Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Sociology
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Achieving environmental conservation and socio-economic development goals is challenging.
• Insufficient understanding of feedbacks between conservation initiatives and social-ecological systems hinders progress.
• Conservation actions can trigger social changes with secondary environmental effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how conservation initiatives impact social dynamics and subsequently affect targeted environments.
• To explore the nature of feedbacks between social and environmental variables in conservation contexts.
• To synthesize existing literature on the social and environmental dimensions of conservation.

Main Methods:

• Systematic sampling of peer-reviewed articles on conservation's social and environmental dimensions.
• Coding of sampled articles based on research focus and characterization of social-environmental feedbacks.
• Analysis of themes and narratives within the conservation literature.

Main Results:

• Most studies focused on either conservation's effect on people or people's effect on the environment, rarely both empirically.
• Positive feedbacks were more evident, where desirable social outcomes led to desirable environmental outcomes, and vice versa.
• Key themes include human-wildlife conflict, social movements, comanagement, traditional knowledge, and livelihood risks.

Conclusions:

• There is a gap in empirical research on the dual social and environmental effects of conservation initiatives.
• Understanding and addressing positive feedbacks is critical for successful conservation and development.
• The identified themes can guide future research and discussions on conservation strategies.