We’ll be looking at how conservation is an interdisciplinary field, and not just about the ecology that underpins our understanding of biodiversity. Conservation inherently involves different dynamics and we need to understand the processes that underpin the ecology of a species. We need to understand more about its behaviour and physiology and how it interacts with other organisms and the environment around it. And once we understand this, we can start to look at the pressures that are affecting it, the threats to this species and what the drivers are. And then we can start to look for solutions.
It is the understanding of these problems and the development of solutions that requires expertise and knowledge from other disciplines. When we talk about conservation being interdisciplinary, we’re talking about the involvement and collaboration with experts from other fields. They can give new insights into conservation problems and help us to come up with novel solutions. In the past, research into the ecology of a species was seen as the key way of saving animals from extinction but today, we realise that a far broader understanding is required . Here are a few examples of how other disciplines and expertise are helping us to solve conservation problems: Human psychology is the science of the mind – it is the study of thought and behaviour. Through studying people’s emotions, perceptions and memories, we can better understand the choices they make and the value they place on different aspects of the world around them. If we can understand why someone does what they do, why they behave in a certain way, we can start to address these drivers and perhaps influence behaviour change.
Sociology is the study of how societies are organised and how we experience life – it looks at the structure of different human societies, and how they function. Amongst other things, it helps us to better understand social class, religion, law and people’s place within society. All this understanding is crucial to conservation practice. If we take a sociological approach, we can begin to understand people’s changing relationship with nature, the social norms and pressures because environmental problems are fundamentally social problems. They are the result of human social behavior; they impact on humans as well as other species and finding a solution to these problems requires societal effort. We all need to work together and make united choices. Likewise, the decisions made by conservationists often affect humans just as much as they do the animals they are trying to protect. When protected areas are established and conservation policies implemented, there can be far-reaching consequences for the local people involved. Their access to resources and livelihoods can be undermined and if conservationists don’t work with these local people, don’t consult with them or try to find alternative livelihoods, then the whole conservation effort can be put at risk. Not just ecology Conservation in the field also involves law and politics and these factors can become increasingly important if you are dealing with people and large scale problems that cross borders, covering different legislation and governance. Different countries have different laws and certain governments can be vulnerable to corruption and there can be other demands upon politicians’ time and interests. An understanding of economics is also an important dynamic of conservation. We are often told money makes the world go round and this is no less the case in conservation. Many human behaviours which affect biodiversity are driven by pressures such as poverty or overconsumption. Understanding economic processes on a local and global scale, can aid conservationists in creating alternative livelihoods for hunters or help them to engage with global corporations to improve the sustainability of products in their supply chain. With growing economic pressures on all aspects of life, understanding the value we put on nature is an increasingly important consideration as we saw in the last module. Understanding how economic, social and legal forces affect human behaviour is vital when considering conservation. You can’t just focus on the economic value of wildlife, you can’t just work with politicians and you can’t go into a situation with no understanding of the social structure of the local community involved: you need to understand all these aspects, all of these dynamics. The natural sciences alone are not enough; they must be integrated with the social sciences in order to achieve long-term conservation success.
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