Co-Learning for a Sustainable Future:

¶ … Co-Learning for a Sustainable Future: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation

Arambiza, E. & Painter, M. (2006). Biodiversity conservation and the quality of life of indigenous people in the Bolivian Chaco. Human Organization, 65(1), 20-22.

The authors cite the need for partnerships between conservation authorities and indigenous people as part of the biodiversity conservation effort. Such partnerships must overcome significant obstacles to make the difficult decisions concerning land allocation that satisfies human production needs while maintaining biological diversity. Such efforts also demand recognition that local peoples have a stake in assuring that land allocation policies as informed and timely rather than as a stumbling block to progress to be addressed through education and law enforcement. Moreover, such informed decisions require an understanding of the local people who are affected by the policy-making process, including their specific views concerning how the land should be used and their interest in becoming partners in the process.

Describe of its potential application to topic: Many conservation efforts have tended to place a higher priority on socioeconomic outcomes rather than the steps that are required to ensure sustainable long-term biodiversity conservation. As a direct consequence, there remains a need to identify a more balanced approach between the needs of local peoples and what is required to construct viable approaches to biodiversity conservation.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: The authors lump community-based conservation and community-based natural resource management together under the umbrella term of integrated conservation and development projects to illustrate how cooperating learning has facilitated biodiversity conservation efforts in the past, but these different approaches may well use different approaches that should be discussed in more detail.

Reaction: By citing several successes as well as failures, the authors provide a valuable and timely contribution to the growing body of research concerning how partnerships between local peoples and conservation authorities, particularly in South America's Gran Chaco region (a region that covers about one million square kilometers in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil) can provide improved biodiversity conservation outcomes.

Beem, B. (2009). Leaders in thinking, Laggards in attention? Bureaucratic engagement in international arenas. Policy Studies Journal, 37(3), 497-499.

Summary of the content: The author reports the results of his study sponsored by the University of Sydney Research and Development Scheme. In sharp contrast to some of the other articles reviewed, this study emphasizes the value of governmental bureaucracies in promoting biodiversity conservation by drawing on expertise and experiences from the international community, but only to the extent that they take the preferences, values and needs of local constituents into account in their policy-making approach. Author also cites the enormous effect of pressure groups that may seek to effect change in their best interests without taking the needs of others into account.

Describe of its potential application to topic: This study provides a comprehensive overview of recent biodiversity initiatives in both marine as well as other settings, including Australian forests. In addition, an analysis of how governmental bureaucracies develop goals and establish priorities is presented, followed by a summary of how the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has successfully developed informed policies over the past 2 decades.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: Although the study presents a useful interpretation of recent research concerning the need for collaborative approaches to biodiversity conservation, the specific focus on the GBRMPA limits its applicability to other settings to some extent. Despite this limitation, it is possible to identify several best practices that have been used by this organization that have wider applicability.

Reaction: Governmental bureaucracies are frequently singled out in the related literature as being "the bad guys" when it comes to biodiversity conservation, but the author provides some eye-opening examples of how it is possible for an informed approach to succeed where others fail. The GBRMPA represents one such success story.

Benjaminsen, T.A., Kepe, T. & Brathen, S. (2008). Between global interests and local needs:

Conservation and land reform in Namaqualand, South Africa. Africa, 78(2), 223-225.

Summary of the content (100 words): The authors are all educators in environmental science who report the results of their study of the creation and expansion of Namaqua National Park in Namaqualand, South Africa, to emphasize the conflicting interests represented by global organizations involved in biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods. In spite of the recent shift in conservation philosophy from the "fortress protection" approach to more community-based conservation initiatives, the authors maintain that in many cases, the predominate approach in reality involves the former when there is a conflict between Western-style biodiversity conservation and the interests of marginalized communities in developing nations.

