Evidence-based decisions for community-based conservation

Despite the rapid growth of both 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... [ view full abstract ]

Despite the rapid growth of both 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. The proposed knowledge café seeks to unpack this challenge and explore broadly questions around evidence-based decision making in community-based conservation. The knowledge cafe will harness 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?

The ACES collaborative currently has three learning projects that have adopted the shared conceptual approach to understanding CBNRM. Knowledge café discussions will provide valuable insights into methods and practices for evidence-based decision making that can be integrated into these specific projects and in future ACES initiatives. The knowledge café will also provide a valuable opportunity to introduce ACES to the community-based conservation community and explore opportunities for future collaborative potential with a broader set of partners and stakeholders.