How Academia Can Contribute to Biocultural Conservation

The purpose of this paper is to provide analysis and recommendations on how academia can contribute to effective Biocultural Conservation in practice.  Both conceptual and practical considerations highlight empowerment and agency of local communities as “front line conservationists.”  Our fundamental premise is that academia must incorporate and address the needs and interests of potential community partners.  

Academia is primarily engaged with production and dissemination of knowledge.  The foregoing considerations emphasize that knowledge must be co-constructed and thus transdisciplinary.  Furthermore, the way that academia works interactively with Indigenous and traditional communities must be productive for all and contribute to both short and long-term outcomes. Synthesizing these considerations, we propose a framework of three key dimensions of an academic approach to biocultural conservation:

1.     Collaborative: Foster partnerships and collaboration to leverage resources, expertise and networks; awareness and addressing of power relationships.  In the case of academia, fundamentally addressing relational power calls for co-designing and co-implementing research, education and capacity activities.

2.     Transdisciplinary knowledge: Recognition, dialogue and integration of plural (academic and non-academic) forms of knowledge, worldviews, and ways of knowing.

3.     Impact oriented: Address the needs of local communities, aiming for positive outcomes in the present while also increasing capacity for the future.

This paper provides an in-depth review of a wide range of literature and experiences (9 academic articles, 6 toolkits and programmatic guidelines, 8 leading academic programs in the field of biocultural conservation, and 5 prior UF/TCD programs) with diverse perspectives and examples on how academia can incorporate these principles into their approach and activities. We present an analysis of lessons learned and best practices that emerge from this review, following the three key dimensions of collaboration, transdisciplinarity, and impact-orientation.   

To effectively contribute to biocultural conservation requires academia to fundamentally rethink the way that research, education, and training are carried out: investing in partnerships, delegating power, rethinking forms of knowledge, and reframing goals.  We recognize the institutional and structural obstacles to such transformative change, but cite many positive examples of effective practices and approaches, and recognize that incremental change can also make a positive contribution.