Partnerships for Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Conservation

The biocultural conservation framework, a multi-disciplinary school of thought fusing various fields of knowledge, is context-driven and sensitive to the varied (and/or opposing) goals of various stakeholders by integrating give-and-take and conflict resolution, recognizing the value of each mode of cooperation across various governance levels (Gavin et al 2018). This framework is operationalized by applying the following concepts:-

• recognizing the existence and goals of various stakeholders, and multiple modes of knowledge and perspectives

• adopting a long-term intergenerational approach toward conservation design and systems

• acknowledging that conservation is guided by cultural norms and mores

• customizing conservation strategies to suit social and ecological conditions

• formulating new, varied, and interconnected nexuses of institutions

• clearly stating and defining each stakeholder's entitlements and obligations

    (Gavin et al 2018)

By incorporating diverse and multi-cultural principles and ethics in conservation management and governance, biocultural approaches are more adaptable and effective in resolving manifold and complicated issues which are in constant flux (Gavin et al 2018).

In public-private partnerships (“PPPs”), governments not only supply public policy but also work with private actors in policy components such as “agenda-setting, negotiation, resource provision implementation, monitoring, and/or enforcement” (Marx 2019:1). In more recent iterations of PPPs, independent policy mechanisms are synthesized to form more organic and cooperative systems of governance (Marx 2019).

In the case of PPPs, when private actors are involved in conservation, progress toward Sustainable Development Goals can be expedited with their contribution of means, skills, experience, ability to execute and administer conservation actions, and greater social acceptability (Marx 2019). PPP projects have been noted to be more efficacious because the public-private interplay facilitates dynamism in responding to changes in the environment, the exchange of information to build trust and harmony, and the ability to formulate actions with the benefit of the project in mind (Marx 2019).

Community-based conservation, as envisaged by Armitage et al (2020), is a multi-scalar exercise, spearheaded by Indigenous and local communities and managed across various layers of governance, which emphasises and elevates basic rights, trust, and customs and which is supported by actors including as state representatives and civil society.

In effecting community-centered conservation governance, the essential guiding principles are (i) fostering systems which function across scales and relationships of cooperation and unity; (ii) advancing the causes of equity and the participation of women; (iii) addressing and resolving colonial and present property-related iniquities; (iv) emphasising the rights of the community of representation, use of resources, and the power to make decisions; and (v) promoting customary and local conservation structures and practices (Armitage et al 2020).

The potential benefits of community-based conservation are said to include:-

• reduced conflict and increased opportunities for interaction between communities inter se and with government entities

• more effective conservation by (a) coupling biological knowledge with social wisdom and participation; (b) benefitting from trust between partners resulting in lower monitoring costs and greater compliance

• guidance by recognized local leaders in cooperative nexuses of action contributes to desired conservation outcomes in terms of society, ecology, and institutions, while simultaneously encouraging communication and collaboration between community members and with other partners

    (Armitage et al 2020)

References:

• Marx, A. (2019). ‘Public-private partnerships for sustainable development: Exploring their design and its impact on effectiveness’, Sustainability 11(4) 2019, p.1087.

• Gavin, M.C., J. McCarter, F. Berkes, A.T. Mead, E.J. Sterling, R. Tang and N.J. Turner. (2018). ‘Effective biodiversity conservation requires dynamic, pluralistic, partnership-based approaches’, Sustainability 10(6) 2018, p.1846.

• Armitage, D., Mbatha, P., Muhl, E.K., Rice, W. and Sowman, M. (2020). ‘Governance principles for community‐centered conservation in the post‐2020 global biodiversity framework’, Conservation Science and Practice 2(2) 2020, p.e160.