Back to WELCOME!

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to INTERNATIONAL SECTION NEWS

AN UPDATE ON SCB'S STRATEGIC PLANNING

With wiregrass sizzling from a controlled burn just outside the door, the SCB Board of Governors met in February at the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center (aka Ichauway), a 29,000-acre outdoor laboratory in rural southwest Georgia. Twenty-eight people including nearly all of our committee chairs and 16 of 18 board members participated in two very full days of strategic planning for SCB. Among the attendees was the newly elected Marine Section representative on the Board, John Ogden.

The 2002 meeting was a continuation of a strategic planning process that began in February 1999, when SCB held its first strategic planning session in Santa Barbara, California. At that first meeting, members of the Board of Governors developed a three-year work plan for SCB and prioritized a set of actions for SCB to take on.

We began the 2002 meeting by reviewing the tasks we established for ourselves in 1999 and assessing whether we successfully accomplished our objectives. We were quite pleased to realize how much progress we have made.

After completing this review, we turned to planning for SCB's future. The main steps in our planning process were (1) discussing SCB's resources and constraints, (2) brainstorming a list of actions that SCB might take, (3) deciding which actions should receive highest priority, and (4) outlining plans for implementing each of the priority actions. We identified several major resources / constraints that we needed to consider and created breakout groups to discuss each. Highlights of the discussions on each topic included

Money. SCB obviously requires money to pay for programs and for core costs. We decided that it generally would be easier to raise funds for specific programs and initiatives as opposed to core costs. Core costs will be funded by membership dues and other unrestricted funds.

Staff Time. SCB cannot rely entirely on the very small staff of the Executive Office to oversee, coordinate, and execute all programs and core activities. Extensive use of technology is making communication and coordination among the membership, Board of Governors, and SCB staff much easier, but considerable time and energy is still needed to support membership services and other core activities.

Board and Committees. SCB is made up of individuals representing a diverse set of perspectives and the Board should reflect that diversity. Much discussion at the meeting focused on how to communicate with the constituencies of Board members and how to modify the composition of the Board to better accomplish the mission of SCB. The need for timely communication among committees, the volunteer nature of the Board and committees, and the orientation time for new Board members were all identified as potential constraints faced by the Board and Committees.

Governance and Sections. While the international sections and local chapters are resources for SCB, their relationship to the Board and to each other is not yet clearly defined.

Publications and Meetings. Our publications and annual meetings are challenged to become more relevant and effective to an increasingly international audience. In addition to content, there are at least two other significant issues: affordability, particularly for individuals in developing countries and developed countries with devalued currency, and access to publications in geographic regions where mail delivery and internet availability are unreliable.

We next turned to a discussion of actions that SCB might take on during the next few years. The following table shows the major actions that the Board considered and the summary rankings that were assigned to those actions (5 = highest, most important, or best opportunity). These rankings are critical to the strategic planning process, which involves deciding not only which actions to undertake but also which actions not to undertake at present. "Importance" refers to the nature of the issue being addressed, "open niche" refers to the degree to which other groups are dealing with this issue, and "possible impact" refers to the potential for SCB to successfully undertake this activity.

Several actions, such as continuing Conservation Biology, the annual meeting, and Conservation In Practice, clearly were deemed high priorities. Since the Board receives regular reports on these activities, we did not focus on them at this strategic planning session. Instead, we focused on some of the newly proposed activities.

While much of the implementation process has been delegated to committees, with opportunities and challenges recognized and reality as our guide, here are some of the immediate objectives and actions that we identified.

Enabling SCB Member Action. We can do a much better job of recruiting and retaining members and tapping into their skills and experience. The new Executive Office, in collaboration with the membership and media committees, is working to meet these challenges. The most significant and unique resource that SCB has is the knowledge and experience of its members. Helping our membership develop networks (particularly between developing and developed countries), attracting press and policy attention for our members' work, and helping the conservation biology community secure funding for its work are some of the ways we outlined to support our membership. Watch for opportunities to become involved with SCB as we develop new resources and projects.

Linking Students to the Practice of Conservation. We discussed ways in which SCB might foster improved linkages between conservation practitioners and students. Specific actions that we will be exploring include holding special sessions at the annual meetings and providing support for campus organizations interested in these topics. SCB will be exploring ways of implementing these activities in the coming years.

Building Capacity of International Sections. The Board is taking a thorough look at its structure to make sure it represents the diversity of our membership. As our new international sections are established, a key focus of the Society will involve working with these sections to develop and improve the capacity of the sections to reach to the goals and objectives of SCB. We are exploring ways of reaching out to and supporting these sections.

Establishing the Credibility of Conservation Biology and SCB to Stakeholders. Look for improved coordination among SCB publications (Conservation Biology, Conservation In Practice, NeoCons, the newsletter, and the website). We anticipate a growing emphasis on viewing conservation from a global perspective and more effective approaches to disseminating our publications.

Overall, the strategic planning meeting was highly successful in outlining and prioritizing SCB actions and in sparking productive activity by the Board, committees, and the membership. We hope that we can continue to make progress as a society, and we invite all members to become further involved in SCB initiatives at every opportunity.

Alan Thornhill and Nick Salafsky

Back to WELCOME!

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to INTERNATIONAL SECTION NEWS