The Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation is becoming an increasingly popular tool for outcomes-based conservation management. LightHawk is using the framework to both manage for outcomes and facilitate collaboration.
At LightHawk conservation professionals work with partners at organizations throughout North America to use the aerial perspective to further conservation. LightHawk mobilizes volunteer pilots, photographers, scientists, and storytellers to make images, collect data, inform the public and share their experiences about some of our environment's most critical issues, landscapes and wildlife. LightHawk is a partner on many different projects within and across eco-regions, watershed, and/or political boundaries. Thus, LightHawk often operates as a bridging organization connecting social networks and diverse nodes of expertise. LightHawk facilitates the co-production of knowledge, sense-making, learning, communication and both vertical and horizontal inter-organizational collaboration. Flights serve to foster dialogue, gather and interpret technical information, promote informed decision-making, provide social incentive for policy makers or donors to participate in conservation, and as a means to better conceptualize landscape-scale projects. These collaborative efforts increase the efficiency and effectiveness of conservation work done by a diverse cadre of conservation partners.
In order to achieve results, LightHawk employs an adaptive management framework. This framework is made operational by applying Open Standards, which synthesizes pragmatic principles for conservation planning. Using Open Standards as collaborative project planning and management tool, LightHawk staff work with partners in a mutually beneficial social learning process that deepens understanding of problems, opportunities, and feasible solutions. Open Standards was first developed in 2003 (updated in 2007 and 2013). Thousands of project teams from conservation organizations (e.g., TNC, Rare, and WWF), local conservation groups, and donors now use it. Open Standards brings together common concepts, approaches, and terminology in conservation project design, management, and monitoring in order to help practitioners improve the practice of conservation.
In this presentation, we will provide a brief overview of Open Standards and how LightHawk uses this tool to better collaborate with partners on managing for measurable wildlife conservation outcomes. Specific case studies will illustrate the process and results, including discussions about how discussions based on Open Standards facilitate collaboration.
Topics: The Changing Nature of Wildlife Conservation , Topics: Improving HDFW Science , Topics: Conservation Planning and Evaluation
