The need for evidence based conservation

Professor Sutherland began his talk by commenting that 2010 is the Year of Biodiversity and the year by which international governments had pledged to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss.  He commented that all the evidence indicated that this pledge had failed; 2010 would be very challenging year for conservation and must be a year for reflecting on what went wrong and what can be done differently.  Importantly, he noted that it is not all doom and gloom and the community must also look at its successes and why they were successful!

In reflecting on what has gone wrong in conservation biology, Professor Sutherland noted that the conservation community of which he is part is weak at looking ahead, poor at targeting its research, produces science which is not used by many people, and has not convinced the world that conservation is cost effective.  There is insufficient capacity in the conservation community especially at the cutting edge.  All these factors mean that serious errors have been allowed to creep in.  Professor Sutherland noted that in 2006, President Bush, in his State of the Union address announced a big push towards biofuels and this was also adopted by the European Union  Biofuels appeared to be a good thing to do.  More recently the community has realised this is a much more complex issue than first identified and has started raising objections.  Scientists should have had the relevant information in place earlier and engaged with policy makers at an earlier stage.  Professor Sutherland reflected that the pattern of objecting after decisions are made is a fundamental problem with the way in which conservation science is carried out.

In an attempt to reverse this situation and facilitate forward planning, Professor Sutherland engaged representatives from a wide range of organisations to identify the key questions in conservation, undertake horizon-scanning and determine future priorities for conservation action.  Fifteen issues were identified including tackling microplastic pollution, nanosilver in waste water, problems associated with the expansion of the synthetic meat industry, the promotion of biocharcoal, mobile-sensing technology, large-scale international land acquisitions and high latitude volcanism.  Having identified these issues, Professor Sutherland and colleagues identified gaps in capacity and knowledge, policy options and research needs, in collaboration with policy makers.  Identifying all the possible policy interventions at an early stage is a critical part of the process and means that action can be taken more immediately in response to a problem.  Policy makers and practitioners need to work together as early as possible.  It is then vital to measure the success of the chosen intervention so that future decisions can be evidence-based.

Professor Sutherland commented that it was critical that conservation action was evidence-based in the same way as medicine.  This evidence-based approach to decision making had revolutionised the medical world and he hoped it could do the same for conservation. Professor Sutherland described his website www.conservationevidence.com that contains summaries of published papers, enabling researchers to openly share their experiences and build up a portfolio of evidence on which to base their decision-making.  There is a need for conservationists to standardise their methods so that the results of interventions can be accurately compared and conclusions disseminated.

In concluding his lecture, Professor Sutherland asked “How will we succeed beyond 2010?”  He emphasised the need for conservationists to be better prepared, integrating policy, practice and research at all stages and working with policy makers to make decisions.  He reflected that there is a natural inclination to focus on problems and costs when the focus should be on devising and disseminating solutions designed to conserve biodiversity.  Over 200 years ago, Linnaeus devised a structure that engaged an international group of individuals in collecting and collating relevant data and this revolutionised biology.  Professor Sutherland hopes that his approach can do the same for conservation bringing global society together to work out effective solutions and make a real difference to biodiversity for many years beyond the designated International Year.