Conservation in a rapidly changing world

Novel environments inspire new challenges and approaches

December 10, 2013 | by MEGHAN LEPISTO

“The Earth is faster now.”

This is how Inuit elder Mabel Toolie described the environmental changes she had witnessed over 90 years on her native Alaskan island, as recounted in a 2002 book by the same name. From the rapid melting of Arctic ice to record deforestation in the tropics, the world is riding an unprecedented trajectory of change.

A recent review of scientific literature suggests that the rate of climate change over the next century will likely be at least ten times faster than any climate shift recorded in the past 65 million years. This pace and scale of global change extends beyond warming to population growth, expanding land use and resource demands, and transformations in the world economy. By 2050, Earth’s human population is expected to reach 9.6 billion, with global food demand predicted to double.

Through the years, conservation has balanced two
ideals: the protection of land for use by humans and
the preservation of untouched wilderness, free from
development. Photo: Eric Allix Rogers/Flickr

“There’s no going back,” says Nelson Institute Director Paul Robbins. “Today has to be about going forward in a changed environment.”

The prospect of a future environment different from anything we have known carries colossal implications not only for ecosystems and their inhabitants, but also for those charged with conserving these spaces and species. In a future that will require addressing and creating new environments, not just preserving past ones, what does conservation look like? And what must be added to the toolkits of conservation practitioners to help them – and environments – not only adapt but prosper?

Changing nature

Through the years, conservation has balanced two ideals: the protection of land for use by humans and the preservation of untouched wilderness, free from development.

Today, though, pure untouched wilderness is almost an endangered species. Human influence on the planet has grown so significant that some scientists have advanced a new term, “the Anthropocene” – from anthropos, Greek for human – to mark a new geological period reflecting our profound impact on the Earth.  

“The field of conservation has changed pretty profoundly over time, even in my career,” says Richard Beilfuss, president and CEO of the International Crane Foundation and an alumnus of the Nelson Institute (M.S. Water Resources Management ‘90, Ph.D. Land Resources ‘02). 

“Forty years ago, the great prize was to gain protected status for an area, and a lot of conservation thinking focused on establishing boundaries around important places,” he continues. “Over the years we’ve come to understand that protecting an area in isolation is not enough; we must also secure the surrounding watershed and address landscape-scale challenges such as conservation-friendly livelihoods or invasive species. We are focused on a much bigger picture now.” 

Modern conservation, Beilfuss says, must be pursued within the context of the broader landscape and changing environmental conditions. For example, today the water systems that feed protected areas are often diverted to cities, or there are no corridors for the migration of species among protected areas. 

In Africa, where the International Crane Foundation leads many conservation efforts, rapid population growth has led to swift changes in the way the landscape is inhabited. Traditional subsistence agricultural practices across scattered villages have become incompatible with wildlife, Beilfuss says, and in general wildlife are no longer found across the landscape the way they were just 20 or 30 years ago. 

“With that comes a tremendous need for rethinking land use,” he says. “It’s a big challenge to try to find community-friendly, conservation-friendly solutions in those kinds of settings, because of that change.” 

In general, trying to understand the drivers of environmental change and how to deal with them requires a refined approach. “Changes have become more subtle and more difficult to define,” Beilfuss explains. “Now we are trying to get our minds around what climate change means for conservation, for example.” 

In a changed climate, lands that have been set aside for protection may become less hospitable for the species they were designed to secure. But these grand-scale changes shouldn’t replace concern over some of the more immediate drivers of habitat loss and degradation, Beilfuss advises, such as poor land or water use or a hasty drive to use resources for economic growth. 

In East Asia and Africa, he and his International Crane Foundation colleagues have seen climate change almost become a national scapegoat, being blamed for an area’s degradation when in fact bad water management or large-scale development – with tens of thousands of acres of wetlands and grasslands lost annually – are largely the culprit. 

“Climate change is an enormous challenge and we need to be aware of its implications,” he explains. “But we can’t get so overwhelmed by such big drivers that we lose sight of what we’re losing right now, through actions we can control. There are good things we can do even in the broader context of climate change.” 

Biodiversity without borders 

As conservation expands in complexity, so does its range of problem-solving approaches. 

“I think one of the things that’s most exciting in this change in our thinking about conservation is to allow us to be creative and to look for places where we see bounties of biodiversity,” the Nelson Institute’s Paul Robbins said in September on the public radio show Science Friday, during a broadcast about saving wild places in the Anthropocene. 

Robbins studies biodiversity in agricultural settings in southern India – one of the most densely populated places in the world. Within a variety of managed landscapes, such as coffee and rubber plantations, he and colleagues have seen hundreds of species of animals, birds and reptiles adapt and thrive. 

