Society for Conservation Biology 2009 Annual Meeting

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An invitation to:
Members, Sponsors, Exhibitors, Advertises
The Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Forestry Adminstration P.R.China and the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) invite you to Beijing, China 11-16 July 2009 for the International Congress for Conservation Biology (23rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology), it is recognized as the most important global meeting for conservation professionals and students.

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Incorporating Systems Thinking into Conservation Management Decision Making: Tools and Technologies for Civic Science 1d 75
Session Organizer: Gregg Walker

Description: This short course addresses the conference theme by focusing on systems thinking tools for conservation management, policy decision-making, and education. The Society for Conservation Biology theme, “Conservation – Harmony for Nature and Society - suggests the relevance of a systems view. The theme implies the importance of a holistic understanding of ecosystems through the integration of technical and traditional knowledge with scientific and socioeconomic values. This short course features a set of tools and technologies for incorporating systems thinking into management, policy decision-making, and education projects.

This short course highlights systems thinking activities for engaging internal and external stakeholders in conservation and ecosystem management situations. The tools are useful as a part of conservation management practices, policy development and implementation, and education/capacity building. Tools presented are both actual (face-to-face) and virtual (web-based) and can be adapted to the literacy levels of stakeholder communities. The short course presents systems thinking as dimension of a pluralistic civic science approach. As Kai Lee writes in Compass and Gyroscope, ”managing large ecosystems should rely not merely on science, but on civic science; it should be irreducibly public in the way responsibilities are exercised, intrinsically technical, and open to learning from errors and profiting from successes” (1993: 161). Civic science relies on and respects exceptional technical knowledge and relevant traditional knowledge, integrated as part of an adaptive learning environment among diverse stakeholders. Systems thinking work is an essential part of this approach.

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