This session explored how community-scientist teams around the world are changing the process of science by working closely together on conservation and livelihoods issues. We call this approach ‘transformative science with society’. This new science brings together participatory action research, citizen science, transdisciplinary science, adaptive ecosystem management and community development to catalyze transformations in social-ecological systems.

This approach and its framework were discribed by presenters, along with why it grew from the practice of working with communities on conservation and livelihoods. The core of this approach, co-production of knowledge, where local and indigenous knowledge holders bring their knowledge together with that of scientists, was discussed to address critical issues in community conservation. Two examples were shared here, one example examined community conservation through sacred sites, and another looked at herder and scientist observations of rangeland health in community-based conservation initiatives across Mongolia.  A final presentation shed light on scientist-manager partnerships to support conservation and ranching livelihoods in the western US.

The session took the format of a ‘fish bowl’, starting with short talks, and ending with an extended discussion session, concluding with thoughts on the next steps forward for this democratized science approach in support of community-based conservation.

Key Themes:

Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Livelihoods, Governance, Rights & Conflict, Engagement, Education & Empowerment

Presenters:

Robin Reid (Colorado State University)

Maria Fernandez-Gimenez (Colorado State University)

Corrie Knapp (Western State Colorado University)

Fikret Berkes (University of Manitoba)

Chantsallkham Jamsranjav (Colorado State University)

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) offers a valuable yet under-utilized approach for climate change adaptation and mitigation, complementing traditional actions such as infrastructure development. EbA uses biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall strategy to help communities adapt to climate change at local, national, regional or global levels. As part of nature-based solutions, appropriately designed EbA initiatives can also contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing emissions from ecosystem loss and degradation, and enhancing carbon sequestration. Since historical times, human communities have had to adapt to changing climate and several of them have maintained their own practices over centuries. Many cultures across the world have already enhanced their adaptive capacities to respond to climate change challenges using their own traditional knowledge and cultural practices.

It is time to examine what we have learned from various cultures and reevaluate the principles of ecosystem-based adaptation based on such experiences. For example, the importance of the roles of the community and their level of governance has been underlined as essential for effective EbA. The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss the principles through presentations of a few projects with the aim of gaining insight through discussion with conference attendees, which helped to further inform ecosystem-based climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Key Themes:

Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Wildlife & Fisheries, Climate & Environmental Changes

Presenters:

Liette Vasseur (Brock University)

Darwin Horning (University of Northern British Columbia)

Pam McElwee (Rutgers University)

Presented Material:

An intergenerational panel (consisting of a member from the Statutory Māori Advisory Committee, the Manahautū (General Manager Māori) and a Youth member of the Māori Policy and Operations Unit at the Environmental Protection Authority) discussed the influence of Māori (the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa, New Zealand) on the policies and practices of the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority, a Crown agent, in its decision-making. In particular, the panel highlights how incorporating Māori perspectives, Mātauranga Māori (Māori traditional knowledge) and the direct involvement of Māori through a statutory Māori Advisory Committee, Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao, has managed to affect policy, practice and standards of evidence in a mutually beneficial way.

The journey has not been an easy one and has taken over 20 years through changing political and Māori priorities, but it has nevertheless managed to continue to move forward and evolve.

This session was an opportunity for learning and an exchange of experiences and knowledge, to build partnerships and to help shape the future of how government organisations meaningfully engage with indigenous peoples.

Key Themes:

Indigenous Issues, Governance, Rights & Conflict, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Climate & Environmental Changes

Presenters:

Doug Jones (Te Mana Rauhī Taiao – Environmental Protection Authority)

Te Taiawatea Moko-Mead (Te Mana Rauhī Taiao – Environmental Protection Authority)

Presented Material:

This workshop centered around the fact that fish conservation and resource sustainability are at a crossroads in the current century, and that it is therefore necessary to engage broad societal participation. The session engaged with academia, fishers, NGOs, governmental agencies and others, as Fishers’ Ecological Knowledge (FEK) application is universal to different social sectors. From this basis, the workshop developed a cross-sectoral network of experts who can identify FEK related goals for the next IUCN strategy cycle and work together to build public and political awareness for these goals and to achieve them. Thus, the workshop promoted interactive participation and therefore represents an important opportunity to integrate experiences and knowledge from the marine and freshwater sectors and from a range of different partners.

