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The Ethical Conservation Alliance creates toolkits and resources and delivers training to enable conservation practitioners in building respectful partnerships with local and indigenous communities

TRAINING PROGRAM IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

A Trainer's Guide: Engaging with Local and Indigenous Communities for Biodiversity Conservation

Training guide for community engagement

Nearly two centuries of the modern conservation movement, originating in Western science and colonialism, imply that efforts to protect biodiversity in large parts of the world have had little space for indigenous peoples and local communities. Globally, conservation efforts have led to conflicts and marginalization of IPLCs, and an estimated 130 million people –referred to as conservation refugees– have already been displaced from their homes to make way for reserves and protected areas. Conservation practitioners rarely receive training in conservation ethics and community engagement, and government approaches continue to be predominantly top-down. The Ethical Conservation Alliance is committed to creating an international movement to bring stronger ethics in the way wildlife and people are treated in conservation; promote social justice; and enable indigenous peoples and local communities to become nature conservation’s most important leaders and beneficiaries. ECA offers training programmes for conservationists, and has just released a trainer’s manual in community engagement.

Watch PARTNERS Principles described in brief

Presence
Effective community-engagement for nature conservation cannot be done from a distance. It is founded on trustful and resilient relationships between communities and conservationists, and requires the practitioners’ sustained field presence.

Aptness
Effective nature conservation requires a suite of contextually appropriate conservation interventions that are co-designed with community partners or adapted at the community level. Interventions must be scientifically, culturally, and ethically appropriate.

Respect
Treating communities with respect and aiming for equal conservation partnerships with them is essential. The code of beneficence and non-malfeasance must be followed in community engagement.

Transparency
In an equal conservation partnership, there’s no room for deceit or withholding information. Community members must be involved in making choices, and provided with avenues to seek explanations and share their opinions or misgivings.

Negotiation
Effective conservation partnerships require respectful, open, and integrative negotiations. Mutual respect and trust can facilitate effective negotiations and robust agreements.

Empathy
Empathy allows conservationists to assess the costs of conservation from the perspective of the communities. It enables them to be more accommodating and appreciative towards the latter. Empathy can be enhanced with practice and through immersion in the community.

Responsiveness
Conservation is about identifying threats and opportunities, responding to them promptly but patiently, and monitoring the outcomes. Managing expectations and figuring out how to respond to biodiversity-unrelated requests is a constant challenge that conservationists must embrace.

Strategic Support
It is the larger economic forces –rather than communities– that typically overwhelm conservation. Governments have the authority to bring about greater balance between conservation and economic development. Practitioners must oppose governments when appropriate, but they must also be willing to work with them in the interest of conservation.

Read about PARTNERS Principles

Book: The PARTNERS Principles for Community Based Conservation

By Charudutt Mishra

The award-winning PARTNERS Principles are a framework and training program for engaging with local and indigenous communities to garner their support and leadership for nature conservation. They are a blend of the practical and the ethical. Community-Based Conservation for the Sustainable Management of Conservation Conflicts: Learning from Practitioners: published in the Journal Sustainability

Building partnerships with communities: a summary paper on the PARTNERS principles published in the Journal of Applied Ecology

Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy

Sonam Tashi Lama

Manfred Epanda

Farwiza Farhan

Dr. Shivani Bhalla

Dr. Rodrigo Medellin

Dr. Micaela Camino

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren

Dr. Koustubh Sharma

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