Back to BECOMING ORDINARY

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2006 ANNUAL MEETING -- 24-28 JUNE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA

CONSERVATION SOCIAL SCIENCE: WHAT'S IN THE BLACK BOX?

Editor's note: Social science is gaining increasing prominence within SCB, but "conservation social science" may be a mysterious "black box" to some conservation scientists and practitioners. In preparation for SCB's 2006 annual meeting, where social science will be represented strongly, SCB's Social Science Working Group offered to develop a primer on conservation social science: definitions, scope, and conservation relevance.

Conservation social science is the study of the conservation-relevant aspects of human society, including the relationships among humans and between humans and their environment. Since successful conservation inevitably requires changes in human behavior, drawing upon decades of social science research to better understand what people do, and why, provides valuable insights for conservation policy and practice. Economic research regarding the role of information in decision-making, for example, represents the social scientific basis for market-based conservation strategies like Marine Stewardship Council ecolabeling and Forest Stewardship Council certification. Similarly, psychological research on learning and behavior change forms the scientific underpinnings of social marketing campaigns like those developed by RARE, which have catalyzed popular support for biodiversity conservation in St. Lucia, Indonesia, Mexico, and elsewhere.

Conservation social science is currently emerging as a recognized field of study, although several social science disciplines have long traditions of conservation-relevant research. Anthropology, economics, human geography, political science, psychology, and sociology are the most commonly recognized social science disciplines, although some also include history, legal studies, and other disciplines within the social sciences. Each discipline has developed its own term(s) to describe its branch(es) of conservation social science, including

-- Environmental or ecological anthropology
-- Environmental, natural resource, or ecological economics
-- Environmental or conservation geography
-- Environmental politics and policy
-- Environmental or conservation psychology
-- Environmental sociology
-- Environmental history

Most general social science professional societies have established formal working groups or sections focusing on environmental or conservation issues; some disciplines have even established separate conservation-oriented professional societies.

Conservation social scientists (like all conservation scientists) study a variety of conservation-relevant research questions, at a variety of scales, using a variety of methods. Common research topics include conservation attitudes, beliefs, and values; cultural traditions and norms; resource use patterns; economic valuation of ecosystem goods and services; natural resource governance; and environmental social movements. In investigating these issues and others, social scientists use diverse research designs (e.g., controlled experiments, comparative case studies, surveys) to gather quantitative and qualitative information through a wide array of data collection methods, including direct observation, interviews, text analysis, participatory mapping, and remote sensing.

Conservation social science, of course, is distinct from social policy and social wellbeing. Like all science, conservation social science attempts to develop a richer understanding of how the world works through systematic and rigorous inquiry. Social policy, by contrast, is a specific course of action established by decision-makers (often politicians, but not necessarily so) to achieve a particular set of outcomes. Social wellbeing is the state or condition of human welfare in a particular place or among a particular group of people. Conservation social scientists study both social policy and social wellbeing, but understanding these phenomena (science) is distinct from deciding what should be done (policy). Thus, integrating social science into conservation policy remains a challenge. Fortunately, some conservation social scientists study the role of science in the policy process, so there is a scientific foundation for improving the effectiveness of science in conservation policy.

Conservation social scientists can make particularly critical contributions to conservation policy and practice in three areas. First, where should the conservation community focus its efforts? Conservation biologists obviously have done tremendous work to determine the distribution and abundance of rare and threatened species and ecosystems; conservation social scientists can enhance these efforts, for example, by identifying socially significant elements of landscapes (e.g., through valuation of ecosystem services); "enabling environments" for conservation (e.g., sacred forests); and "policy windows" for conservation action. Second, how should the conservation community design and implement its conservation interventions? A diverse array of conservation strategies exist, but conservation social scientists can help to identify what strategies will work best in a given context, help make existing strategies more effective (e.g., enhancing compliance with protected area regulations), and identify and develop novel, complementary strategies (e.g., the 21st century equivalent of ecolabeling). The third broad area where conservation social science can contribute is to help answer the question, "What are the impacts of our conservation interventions?" Documenting and rigorously evaluating the social and biological impacts (positive and negative) of our conservation interventions can help the conservation community learn from experience, replicate success, and initiate the science-based reforms necessary for socially and ecologically sustainable biodiversity conservation.

For more information about SCB's Social Science Working Group, please visit www.conbio.org/WorkingGroups/SSWG/

The following papers provide brief introductions to some of the conservation social sciences.

Mascia, M.B., J.P Brosius, T.A. Dobson, B.C. Forbes, L. Horowitz, M.A. McKean, and N.J. Turner. 2003. Conservation and the social sciences. Conservation Biology 17:629-630.

Orlove, B.S. and S.B. Brush. 1996. Anthropology and the conservation of biodiversity. Annual Review of Anthropology 25:329-352.

Armsworth, P.R. and J.E. Roughgarden. 2001. An invitation to ecological economics. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:229-234.

Saunders, C.D. 2003. The emerging field of conservation psychology. Human Ecology Review 10:137-149.

Mike Mascia

Back to BECOMING ORDINARY

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2006 ANNUAL MEETING -- 24-28 JUNE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA