Advancing Conservation in a Social Context: Project Summary

The Advancing Conservation in a Social Context (ACSC) research initiative has been created to investigate the complex trade-offs that exist between human well-being and biodiversity conservation goals in specific places, and between conservation and other economic, political, and social agendas at local, national, and international scales.  This initiative, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is designed as a five-year effort.  In order to reach its overall goal of improving the ability of key actors to identify, analyze, and negotiate future conservation and development trade-offs, the ACSC initiative will take place in two phases.

During the three-year first phase (the research phase), the ACSC initiative will undertake a program of research to generate knowledge about how trade-offs occur and can be resolved.  To allow depth and rigor of analysis that is not possible at a global scale research will focus on three case study countries – Vietnam, Tanzania, and Peru – and will be coordinated by national institutions in those countries.  Systematic national analysis will be complemented by a broader survey of academic and practitioner understanding of trade-offs and various mechanisms and norms that have been developed within and outside of the conservation arena.

A “Blue Ribbon Panel” will report on the phase one research findings and increase recognition of the importance of trade-offs in global policy discussions.  It will also promote understanding and potential solutions to current challenges facing conservation and development initiatives.  The Blue Ribbon Panel report (Hard Choices: Trade-off Science in Conservation and Development) will represent the “state of science” on this topic.

The two-year second phase of the ACSC research initiative (the diffusion phase) seeks to encourage key actors to implement and refine new ways of approaching the balance between the conservation of biological diversity and social objectives—in effect, to encourage a change in the state of the art.  The initiative will engage a range of institutions and organizations, including multi- and bilateral development agencies and banks, government departments, conservation and development NGOs, community-based organizations, the private sector, academic institutions, and foundations and other donors, in order to accelerate the pace at which research findings are adopted, adapted and implemented by policymakers and practitioners.  This engagement will emphasize learning from experience – both the positive and negative lessons – and working to enhance collective understanding of and ability to address possible trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and human well-being.