- On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we look at the latest edition of the “What Works In Conservation” report, recently released by the Conservation Evidence Group at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
- We welcome to the program Andrew Bladon, a research associate with the Conservation Evidence Group who tells us about what’s new in the “What Works In Conservation 2021” report, how the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of conservation actions is evaluated, and why it’s so important to continually reevaluate that evidence.
- We’re also joined by Hiromi Yamashita, a visiting professor at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and an expert on the use of local and traditional knowledge in conservation. Yamashita tells us about her work to incorporate that knowledge into the Conservation Evidence Group’s work.
Today we’re taking a look at what works in conservation. That’s what we always aim to do here at the Mongabay Newscast, of course, but today we’re talking about the latest iteration of a report titled “What Works In Conservation” that has just been released by the Conservation Evidence Group based at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
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As the impacts of environmental crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and habitat destruction become ever more apparent, there is a growing movement to evaluate what works and what doesn’t in order to better direct precious conservation funds toward the most beneficial and effective activities. Mongabay’s Conservation Effectiveness series, for instance, looks at the scientific evidence for a number of strategies, including forest certification, protected areas, and payments for ecosystem services.
But the Cambridge Conservation Evidence team’s “What Works In Conservation” is probably the most comprehensive resource on the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of conservation strategies currently available. The “What Works In Conservation” report provides expert assessments of the scientific evidence for conservation actions targeted at safeguarding the future of a range of species groups and habitat types, from amphibians and terrestrial mammals to forests and peatland. All of the assessments in the report are available via a searchable database at conservationevidence.com, or the 2021 report can be downloaded as a free PDF or purchased as a hard copy from Open Book Publishers.
Our guests today include Andrew Bladon, a research associate with the Conservation Evidence Group, who’s here to tell us about what’s new in the “What Works In Conservation 2021” report, how the Group and its panel of experts evaluate scientific evidence of conservation initiatives, and why it’s so important that that evidence is continually reevaluated.
We also welcome to the program Hiromi Yamashita, a professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan and a visiting professor at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. She tells us about her work to include assessments of how traditional and local knowledge benefit conservation initiatives, especially around coastal conservation projects, into the “What Works in Conservation” report. Given the growing recognition of indigenous and local communities’ importance to the success of conservation, it’s particularly interesting to hear about the challenges of incorporating traditional and local knowledge into the Conservation Evidence Group’s work.
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