Reflection on Partnerships for Biodiversity Conservation

In working to conserve biodiversity, organisations at various levels of governance, interest, and responsibility play different and often overlapping roles.

The role of government agencies in the conservation of biodiversity has historically and at present been to set the broad direction of those efforts by legislation and regulation, and by allocating the national budget and use of national assets and reserves. Private conservation organisations serve to advocate and make recommendations, in relation to their particular mandate, to government bodies at various levels. Businesses contribute to biodiversity conservation when they invest and support the efforts of private and public organisations and when they establish the norms and practices of their industries whether by tacit or explicit sanction. The role of community groups is to generate awareness of grassroots concerns as they happen, coordinate local action and to call for the interventions and resources needed to effect changes.

Over the years, there has been a general trend of devolution of power and responsibility from government entities to private or quasi-private entities, especially given that such entities often benefit from greater flexibility and expertise in conservation interventions. In addition, although perhaps to a lesser extent, calls for greater recognition of and participation by Indigenous peoples and local communities have been increasingly heard and operationalized.

In my view, these groups – government, private organisations, businesses, community groups – can and indeed must work together and t their interests are not necessarily opposed to each other. For instance, government bodies should ideally consult and collaborate with private and community groups in order to formulate state and national policies which address on-the-ground issues more effectively.

Partnerships can incorporate pluralistic approaches to conservation and address deep-rooted conflicts in the management and implementation of conservation by centering the perspectives, goals, experiences, concerns, and agency of Indigenous and local communities in the design, execution, and monitoring of any conservation strategy.

A multi-stakeholder approach to biodiversity conservation may present a number of challenges, such as shifting academic and government mindsets from mainstream technocracy toward a more inclusive and philosophically diverse approach. There may also be a need, as governance moves away from a top-down perspective, to invest more time, energy, and resources in consultation, negotiation, discussion, and consent – the greater number of stakeholders are involved, the more important it will be to spend time on the preliminary stages of conservation planning.

In terms of benefits, however, a multi-stakeholder approach could be highly effective. Where local and Indigenous leaders take the helm in the protection of the lands and resources of their homes, with sufficient political legitimacy and community buy-in, there could be significant cost savings particularly in relation to monitoring and compliance. Further, Indigenous and local wisdom, values, and lived experiences could well ensure a more sustainable, respectful, inclusive, and equitable road toward biodiversity conservation.

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