Guidelines for Systematic Review in Conservation and Environmental Management

Abstract:  An increasing number of applied disciplines are utilizing evidence-based frameworks to review and disseminate the effectiveness of management and policy interventions. The rationale is that increased accessibility of the best available evidence will provide a more efficient and less biased platform for decision making. We argue that there are significant benefits for conservation in using such a framework, but the scientific community needs to undertake and disseminate more systematic reviews before the full benefit can be realized. We devised a set of guidelines for undertaking formalized systematic review, based on a health services model. The guideline stages include planning and conducting a review, including protocol formation, search strategy, data inclusion, data extraction, and analysis. Review dissemination is addressed in terms of current developments and future plans for a Web-based open-access library. By the use of case studies we highlight critical modifications to guidelines for protocol formulation, data-quality assessment, data extraction, and data synthesis for conservation and environmental management. Ecological data presented significant but soluble challenges for the systematic review process, particularly in terms of the quantity, accessibility, and diverse quality of available data. In the field of conservation and environmental management there needs to be further engagement of scientists and practitioners to develop and take ownership of an evidence-based framework.     

Community Based Interventions as a Strategy to Combat Desertification in the Arid and Semi-Arid Rangelands of Kajiado District, Kenya

Vegetation degradation, especially the disappearance of woody vegetation and a diminished grass cover, has aroused the concern of the Maasai community (semi-nomadic pastoralists) of Kajiado District, Kenya. The district is one of Kenya’s arid and semi-arid districts. Over recent years, they have observed their land resources deteriorate due to the desertification process caused by the land use practices of man. They have identified indicators of desertification such as increase of bare lands, which have been invaded by previously unknown grasses and weeds that are of no economic value, and also the disappearance of some useful plant species. It is due to the above concerns that a group of 30 farmers have been very keen to participate in on-farm research to strategize on ways to halt and even reverse the desertification process. The participatory research has identified useful trees that the farmers have been planting around homesteads, as woodlots on their farms to provide woodfuel, shade, and to act as windbreaks. They have also identified species for planting as live fences instead of using thorny tree branches as fencing material, which contributes further to the desertification process. Due to the termite menace on young tree seedlings, the farmers use indigenous knowledge to prepare concoctions using locally available materials, which they apply to planting holes and on seedlings. During awareness campaigns, the farmer research group highlights the need to conserve vegetation resources and also expounds on the concept of planting two trees after one is felled.     

Different motivations for knowledge sharing and hiding: The role of motivating work design

Little research to date has focused on understanding employee motivation to share and hide knowledge. Using self‐determination theory, we tested the premise that knowledge sharing and hiding might be differentially motivated and that work design characteristics might influence the motivation to share knowledge with colleagues. In a panel survey of Australian knowledge workers and in a Chinese knowledge‐intensive organization, we asked knowledge workers, using time‐lagged designs, about perceptions of work design, motivation to share knowledge, and self‐reported knowledge sharing and hiding behaviors. Results, largely replicated across both samples, indicated that cognitive job demands and job autonomy were positively related to future reports of knowledge‐sharing frequency and usefulness via autonomous motivation to share knowledge. Unexpectedly, task interdependence was positively related to the three forms of knowledge hiding (evasive and rationalized hiding, and playing dumb) via external regulation to share knowledge. Implications for the design of jobs that motivate knowledge sharing and demotivate knowledge hiding are discussed.     

Rivals or allies: How performance‐prove goal orientation influences knowledge hiding

Previous research suggests that performance‐prove goal orientation is positively related to knowledge hiding. However, we argue that this effect depends on the focus of performance feedback (i.e., individual‐ and group‐focused feedback), which shapes the nature of the competitive expression of performance‐prove goal orientation (i.e., intragroup and intergroup oriented). We conducted three studies to test our theoretical model. The results of Study 1 with time‐lagged data from 128 part‐time MBA students showed that performance‐prove goal orientation was positively related to knowledge hiding when performance feedback focused more (vs. less) on individual performance but was negatively related to knowledge hiding when performance feedback focused more (vs. less) on group performance. Study 2 replicated these moderation findings in an experimental study of 210 undergraduate students. Study 3 again replicated the moderation effects using multisource data from 317 employees and their supervisors. It also included creativity as an outcome of knowledge hiding and illustrated the distal consequence of the moderation effects of individual‐ and group‐focused performance feedback. We then discussed the implications for the theory and practice of performance‐prove goal orientation and knowledge hiding.     

Knowledge,attitude and behavior of farmers in farmland conservation in China: an application of the structural equation model

We analyzed the relationship between the conservation behavior of farmers and their environmental attitude and knowledge, whilst controlling for exogenous socio-economic factors. We employed the structural equation model with cross-sectional data from 442 farmers from the Guanzhong Plain of China. Results showed that local farmers generally possessed a positive environmental attitude and undertook considerable conservation action. Conservation behavior was directly affected by environmental attitude and indirectly by environmental knowledge (via attitude). Social networks, farm size, land rights, age and incentives were significant exogenous explanatory variables. Thus, understanding the importance of socio-behavioral characteristics, including the environmental attitude and knowledge of farmers, is important for the development of farmland conservation policies. Specifically, farmers in this area were found to significantly depend on each other for information on farmland conservation practices. Thus, role model farmer discussions, dissemination of environmentally friendly techniques via social networks and the rewarding of environmentally friendly behavior among farmers should be used to encourage ongoing restoration endeavors, and thereby help mitigate environmental degradation.     

