A Multidisciplinary Conceptualization of Conservation Opportunity |
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| Authors: | KATIE MOON VANESSA M ADAMS STEPHANIE R JANUCHOWSKI‐HARTLEY MAKSYM POLYAKOV MORENA MILLS DUAN BIGGS ANDREW T KNIGHT EDWARD T GAME CHRISTOPHER M RAYMOND |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute for Applied Ecology/Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, , Bruce, ACT, Australia;2. Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, , Darwin, NT, 0909 Australia;3. Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, , Madison, WI, 53706 U.S.A.;4. Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, , Crawley, WA, 6009 Australia;5. Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland, , Brisbane, QLD, 4072 Australia;6. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, University of Queensland, , Brisbane, QLD, 4072 Australia;7. Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, , Buckhurst Road, Ascot, United Kingdom;8. Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, , P.O. Box 77000 Port Elizabeth, South Africa;9. The Nature Conservancy, 245 Riverside Drive, , West End, Australia;10. Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia, , GPO Box 2471 Adelaide, SA, 5001 Australia;11. Geography and Environmental Studies, School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, , Private Bag 50 HOBART, TAS, 7001 Australia;12. Enviroconnect, , PO Box 190 Stirling, SA, 5152 Australia |
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| Abstract: | An opportunity represents an advantageous combination of circumstances that allows goals to be achieved. We reviewed the nature of opportunity and how it manifests in different subsystems (e.g., biophysical, social, political, economic) as conceptualized in other bodies of literature, including behavior, adoption, entrepreneur, public policy, and resilience literature. We then developed a multidisciplinary conceptualization of conservation opportunity. We identified 3 types of conservation opportunity: potential, actors remove barriers to problem solving by identifying the capabilities within the system that can be manipulated to create support for conservation action; traction, actors identify windows of opportunity that arise from exogenous shocks, events, or changes that remove barriers to solving problems; and existing, everything is in place for conservation action (i.e., no barriers exist) and an actor takes advantage of the existing circumstances to solve problems. Different leverage points characterize each type of opportunity. Thus, unique stages of opportunity identification or creation and exploitation exist: characterizing the system and defining problems; identifying potential solutions; assessing the feasibility of solutions; identifying or creating opportunities; and taking advantage of opportunities. These stages can be undertaken independently or as part of a situational analysis and typically comprise the first stage, but they can also be conducted iteratively throughout a conservation planning process. Four types of entrepreneur can be identified (business, policy, social, and conservation), each possessing attributes that enable them to identify or create opportunities and take advantage of them. We examined how different types of conservation opportunity manifest in a social–ecological system (the Great Barrier Reef) and how they can be taken advantage of. Our multidisciplinary conceptualization of conservation opportunity strengthens and legitimizes the concept. |
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| Keywords: | case studies conservation actions entrepreneur opportunity exploitation socio– ecological system window of opportunity acciones de conservació n empresario estudios de caso oportunidad de explotació n sistema socio‐ecoló gico ventana de oportunidad |
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