Building local capacity for ecology and conservation of place in Latin America

Background/Question/Methods “If science is to help in biological conservation, it must be a much more inclusive and widespread science than we know now” (Allan Y. Cooperrider, 1996). In practice, by what means might science become much more inclusive and widespread than it is at present, and just how might this process contribute to conservation? One means has been "field tested" since 1994 In rural landscapes across Latin America, where local people learn to engage in first-hand scientific inquiry to answer their own questions about the ecology and conservation of the landscapes in which they live. Their investigations rigorously follow the scientific method, adjusted to reflect common sense and the focus on local concerns.

Results/Conclusions Four main approaches exist to scientific inquiry by local people. In “community inquiry,” residents such as subsistence farmers or fishermen propose their own management concerns, develop research questions to address these, design and carry out the complete investigations to answer the questions, reflect carefully and creatively on the results, and finally apply the reflections to decision-making. In “park guard inquiry,” park rangers and other personnel follow a similar sequence to answer questions related to ecology and management of protected areas and their biota. In “schoolyard ecology,” children perform hands-on scientific investigations on the ecology of the place most accessible to them—the schoolyard—and their teachers integrate these into the formal education curriculum. “Visitor inquiry” induces visitors to protected areas and other venues to engage in active instead of passive learning, and to relate what they've experienced to their actions and attitudes about the ecology and conservation of their own place. Examples from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, and other countries illustrate these four approaches. Whether these initiatives will take root in a given landscape often depends on whether or not they are continually encouraged—but never controlled—by a local facilitator who might or might not have formal training in ecology. Likewise, whether inquiries by local people will contribute significantly to conservation also depends on the individual investigators rather than institutions. At least for community inquiry, park guard inquiry, and schoolyard ecology contributions are indeed significant.