Transforming conservation science and practice for a postnormal world

We examine issues to consider when reframing conservation science and practice in the context of global change. New framings of the links between ecosystems and society are emerging that are changing peoples’ values and expectations of nature, resulting in plural perspectives on conservation. Reframing conservation for global change can thus be regarded as a stage in the evolving relationship between people and nature rather than some recent trend. New models of how conservation links with transformative adaptation include how decision contexts for conservation can be reframed and integrated with an adaptation pathways approach to create new options for global‐change‐ready conservation. New relationships for conservation science and governance include coproduction of knowledge that supports social learning. New processes for implementing adaptation for conservation outcomes include deliberate practices used to develop new strategies, shift world views, work with conflict, address power and intergenerational equity in decisions, and build consciousness and creativity that empower agents to act. We argue that reframing conservation for global change requires scientists and practitioners to implement approaches unconstrained by discipline and sectoral boundaries, geopolitical polarities, or technical problematization. We consider a stronger focus on inclusive creation of knowledge and the interaction of this knowledge with societal values and rules is likely to result in conservation science and practice that meets the challenges of a postnormal world.     

A roadmap for knowledge exchange and mobilization research in conservation and natural resource management

Scholars across all disciplines have long been interested in how knowledge moves within and beyond their community of peers. Rapid environmental changes and calls for sustainable management practices mean the best knowledge possible is needed to inform decisions, policies, and practices to protect biodiversity and sustainably manage vulnerable natural resources. Although the conservation literature on knowledge exchange (KE) and knowledge mobilization (KM) has grown in recent years, much of it is based on context‐specific case studies. This presents a challenge for learning cumulative lessons from KE and KM research and thus effectively using knowledge in conservation and natural resources management. Although continued research on the gap between knowledge and action is valuable, overarching conceptual frameworks are now needed to enable summaries and comparisons across diverse KE‐KM research. We propose a knowledge‐action framework that provides a conceptual roadmap for future research and practice in KE/KM with the aim of synthesizing lessons learned from contextual case studies and guiding the development and testing of hypotheses in this domain. Our knowledge‐action framework has 3 elements that occur at multiple levels and scales: knowledge production (e.g., academia and government), knowledge mediation (e.g., knowledge networks, actors, relational dimension, and contextual dimension), and knowledge‐based action (e.g., instrumental, symbolic, and conceptual). The framework integrates concepts from the sociology of science in particular, and serves as a guide to further comprehensive understanding of knowledge exchange and mobilization in conservation and sustainable natural resource management.     

Context-dependent evaluation of climate change policies: competing policies,knowledge and emotions

Climate change policies can compete with policies on other social and environmental problems for limited economic resources. This paper investigates the potential influence of alternative policies on citizens’ preferences for climate change policies. A contingent valuation study was implemented to estimate the impact of observable and unobservable contextual effects of competing polices on climate change valuation. Individuals are also investigated about their endowment of knowledge and emotional reactions to such problems. The results show that citizens’ valuation of climate change policies crucially depends on the context-dependent competing policies. The valuation rises as the number of competing policies increases. This increment becomes economically significant when the competing policies are related to specific problems such as forest fires and development. In addition, the valuation also rises with the amount of knowledge endowed by the individual about the climate change problem, and with the experience of negative emotions such as fear and sadness.     

Conservation Focus on Europe: Major Conservation Policy Issues That Need to Be Informed by Conservation Science

Abstract:  Europe is one of the world's most densely populated continents and has a long history of human-dominated land- and seascapes. Europe is also at the forefront of developing and implementing multinational conservation efforts. In this contribution, we describe some top policy issues in Europe that need to be informed by high-quality conservation science. These include evaluation of the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network of protected sites, implications of rapid economic and subsequent land-use change in Central and Eastern Europe, conservation of marine biodiversity and sustainability of fisheries, the effect of climate change on movement of species in highly fragmented landscapes, and attempts to assess the economic value of ecosystem services and biodiversity. Broad policy issues such as those identified are not easily amenable to scientific experiment. A key challenge at the science–policy interface is to identify the research questions underlying these problem areas so that conservation science can provide evidence to underpin future policy development .     

Using knowledge mapping to rethink the gap between science and action

Scholars have long stressed the need to bridge the gap between science and action and seek the most efficient use of knowledge for decision making. Many contributors have attempted to consider and understand the sociopolitical forces involved in knowledge generation and exchange. We argue, however, that a model is still needed to adequately conceptualize and frame the knowledge networks in which these processes are embedded. We devised a model for knowledge mapping as a prerequisite for knowledge management in the context of conservation. Using great ape conservation to frame our approach, we propose that knowledge mapping should be based on 2 key principles. First, each conservation network results from the conglomeration of subnetworks of expertise producing and using knowledge. Second, beyond the research-management gradient, other dimensions, such as the scale of operation, geographic location, and organizational characteristics, must also be considered. Assessing both knowledge production and trajectory across different dimensions of the network opens new space for investigating and reducing the gap between science and action.