“These are areas thousands of square miles that are crafted by humanity and they are producing wildlife that you don’t find in adjacent areas,” Robbins said on the show. “Wildlife is thriving in places that aren’t a wilderness at all.” 

In the last 30 years, according to Robbins, the number of protected areas around the world has tripled, but the average size of those areas is about half as large as before. 

“We’re setting aside more and more small areas that are heavily influenced by people and they’re not necessarily wildernesses,” he told listeners. “Embracing that probably is a very practical way of thinking about biodiversity protection.” 

Bill Cronon, the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies, was also a guest on the program. “No matter how large the units of land that we mark out as wilderness, they are on a planet that is increasingly altered by human activities,” he said. “There’s no way we can somehow wall off those areas from the scale of changes that are happening.” 

For example, Cronon points to the research of UW-Madison colleague Don Waller, a professor of botany and environmental studies who is resurveying more than 300 of the same Wisconsin forest communities that UW botanist John Curtis studied in the 1940s and 50s. 

Waller found that the sites where plant diversity has declined the most are three state parks – areas that were formally protected. This ironic and initially counterintuitive finding may be explained by the fact that these parks excluded deer hunting for decades, he believes. As deer populations increased, plant diversity decreased. 

Wildlife is thriving in places that aren’t a wilderness
at all, such as coffee and rubber plantations in
southern India, says Nelson Institute Director Paul
Robbins. Photo: Shashank Dalvi/Krithi Karanth/CWS

Human dimensions 

That working landscapes can produce biodiversity and protect species is an example of how the conservation community has had to become much more adept at recognizing the role of people in conservation, be it indigenous communities who are part of the landscape, landowners around protected areas, people living on the land, or those earning their living from the land, such as farmers or foresters. 

“The human element has just become enormous whether you’re talking about protected areas, public areas or private areas – the distinction has almost become irrelevant because in any situation you’re dealing with very strong human dimensions,” Beilfuss says. 

Arlyne Johnson, a Nelson Institute alumna and honorary fellow, agrees that conservation must now be seen through a broader lens. 

“I think traditionally in conservation we’ve tended to be biologists and focus largely on the health of species and ecosystems, which is certainly still very important,” says Johnson (M.S. Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development ‘93, Ph.D. Land Resources ‘00). “But I see today that there’s equal emphasis on being able to effectively design and coordinate programs that also are capable of identifying and addressing the social and human dimensions affecting biodiversity conservation.” 

Johnson has nearly 25 years of experience in international conservation with the Wildlife Conservation Society and today provides training to design, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation projects through the organization Foundations of Success. 

“We’ve always been conscious in the field of conservation about the need to be interdisciplinary,” she adds, “but I think that’s spatially even more true today because of globalization, our economic structures, the universal impacts of climate change, and the international nature of discussions of what we do about it.” 

Miguel Morales (M.S. Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development ‘01, Ph.D. Land Resources ‘09) concurs. 

“Global change – from changes in markets to more countries around the world becoming more developed and having more power to change the natural environment – is definitely impacting the way we work,” says Morales, who works in the Center for Environment and Peace at Conservation International. “Twenty years ago, it used to be working on the local level and country level. Today our work is expanding to global initiatives; we have to be able to implement actions at different levels and scales.” 

“The environment is changing, our economy is changing, transportation is changing and the way we communicate is changing, all very fast,” he continues. “I think the conservation community is flexible enough so far to adapt quickly.” 

Job requirements 

Clearly, today’s conservation practitioner must be equipped with an expanded portfolio. 

Modern conservation must be pursued within the
context of the broader landscape and changing
environmental conditions. Photo: Llee Wu/Flickr

“There’s still a need as always for tangible skills, but increasingly people have to be able to think outside of specific disciplines, work with broader teams, and especially deal with the social science side of things, even if they’re strongly trained in biology and ecology,” says Beilfuss. 

“Even if you’re working in fiercely protected areas, you’re still dealing with watersheds and broader landscapes,” he emphasizes. “So regardless, you need great people skills and the ability to understand diverse viewpoints from people using the land – viewpoints you may not agree with from a conservation perspective.” 

Beilfuss advocates for this “crossover thinking” in a course on river management that he teaches for UW-Madison and in his work with the International Crane Foundation. 

“I think it’s easy for sides to demonize each other. It’s hard to even get people to look at problems in the same way,” he says. “I see a lot of what I’m involved in as trying to facilitate thinking across groups in trying to find concrete solutions, understanding the constraints people are working with.” 

For example, Beilfuss, who trained as a civil engineer in addition to his graduate studies in the Nelson Institute, often works with dam operators worldwide in advancing his organization’s water conservation efforts. “I find that they often just aren’t aware – there was nothing in their training that exposed them to how a dam profoundly changes the ecology of a river system,” he says. 