The goal of this workshop was to:

a) contribute to promoting and consolidating international experiences that show successful examples on FEK application benefits for fish and fisheries conservation;

b) inspire people to follow successful examples where FEK has benefited fish resources conservation and management;

c) consider FEK as a challenge and an opportunity for contributing to developing better conservation practices; and

d) help embed FEK in fisheries conservation and resources management by initiating the development of “how to” guidelines and film.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Climate & Environmental Changes, Wildlife & Fisheries

Presenters:

Winston Cowie (Environment Agency Abu Dhabi)

Mohsin Al Ameri (Assistant Scientist, Fisheries. Environment Agency Abu Dhabi)

Shaelene Kamakaʻala (Community Based Fisheries Area Coordinator, Hawaii)

Christiana Louwa (El Molo Forum)

Kevin Chang (Executive Director, Kua’āina Ulu ‘Auamo, Hawaii)

Video & Presentations:

This session focused on the varying dimensions of vulnerabilities of resources dependent local communities in the landscapes harboring iconic species such as the tiger. The human dominated landscapes of South Asia are also the home to rich biodiversity. The state in such areas has taken up the initiative to conserve this biodiversity through the declaration of Protected Areas and Tiger reserves, wherein human activity is often severely restricted.

While conservation of such areas has a multitude of benefits for the larger community in terms of the ecosystem services provided, and cultural and aesthetic values, it can potentially pose a challenge for meeting day-to-day requirements of local people who live in their immediate borderlands. Management solutions for addressing the resultant conflict are often inadequate and misdirected as often they lack the experience and the skills to address these issues. The lack of collaboration among development agencies and lack of livelihood opportunities in the larger landscape compound the problems and result in increased social, economic and ecological vulnerabilities of local people. The situation is further complicated by human Tiger conflicts, issues of access and benefit sharing (where permissible), lack of awareness and direct involvement of local communities in the conservation and an imbalance in sharing the benefits of tiger tourism, resulting in a lose-lose situation for both the local people and conservation efforts.

There are several examples across the region that have successfully been able to link conservation efforts and local livelihoods at the Protected Area level, by encouraging local community support for activities that support the park’s conservation objectives. Such models need to be up-scaled and replicated through exchange of experiences and ideas and policy reforms and institutionalization.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Wildlife & Fisheries, Indigenous Issues, Conserved Areas

Authors:

Ruchi Badola (Wildlife Institute of India)

Syed Ainul Hussain (Wildlife Institute of India)

Pariva Dobriyal (Wildlife Institute of India)

Nand Kishore Agarwal (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu)

Archi Rastogi (CBD)

Lawaiʻa pono means to fish righteously, in ways that honor the time-tested values and sustainable practices of our kūpuna (ancestors).  Mālama ʻāina (to care for that which feeds; biocultural resources) is a challenge shared by island nations and indigenous and local communities worldwide. Traditional natural resource management practices in Hawai’i drew upon the place-based knowledge, observations, and experiences of community members and local experts known as “konohiki.” Hawaiians once used these konohiki systems and traditions to ensure an abundance of resources from the mountains to the sea.

Through short film presentations and discussions, this session touched on some of the experiences of communities from around Hawaiʻi who work with state and federal government, conservation partners, researchers and landowners, to implement community-based management solutions for their places.  Presenters shared insight about the role of Community-Based biocultural management in Hawaiʻi in the nearshore environment and the place-based fishing practices and stewardship efforts they have implemented to pass on traditional fishing knowledge and values to perpetuate the practice of “lawaiʻa pono.”  Representatives shared how the collective efforts of grassroots communities empowers community conservation, enhances community health and well-being, and ensures a future of healthy abundant resources for generations to come.

Key Themes:

Indigenous Issues, Livelihoods, Governance, Rights & Conflict, Climate & Environmental Changes

Films presented:

THE HOAʻĀINA OF HĀʻENA – In 2015, a group of lineal families on the north coast of Kauaʻi successfully worked with the State of Hawaiʻi to establish Hawaiʻi’s first Community-based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA). This short film tells the inspirational story of a rural Hawaiian community’s journey to perpetuate the traditional and customary practices of their ancestors and the collective effort it took to make it happen.

