Human population growth and wildlife conservation within the One Health paradigm

As we live now within the sixth mass extinction, have chosen a career dedicated to conserving biodiversity with diminishing returns on investment, and work long and stressful hours for little pay, why is it that we find it... [ view full abstract ]

As we live now within the sixth mass extinction, have chosen a career dedicated to conserving biodiversity with diminishing returns on investment, and work long and stressful hours for little pay, why is it that we find it difficult to talk about the main drivers of species loss, the size of our own species' population, and our consumptive and mobile behaviors? This is not a fully developed conservation biology question; these issues may be perceived as questions best answered by psychologists, sociologists, economists, political scientists, philosophers and social workers. However, participation by conservation professionals in the answers to these questions are paramount in our commitments to biodiversity preservation. We will discuss how to integrate the expertise of conservation planning and conservation social work to achieve biodiversity preservation, as well as the preservation of human health and well-being. We will explore perceived barriers to inclusion of the root causes of extinction in conservation planning and outreach. Our early investigations show that conservation biologists feel safe discussing these issues amongst each other, but fear their knowledge base in speaking about the demographic and ethical aspects of the human population crisis and Western consumption habits in their outreach efforts. Programs already in place to address the intersecting issues of reproductive justice, environmental justice and equitable access to resources to promote human rights will be shared. Planning for conservation without accounting for and addressing human population growth and consumption is an exercise in futility.