Describe of its potential application to topic: The authors' use of a case study approach to illustrate the need for community-level partnerships serves as a useful example of what can be achieved when local interests are taken into consideration, as well as how Western-style conservation approaches can still predominate when they are not.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: Although the authors present summaries and illustrative quotations from numerous interviews with government officials, park managers, and business managers, they present similar findings for just a relatively few numbers of interviews with local people and their councils and commonage committees, creating a somewhat lopsided view.

Reaction: The use of recent primary research in developing this study's findings was a valuable addition to the body of biodiversity conservation knowledge. The authors' frank discussion concerning the limitations and failures of global conservation interests to collaborate with local peoples was an important point, and highlights the need for co-learning to take place in order for these initiatives to succeed.

Edmunds, D. & Wollenberg, E. (2001). Historical perspectives on forest policy change in Asia:

an introduction. Environmental History, 6(2), 190-191.

Summary of the content: Authors are researchers at the Center for International Forestry Research who report that it is possible to develop more cost-effective approaches to forest management by transferring responsibility from governmental bureaucracies to those who actually use these natural resources and who have a more vested interest in protecting them and using them in responsible ways. The experiences of most such efforts in the past, though, have been disappointing from the perspective of small-scale users. Although some successes have been achieved as measured by healthier forests and increased access to small-scale users, most improvements in forest management have been at their expense.

Describe of its potential application to topic: Because governmental agencies and their administrators will likely have their own self-interest at stake, developing improved biodiversity conservation efforts requires a social learning approach that more actively involves all stakeholders to facilitate the sharing of expertise, empirical observations, local values, and social beliefs that exist among different groups.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: Although implementing a social learning network represents an important first step, the authors also emphasize that it is insufficient to ensure that policy making is learning-oriented. In fact, such efforts in countries such as China have been met with severe resistance to change based on longstanding policy-making arrangements among government officials.

Reaction: This study drove home the point that although social learning networks sound good, there is more involved in making them work than simply providing a forum for affected stakeholders to voice their views. The process may require a great deal of time, as well as some mistakes and setbacks, but nothing short of developing a learning-oriented approach to policy-making to biodiversity conservation will succeed in the long-term.

Meredith, T.C. (1997, Fall). Making knowledge powerful: Mexican village project uses environmental information technologies to strengthen community voices in biodiversity conservation. Alternatives Journal, 23(4), 28-29.

Summary of the content: The author is a professor of environmental geography at McGill University and coordinator of the Consortium for Community-Based Biodiversity Conservation who provides his analysis concerning how a village-based project in rural Mexico has forged partnerships between local people and conservation authorities. The project is based on three guiding principles: (a) that sharing of environmental information is essential to equitable (and therefore sustainable) environmental management; (b) that various characteristics of biodiversity resources make this sharing particularly important; and (c) that local perception and interpretation of environmental information are necessary components of informed conservation management practices.

Describe of its potential application to topic: The need to combine scientific as well as local information through partnerships in order to develop effective biodiversity conservation initiatives makes this case study of the Mexican village-based project particularly useful for understanding how the process can succeed and presents several best practices that are widely applicable.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: The author's description of some of the technological approaches that were used in the Mexican village-based conservation project are somewhat dated, and a wide range of innovations in more recent years have provided additional opportunities to create partnerships that can draw on additional information resources.

Reaction: Despite the limitation noted above, the approach described by the author provides a useful example of what can be achieved through the provision of even a minimum amount of information resources, particularly in rural regions where the digital "have-nots" may lack any information access at all.

Rutagarama, E. & Martin, a. (2006). Partnerships for protected area conservation in Rwanda.

The Geographical Journal, 172(4), 291-293.

Summary of the content: The authors work at the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, African Wildlife Foundation and School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, respectively, who emphasize the importance of developing networks of partnerships in developing countries that include national, regional and local government agencies as well communities, NGOs and the private sector to promote sustainable biodiversity conservation initiatives. Such partnerships can avoid the tendency to adopt extreme positions with respect to sustainable uses of natural resources such as the "fortress conservation" approach that discourages resource used by human populations on the one hand and the reckless use of natural resources with little regard for future sustainability on the other.