HANAI KO’A: CULTURE KEEPERS – A short produce by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the ʻōpelu fishing families of Hoʻokena, Hawaiʻi.

Presenters:

Kevin Chang (Kua ʻĀina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA))

Mehana Vaughan (University of Hawaiʻi)

Shaelene Kamaka’ala (State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources Community-based Fisheries Planner; Kahana Kilo Kai; E Alu Pu Council (O’ahu Island))

Charles Young (Kama’aina United to Protect the ‘Aina (KUPA); Kai Kuleana Network, West Hawai’i Fisheries Council; E Alu Pu Council (Hawai’i Island))

Solomon Kaho’ohalahala (Maunalei Ahupuaʻa Community Mauka-Makai Managed Area (Maunalei Ahupuaʻa CMMMA), E Alu Pu Council (Lana’i island))

UNESCO Biospheres, such as the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Reserve Association (BLBRA – June 29, 2011), promote the growth of environmentally sustainable businesses along with encouraging all people, including industry, with nature to work better together.

In the 1990s an economic benefit was seen to develop gypsum mines within the Bras d’Or Lake watershed but environmental impacts were also recognised. Joe Googoo of We’kokma’q (meaning the end of the bay) started as a full time fisherman at the age of 18 with two licences. He loved oysters but most have been killed off by the MSX parasite that may have been brought in via ballast discharge. Some of his living oysters were overwintered, frozen in shallow salt waters. These seemed to be fighting off the parasite. He fought back using native traditions. Now it is up to the other cultures to determine why he was successful.

Key Themes:

Places & Spaces, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Livelihoods, Fisheries & Wildlife

Presenters:

Eliot Frosst (BLBRA)

Stan Johnson (CEPI appointi – Eskasoni First Nations Gape Breton)

Small businesses can benefit from using the concept of environmentally sustainable promotion. Examples of this include, Jeremy White of the local craft beer brand, ‘Big Spruce Brewing’ who started to make beer from organically grown hops on the shores of Big Bras d’Or. That which started out as a small ‘fun business venture’ has become a year round operation employing many locals. His craft beer is now sold in the Nova Scotia Liquor stores and at local Farmers Markets. The brewery is open for regular sales of his beer and other social gatherings. His knowledge has been used by many other local sustainable breweries in Cape Breton and Mainland Nova Scotia such as the Tatamgouche Brewery. Eskasoni has started several ecotourism businesses such as guided walks on Goat Island Trail. This with the Iona Highland Village tour fits into the ‘two-eyed seeing’ model. Greg Silver’s sailing operation shows tourists the importance of development in an environmentally friendly way. Ben Eoin Ski Hill overlooks the lake and has developed an ‘Outdoor Classroom’ in collaboration with the BLBRA. This venture as well as with a large citizen science initiative called the ‘Bras d’Or Watch’, are designed to engage and educate residents and visitors about the valuable and charismatic ecosystem of the Bras d’Or Lake biosphere.

The Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere promotes environmentally sustainable development and the ‘two-eyed seeing’ concept in their guiding principles.

Successful biodiversity conservation is a complex endeavor, hinging on women and men sustainably managing lands and natural resources. For 30 years, Conservation International (CI) has delivered successful conservation outcomes by empowering rural Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to responsibly and sustainably care for nature. Through partner communities, work is done with men and women at all scales to strengthen their voices to advocate for conservation and the myriad benefits for humanity. CI and partners aims to foster effective, locally-led governance of biodiversity and equitable access to and sharing of nature’s benefits.

At the community level, conflict is a significant threat to men, women and children who rely on natural resources for their very survival. Environmental degradation has been directly used as a weapon of war, ecosystems have been physically destroyed or polluted, natural assets have been liquidated by local and displaced populations attempting to survive socio-economic disruption, and environmental management, oversight and enforcement structures have collapsed. These impacts from conflict pose significant risks to the communities’ health, livelihoods and security.

