This September, PhD student Meredith Grady presented at both the Pathways Conference in Colorado and the NAU Biennial Conference in Arizona. She shared preliminary findings from an NSF-funded project led by Dr. Chris Barton and the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, which looks at what knowledge helps make conservation successful and what knowledge often gets left out. Understanding the broad spectrum of knowledge--defined here as information, understanding, way of knowing, skills, or expertise that can guide conservation decisions and actions--is vital as global biodiversity loss accelerates. The project uses recovery plans from the Endangered Species Act and interviews with recovery team members to understand what knowledge guides real-world conservation work.
The preliminary takeaway: Conservation isn’t just about biology and ecology; it also depends on relationships, values, and diverse ways of knowing from a diversity of partners. This includes local knowledge, practical expertise, citizen scientists, and more.
Meredith ended both talks with two questions all conservationists should reflect on regularly:
- What knowledge do you use to inform your own work or experience?
- What knowledge do you think should be considered as 'conservation knowledge' that often doesn’t get recognized?