Conservation and Politics

Sometimes it really seems as if the odds are stacked, stacked very high, against environmental conservation. In most cases, the basic hurdle of gaining traction, support, and buy-in from a variety of stakeholders has to be overcome. I call it "basic" but it is in no way simple. Indeed, these "basic" hurdles are probably the hardest part of the fight. Just as with all other changes, there are so many embedded interests that depend on the status quo not changing, or people who depend on utilizing natural resources that need to be protected, or people who fundamentally disagree with conserving for conservation's sake.

On the other side, there are no silver bullets for conservation, and unfortunately, many of the best conceived plans will often fail because success generally requires iterations and modifications. Further, in all fairness, there is the danger that conservation plans don't take into account the realities on the ground for affected human communities, meaning that any failures will be amplified in the court of public opinion and seized on to revert to previous usage patterns.

Yet, as this article (and depressingly similar stories to it - gorillas in the Congo for instance) even places where conservation has been adopted and achieved notable success, a single unforeseeable event like political instability can quickly erase any and all gains in a heartbeat. And unfortunately the environment, just like good governance or conservation, can be destroyed quickly but take years or even generations to recover.