Governance principles for community‐centered conservation in the post‐2020 global biodiversity framework

Abstract

Strategies to protect biodiversity in the face of a global crisis must be placebased and sensitive to context. A failure to consider the socioeconomic and political circumstances, as well as wellbeing needs and lived realities of those most directly reliant upon biodiversity will further undermine progress on Aichi targets and subsequent goals for the post-2020 framework. How communities experience the benefits or costs of conservation action is influenced in large measure by the principles that guide conservation governance, and the subsequent institutional structures and processes that frame conservation action (at local to global scales). In this article, we define and critically reflect on core principles of community-centered conservation governance needed to yield desirable and long-term conservation outcomes-both ecological and social (i.e., equitable and just). In doing so, we emphasize a conception of community-centered conservation that we argue is relevant to guide implementation of a post-2020 biodiversity framework, and which is based on a foundation of well-established evidence. Core principles of communitycentered conservation governance include: (a) building multilevel networks and collaborative relationships needed to coproduce conservation solutions;(b) promoting equity and recognizing the central role of women as agents of positive change in conservation efforts across scales; (c) reframing conservation action through the lens of reconciliation and redress (e.g., responding to injustices from land grabs and territorial enclosures); (d) ensuring a rightsbased approach to conservation action in which community agency, access and decision making autonomy are supported; and (e) revitalizing the customary and local institutions that provide legitimate and adaptive strategies for the stewardship of biodiversity. K E Y W O R D Sgender, governance, institutions, policy

A transition to sustainable ocean governance

“…ref. 5,64 ). A purposeful shift towards governance for a sustainable ocean is required to address these challenges and allow the innovative approaches to emerge more fully.…”

Community Conservation

“…The rights of local communities to make decisions about their own resources must be recognized and supported through clear laws and regulations. The five principles have been framed by Global Biodiversity Framework 2020 through which governments and conservation partners can support community-centered conservation [11].…”

Using Theory of Change to improve post‐2020 conservation: A proposed framework and recommendations for use

“…ToC development and implementation often remains a topdown process managed by a few, with the inputs of many excluded (Maini et al, 2018;Valters, 2015;Walton, 2016). This exclusion is commonly mirrored within conservation contexts (Armitage et al, 2020). Therefore, the perceived "sense-of-ownership" of a ToC, and its development process, has implications for how the ToC is received by actors and the intervention's success (Koleros & Mayne, 2019;Sullivan & Stewart, 2006;Van Tulder & Keen, 2018).…”

“…However, despite concerted action, global biodiversity loss increases (Jones, Klein, et al, 2018; Jones, Venter, et al, 2018). Conservation interventions are frequently inhibited by contextually inappropriate approaches and governance arrangements, often less suited to complex systems (Armitage, Mbatha, Muhl, Rice, & Sowman, 2020; Game, Meijaard, Sheil, & McDonald‐Madden, 2014). More specifically, conservation priority‐setting and area‐based strategies promote quantity over quality, and are often ineffectively managed (Bhola et al, 2020; Geldmann et al, 2018; Pressey et al, 2017; Sacre et al, 2020).…”