This report, a product of CMP’s Collaborative Learning Initiative, describes the rationale for and conditions that warrant a holistic approach to conservation efforts. Through a very ambitious and rapid-fire effort, a 30-member holistic approaches working group crafted this product, which includes a clear definition of a “holistic approach,” a situation assessment that lays out when more holistic approaches are needed, a working theory of change, and thoughts on when and how to use this approach with success.
The work is grounded in the context that a significant portion of the world’s high-conservation-value areas are occupied, surrounded, and/or owned or managed by indigenous and local people. Yet, efforts by conservation and other social change organizations in these places are often not sufficiently multifaceted to attain or sustain desired conservation and human well-being aims. Many within and beyond the conservation space firmly believe that a paradigm shift is needed such that these holistic approaches become the norm of how we work in social-ecological landscapes.
View this initiative’s webinar presentation here:
Citation: O’Neill, Elizabeth and Oitavén, Filipa. 2020. Holistic Approach for Healthy and Resilient Social-ecological Systems: Attaining interdependent objectives for optimal impact and sustainability. Conservation Measures Partnership Collaborative Learning Initiative. Available at: www.conservationstandards.org.