To bridge these knowledge gaps, Morales sees an urgent need for more interdisciplinary conservation practitioners with a big picture perspective. 

“We need people who can understand the wide range of environmental issues – from influencing policy or funding to working with local or indigenous communities to managing wildlife – and be at the interface of these issues with decision makers,” he says. 

Beilfuss agrees: “We’ve had to take a broader view and I think that’s been a real challenge for people trained in pure ecology or biology, who know a lot about ecosystems and how to protect them, but may not know anything about how to sit in the kind of meetings where decisions are happening that determine the fate of land.” 

Johnson adds that conservation advocates must go into these situations ready to address intersections of conservation and human needs. 

“People need to be equipped as conservation leaders to have practical tools on how, when first presented with a conservation issue, they can conceptualize it, consider various approaches to resolving the problems, and prioritize their actions,” she says. 

Conservationists must also be able to measure the outcomes of their work and demonstrate that conserving biodiversity has value not only in the form of ecosystem services but in human wellbeing, she advises. This is vital not only in achieving conservation goals, but in funding conservation efforts. 

“Certainly today there’s a lot more emphasis on evidence-based conservation and on clearly defining the logic of how we as professionals diagnose a problem,” Johnson says. “I think those who work in conservation see that implicitly, but increasingly donors are asking to see measurable evidence of the effectiveness and impact of conservation projects.” 

To help train leaders in these complex skills, the Nelson Institute recently launched a professional master’s program in environmental conservation that mixes theory and practice, with the first students beginning in June 2014. 

“I really feel that what the Nelson Institute is offering in this professional master’s program is valuable for people working in conservation today and critical for addressing modern conservation challenges,” says Johnson, who will teach a course in conservation planning as part of the curriculum. 

“A great contribution of the Nelson Institute is to help people work productively in interdisciplinary environments,” adds Beilfuss. “Thinking across fields is of great value to creative conservation problem solving, especially as we deal with challenges that are harder to understand and predict.” 

Professional degree a new tool for conservation leaders 

In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges that demand novel solutions, UW-Madison has launched a model graduate degree program to train tomorrow’s conservation leaders. 

The professional master’s program in environmental conservation, developed and offered by the Nelson Institute, is designed to help early-career professionals boost their leadership and management expertise. 

“We’re creating a new kind of conservation practitioner,” says Nelson Institute Director Paul Robbins. “We’re going to change the way people do conservation and the way they work with communities. To do that, you have to change the way you train people.” 

The 15-month, 32-credit blended curriculum, combining on-campus learning with remote experiences, offers a condensed timeframe and lower costs than two-year residential graduate programs. 

The Nelson Institute's new professional master’s
program combines on-campus learning with remote
experiences. Photo: International Crane Foundation

“This will be an attractive, accessible and unique program design,” says program chair Janet Silbernagel, a professor of environmental studies and landscape architecture. “Students still come out with a 32-credit master’s degree with robust professional training. And throughout they learn about different leadership possibilities, develop their presence, and get inside the professional network.” 

Courses will span conservation planning, environmental policy, biology, ecology, social science and sustainability, plus specific professional skills tailored to a student’s interests. Coordinators envision a cohort of domestic and international students building off of each other’s experiences. 

“We’ll have energetic people who want to change the world and experienced people from all over the world who want to change their lives. You put those two together and they can teach each other,” says Robbins. 

The program begins with a Summer Conservation Institute, which will include events with international conservation practitioners, offering students extraordinary access to accomplished professionals. An on-campus fall semester of intensive study and a remote spring semester of distance learning will follow. 

The program culminates with a summer leadership experience, placing students in a new, more advanced role with their current employer or with a range of partner organizations and agencies such as Conservation International, the International Crane Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Forest Service. 

“We imagine working with students from the time they arrive to hone in on their interests and what their expertise is best suited for,” says Silbernagel. “We want students to get experience in executive-level decision making and conservation strategies, running a project or program for a term.” 

The program is an extension of the Nelson Institute’s Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development (CBSD) graduate degree. Launched in 1990, CBSD was designed to allow students to pursue either a professional or research track, with growing interest in the professional emphasis. Students wishing to pursue the research-focused degree will be integrated into the Nelson Institute’s interdisciplinary Environment and Resources graduate program. 

“With our current CBSD program, we realized a large number of students were wanting to pursue the professional track,” says Silbernagel. “And, from the employer side, we knew there was demand for students finishing their master’s who could go right into a professional practice with biology, science and research skills, but also serve as project managers. We were hearing from both sides that we had a gap.” 

For more information about the program or to apply, visit: nelson.wisc.edu/conservation