabina Jehan Khan
Guest Editor Assistant

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• conservation planning
• conservation social science
• governance
• interdisciplinarity
• socio-ecological systems
• sustainable development
• sustainable management