September 1, 2020
On August 31, 2020, Mongabay released a new opinion piece written by Conservation Solutions Lab co-founder Michael Brown, along with other affiliated conservation researchers. The commentary piece is titled “Communities, conservation, and development in the age of COVID: Time for rethinking approaches.”
In this op-ed, the authors advocate for systemic, long-term solutions to existing biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development challenges aggravated by the current pandemic.
“The existing systems and structures upon which conservation is based must evolve. Climate change, biodiversity conservation, and poverty elimination efforts have been further complicated by Covid-19, with the brunt of the pandemic borne most acutely by the poorest and most vulnerable.”
The authors refer to substantial evidence that demonstrates that local and indigenous communities around the world “are nature’s most committed, capable, and effective stewards.”
One of the missions of the Conservation Solutions Lab is to ignite local leadership by empowering local communities to take on a protagonist role in the decision-making and implementation of conservation efforts across the globe.