The emerging Smithsonian Conservation Commons is predicated on the concept that society needs the Smithsonian’s vast scholarly and scientific capability to be harnessed in service of developing conservation strategies in concert with practitioners and decision-makers from around the world. Through this new entity, Smithsonian will bring to bear our personnel, collections, public-private status, non-partisanship and capacity to work across the natural and social sciences and humanities to craft solutions for sustaining biodiversity. Our first challenge is internal and administrative: how to structure a new Smithsonian center dedicated to this purpose, one that works as well with--and for--adherents inside the Smithsonian as with---and for--our partners and collaborators outside. This challenge is being met in real time during 2016-2017 through a small dedicated Commons staff and Working Group, working imaginatively and collaboratively with the “wheels on the ground” at Smithsonian conservation research units and other segments of the Institution. For this structuring, in addition to reviewing historical records and our own documentation, we are studying models from transactional medicine and other sciences, and consulting with social science colleagues to define practical first steps for effective platform development.
Results/Conclusions
This paper reports on preliminary results from our “in-class homework” on what it is taking to build and be a successful center at the Smithsonian, one that integrates and promotes the work of humanities, social sciences, and natural science disciplines in service of conservation decision-making and practice. Among the first programs are development of the 2017 Earth Optimism Summit and signature programs in movement ecology, food systems, and land- and sea-scape conservation. By the time we present at ESA we will be considerably further along in this process, first launched in 2015.