This workshop for community leaders and members contributed to the development of skills in conflict analysis and consensus-building. It’s aim was to increase awareness of multiple dimensions of conflict in natural resource management, and help community members build basic skills in mapping root causes of conflict through case study exercises focused on forest communities in Bolivia and Peru. The workshop included an overview presentation on existing approaches to environmental peacebuilding initiatives for communities, followed by a skills building session on conflict analysis.

Key Themes:

Governance, Rights, & Conflict, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Climate & Environmental Changes

Presented Material:

Presenters:

Janet Edmond (Conservation International), Lydia Cardona (Conservation International)

Despite the rapid growth of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) interventions and studies examining these interventions, a limited evidence base describes what works, what doesn’t, and why. Mirroring the evidence base across the broader conservation sector (Bowler et al. 2010; McKinnon et al. 2016), most CBNRM studies are narrowly focused on single cases or single outcomes. As a result, decision makers continue to find themselves “shooting in the dark,” not knowing if their choices will benefit people, nature, both, or neither (Agarwal and Redford 2006).

The Alliance for Conservation and Evidence and Sustainability (ACES) is a newly formed coalition of NGOs and universities that seeks to both generate and synthesize evidence to support CBNRM implementation, and foster evidence-based decision making in conservation practice. The Alliance partners have developed a shared conceptual framework and key learning questions designed to advance the evidence base on the emergence, outcomes and spread of CBNRM, enabling learning to be shared across organizations and the broader conservation community.

The use of knowledge and evidence in CBNRM decision-making is fundamental to the Alliance. As decision-making processes are often political and context specific, there is no single practice or method that is known to effectively foster evidence-based decisions. This knowledge café sought to unpack this challenge and explore broadly questions around evidence-based decision making in community-based conservation, through harnessing insights from the diverse participants at the Communities, Conservation & Livelihoods conference, and bring in diverse perspectives to explore questions such as:

• What are the different decision-making forums where knowledge inform decisions in community-based conservation?
• What are the barriers to evidence-based decision making for conservation and what are ways they can be overcome?
• What are ways to bring together different types of knowledge for decision making?
• What are some of the biggest unanswered questions or knowledge gaps in community-based conservation?

– Shauna Mahajan (WWF), Louise Glew (WWF), Michael Painter (Wildlife Conservation Society) (May 2018)

Key Themes: 

Governance, Rights & Conflict, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Livelihoods, Wildlife & Fisheries

Something special happened in Canada in 2015; the parks community, representing 200 thought-leaders and decision makers from all coasts and geo-political regions throughout the country, met to determine shared goals and priority actions resulting in distinct practices and individual responsibilities. Invited by the Canadian Parks Council (CPC) and the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA), governments and leaders from municipal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous perspectives, joined forces with academics, youth, non-government organizations, and industry to see, learn, speak and hear how we interact with each other, with species, and with the land.  What surfaced, through honest dialogue and a view to share and conserve the powerful benefits of Nature, was a united commitment to establish connected Canadian park lands and waters that support healthy Nature and healthy people.

As a unique national response to the IUCN’s #NatureForAll global movement, Parks for All: An Action Plan for Canada’s Parks Community, published in 2018, has helped to support a “new normal” for conservation action in Canada. Grounded in four strategic priorities — collaborate, connect, conserve and lead — the action plan identifies specific actions individuals and organizations can undertake to better our collective future where communities thrive without depleting the environment.

This represents a significant paradigm shift articulated in Parks for All, and will reinforce, by example, a very specific Canadian initiative that has put the paradigm shift into practice.  The Pathway to Canada Target 1 is the process through which Canada is working to achieve the terrestrial goal associated with Aichi Target 11 — a commitment to protect at least 17% of Canada’s land and inland waters.  Experts representing local perspectives and national interests involved in Parks for All and the Pathway to Canada Target 1 shared insight into the following questions: 1) what are the principles associated with the paradigm shift; 2) what conditions in Canada enabled an openness to work differently across governments and sectors for better conservation outcomes; and, 3) how can the Canadian model of unrepressed collaboration be extended to other community development initiatives that aim to sustain livelihoods, conserve local environments, while loving Nature.

Key Themes:

Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Climate and Environmental Changes, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Governance, Rights & Conflict

Presenters:

Dawn Carr (Canadian Parks Council), Scott Jones (Government of Alberta)