Transforming Conservation , livre ebook

Transforming Conservation

Transforming Conservation
A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making
Edited by William J. Sutherland





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©2022 William J. Sutherland. Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapter’s authors.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text for non-commercial purposes of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
William J. Sutherland, Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2022, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0321
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ISBN Paperback: 978-1-80064-856-2
ISBN Hardback: 978-1-80064-857-9
ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-80064-858-6
ISBN Digital ebook (EPUB): 978-1-80064-859-3
ISBN Digital ebook (AZW3): 978-1-80064-860-9
ISBN XML: 978-1-80064-861-6
ISBN HTML: 978-1-80064-862-3
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0321
Cover image: Tiger Mountain / Issaquah, WA by Dave Hoefler.
Design by Katy Saunders

Contents
Preface ix
A Vision of Transformed Conservation Practice ix
References x
List of Authors xi
Acknowledgements xv
Reference xv
PART I: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? 1
1. Introduction: The Evidence Crisis and the Evidence Revolution
1.1 The Aim of the Book 5
1.2 The Evidence Crisis 5
1.3 Why is Poor Decision Making So Common? 7
1.4 The Evidence Revolution 11
1.5 The Case for Adopting Evidence Use 14
1.6 The Inefficiency Paradox 17
1.7 Transforming Decision Making 17
1.8 Structure of the Book 22
References 23
PART II: OBTAINING, ASSESSING AND SUMMARISING EVIDENCE 29
2. Gathering and Assessing Pieces of Evidence 31
2.1 What Counts as Evidence? 33
2.2 A Framework for Assessing the Weight of Evidence 36
2.3 Weighing the Evidence 41
2.4 Subjects of Evidence 42
2.5 Sources of Evidence 47
2.6 Types of Evidence 55
2.7 Acknowledgements 68
References 68
3. Assessing Collated and Synthesised Evidence 75
3.1 Collating the Evidence 77
3.2 Systematic Maps 77
3.3 Subject-Wide Evidence Syntheses 82
3.4 Systematic Reviews 85
3.5 Rapid Evidence Assessments 86
3.6 Meta-Analyses 87
3.7 Open Access Effect Sizes 90
3.8 Overviews of Reviews 92
References 92
4. Presenting Conclusions from Assessed Evidence 95
4.1 Principles for Presenting Evidence 97
4.2 Describing Evidence Searches 98
4.3 Presenting Different Types of Evidence 100
4.4 Presenting Evidence Quality 106
4.5 Balancing Evidence of Varying Strength 107
4.6 Visualising the Balance of Evidence 110
4.7 Synthesising Multiple Evidence Sources 112
References 130
5. Improving the Reliability of Judgements 133
5.1 The Role of Judgements in Decision-Making 135
5.2 When Experts Are Good (and Not so Good) 135
5.3 Blind Spots of the Human Mind 138
5.4 Strategies for Improving Judgements 142
5.5 Structured Frameworks for Making Group Judgements 154
5.6 Practical Methods for Improving Routine Judgements 159
References 164
PART III: MAKING AND APPLYING DECISIONS 177
6. Identifying Stakeholders and Collaborating with Communities 179
6.1 The Benefits of Community-Working 181
6.2 Types of Community Engagement 183
6.3 Identifying Who to Collaborate With 185
6.4 Initiating Contact 186
6.5 Creating and Maintaining Trust 189
6.6 Collaborating 189
References 193
7. Framing the Problem and Identifying Potential Solutions 197
7.1 The Approach to Identifying Problems and Potential Solutions 199
7.2 Defining the Scope of the Project and the Conservation Targets 200
7.3 Understanding the Biological and Human System 200
7.4 Identifying Threats and Opportunities 202
7.5 Taking Stock 213
7.6 Identifying Potential Actions 215
7.7 Developing Questions and Assumptions 220
References 227
8 Making Decisions for Policy and Practice 235
8.1 What is a Structured Approach to Decision-Making? 237
8.2 Filter Easy Decisions: Deciding Whether to Invest in Decision Making 241
8.3 Preparing to Make the Decision 244
8.4 Making Decisions 247
8.5 Multi-Criteria Analysis 248
8.6 Strategy Table 258
8.7 Classifying Decisions 258
8.8 Decision Trees 259
8.9 Creating Models 259
8.10 Achieving Consensus 263
References 264
9. Creating Evidence-Based Policy and Practice 269
9.1 How Embedding Evidence Improves Processes 271
9.2 General Principles for Embedding Evidence into Processes 272
9.3 Evaluating Evidence Use 275
9.4 Evidence-Based Species and Habitat Management Plans 278
9.5 Evidence-Based Guidance 279
9.6 Evidence-Based Policy 282
9.7 Evidence-Based Business Decisions 283
9.8 Evidence-Based Writing and Journalism 286
9.9 Evidence-Based Funding 288
9.10 Evidence-Based Decision-Support Tools 294
9.11 Evidence-Based Models 297
References 300
10. How Conservation Practice Can Generate Evidence 305
10.1 Ensuring Data Collection is Useful 307
10.2 Collecting Data Along the Causal Chain 308
10.3 Incorporating Tests into Conservation Practice 315
10.4 Design of Experiments and Tests 317
10.5 Value of Information: When Do We Know Enough? 322
10.6 Writing Up and Sharing Results 323
References 327
PART IV: TRANSFORMING SOCIETY 331
11. Creating a Culture of Evidence Use 333
11.1 Why Changing Cultures is Critical 335
11.2 Auditing Current Evidence Use 335
11.3 Creating an Evidence-Use Plan 338
11.4 Creating Expectations and Opportunities for Evidence Use 339
11.5 Providing the Capacity to Deliver Evidence Use 341
11.6 Training, Capacity Building, and Certification 341
11.7 Learning from Failure 342
11.8 Case Studies: Organisations who Shifted to Embrace Evidence Use 348
References 363
12. Transforming Practice: Checklists for Delivering Change
12.1 The Importance of Checklists 370
12.2 The Decision-Making Process 372
12.3 Organisations 372
12.4 Knowledge Brokers 375
12.5 Practitioners and Decision Makers 377
12.6 Commissioners of Reports and Advice 377
12.7 Funders and Philanthropists 379
12.8 The Research and Education Community 381
References 385
13. Supplementary Material from Online Resources 387
13.1 Sources of Evidence 388
13.2 Teaching Evidence Use 388
13.3 Building the Evidence Base 388
13.4 Delivering Change 389
13.5 Collaborators 390
References 390
Checklists, Boxes and Tables 393
Checklists 393
Boxes 393
Tables 394
Figures 397
Index 401

