Symposium # 4: Human Development and Biodiversity Conservation in the Developing World: Finding a Balance in Concept and Practice.

Organized by: R.S. Reid and K. Galvin.
Sponsored by: International Affairs Section.
Sunday, August 6, 2000
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Ballroom I - Cliff Lodge

This symposium will explore the conceptual and practical challenges of balancing the goals of biodiversity conservation and human development in developing world contexts. Conservation and human development are often presented as conflicting goals, but new research on several continents shows that these goals can be brought together into a conceptual and practical whole. This research links long-term ecological and social science research with close practical work in communities and with policy-makers on the ground. Several speakers will highlight broad social forces that can either threaten or ensure biodiversity conservation, including land-use change, land tenure, institutional arrangements, and policy. These broad issues will be knit together with specific examples of when and where these goals can be aligned and when they cannot. Speakers will also emphasize practical tools that are being used to bring the best of ecological and social science research into the realm of policy at community, national and regional scales. The symposium will conclude with presentation of the conclusions of a workshop that precedes the ESA meeting and will synthesize principles that cut across sites on three continents.