Pardee Center Publishes New Policy Briefs
The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, an affiliate center of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, recently published two new research papers on conservation and coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) as part of their Issues in Brief series.
The first paper, titled “Changing Conservation Behavior by Changing the Behavior of Conservation Programs,” was published on September 2, 2020. In it, author Kira Sullivan-Wiley explores how conservation organizations are at the forefront of efforts to improve environmental and human well-being, but are still not adequately integrating social sciences, and especially behavioral sciences, into these efforts.
An excerpt:
Over the last several decades, the environmental conservation and economic development communities have begun to converge on the idea that environmental and social systems are intertwined. The idea has evolved from one that pitches the environment against development, to one that suggested a balance between them, to the current thinking that there might be opportunities for both to flourish simultaneously…Forward movement in each of these areas relies on the mutual and sustained improvement of intertwined social and environmental systems into the longer-term future.
The second policy brief, titled “New Perspectives on the Dynamics of Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS),” was published on August 13, 2020. CHANS research seeks to holistically understand how social, cultural, economic, and political systems are intricately connected to natural systems. This paper – authored by Emily S. Klein and Les Kaufman – lays out the vision and work of the CHANS program at the Pardee Center, which has combined observation, experiment, modeling, and theory to advance CHANS science around the world over the past decade.
“Changing Conservation Behavior by Changing the Behavior of Conservation Programs” and “New Perspectives on the Dynamics of Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS)” are both available on the Pardee Center website.
Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future is an interdisciplinary research center affiliated with the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Through programs of scholarship, outreach, and education, the Pardee Center works to improve public decision-making and policy to train future generations of interdisciplinary scholars. Read more about the center here.