Describe of its potential application to topic: Many of the most valuable biodiverse environments are situated in developing nations, making this type of analysis a timely and valuable contribution to the investigation of sustainable practices and how social learning networks can be used to facilitate the process. This study also provides a useful overview of what types of constraints are typically involved in developing biodiversity conservation efforts.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: Although the authors present a general overview concerning how social learning networks can be used to promote biodiversity conservation, their analysis is largely restricted to the unique circumstances that are currently faced by Rwanda, including the specific governmental agencies, NGOs and others who are involved, making larger generalizations difficult.

Reaction: This study helped me better understand the importance of biodiversity conservation for developing countries that are faced with making some difficult choices concerning the exploitation of their natural resources with little regard for the future and ensuring that sustainable practices are implemented today. This study also highlighted the fierce competition that exists at all levels for scarce resources.

Majeres, J. (2002, December). The politics of biodiversity. World and I, 17(12), 54.

Summary of the content: The author is a fellow in environmental studies at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco who reports the creation of a number of community-level partnerships in recent years between private conservation groups and local peoples to promote biodiversity conservation at the international level. The author stresses the need for more of these types of community-level partnerships, particularly during periods of economic downturn when governments may lack of funds needed to support such conservation initiatives. In addition, the author recommends more cataloging of unknown species, particularly in tropical regions where the biodiversity is greatest, to help determine where priorities should be placed.

Describe of its potential application to topic: In order to develop better methods of assessing and monitoring biodiversity, there is a need to learn from the people who actually live in and around these regions. This community-level partnership approach is also highly cost-effective, an especially important consideration when economic resources are scarce.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: To some degree, the author adopts a "Chicken Little" perspective and even becomes downright alarmist at certain points concerning the need for more action today to prevent further degradations of the environment. Notwithstanding this limitation, though (which could in fact be warranted), the views presented were otherwise balanced.

Reaction: The author's point that in order to improve something, it must first be measured is consistent with modern business axioms and reflects the need for developing partnerships between local peoples and conservation organizations that can learn from each other so that more effective approaches to biodiversity conservation can be achieved.

Roussel, B. & Verdeaux, F. (2007). Natural patrimony and local communities in Ethiopia:

Advantages and limitations of a system of geographical indications. Africa, 77(1), 130-

Summary of the content: The authors are educators and conservation researchers who emphasize the need to incorporate local expertise in the biodiversity conservation policy-making process through the forging of partnerships. Citing the need for labels for products and protections system derived from the exploitation of biodiverse regions through the use of geographic indications, the authors also point out that notwithstanding its potential, such approaches are not without their limitations and constraints. Because Ethiopia was in the process of implementing such an approach at the time of writing, the authors suggest that their experiences provide useful insights into what problems can be expected by others.

Describe of its potential application to topic: A wide range of agricultural, food and craft products that are derived from biodiverse regions have been assigned geographical names over the centuries such as Ceylon tea and Cuban cigars as a way to inform buyers concerning their source and quality. These same assignments are increasingly being viewed as tools that can be used to promote sustainable biodiversity conservation efforts that take local cultural heritage factors into account.

Identify any limitations that it may have for the topic: Although geographical indication schemes can extract greater value from local knowledge and biodiversity, the authors concede that the approach was not originally designed for biodiversity conservation efforts and it has its limits. The authors also employ a somewhat abstruse writing style that requires several readings to fully understanding their main points.

Reaction: This was a useful study because it presented a unique perspective concerning how centuries'-old marketing methods can help generate funds that can be used to support biodiversity conservation efforts in the 21st century. Despite the limitations and problems associated with the geographical identification, further innovations in supporting technology and refinements of methods will likely make this a highly useful technique in the future.

Wadley, R.L. (2003). Ethics of access, boundary keeping and forest resource management in Indonesian Borneo: Potential tools for conservation work among mobile peoples.