Preface
A Vision of Transformed Conservation Practice

© 2022 William J. Sutherland, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0321.14
The title of this book and preface are not exaggerations: we are serious about the need for delivering transformative change. We believe the processes outlined will deliver a better planet. Chapter 1 describes how conservation efforts are often far less effective than they could be. The consequences include wasting money, eroding public and political support, under-delivering the protection of species or habitats for a given budget, and deterring potential investments in conservation. The subsequent chapters describe how evidence can be used to make more effective decisions.
Fundamental strategic and cultural shifts are required. The strategic shift is to ensure evidence is available when and as needed and that decision makers have the necessary skills and tools to use evidence. The cultural shift is for it to be unacceptable to make decisions that ignore available evidence or effective decision-making processes.
Medicine has taken a strategic approach in which a doctor can access synthesised evidence or guidance in minutes. Similarly, if conservation science was to invest in synthesising evidence comprehensively, and embedding it in standards, policy, certifications, and guidelines, then decision makers could be assured that their actions were justified, based on the best available evidence. The cost of this is trivial in relation to the likely savings but it needs leadership to make the strategic investment.
The cultural shift refers to the need to be convinced and passionate about improving practice so that evidence use is expected and routinely delivered. Not using evidence would then be seen as being unprofessional and inefficient. Once transparent evidence use becomes the norm, many of the procedures described in this book would become routine.
The transition to evidence-based decision making will require new skill