Leaders of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Alliance for Religions and Conservation (ARC), and Yale University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology (FORE) endorsed Guidelines for Interacting with Faith-Based Leaders and Communities: A Proposal by and for Members of the Society for Conservation Biology. This document is the outcome of the Best Practices Project initiated by the Religion and Conservation Biology Working Group in March 2016 and led by SCB members Sue Higgins (Center for Large Landscapes Conservation) and Jame Schaefer (Marquette University).
Martin Palmer, Secretary General of Alliance of Religions and Conservation based in the United Kingdom, commented that the document “will be most helpful in guiding conservationists in their outreach to faith groups in ways that are sensitive and thoughtful,” and he offered to share the document with its partners. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, founders and directors of FORE, wrote that the guidelines “will be enormously helpful to both conservation leaders and religious leaders” and “create a practical path forward to assist with further collaboration between religious communities and conservation groups.” Commenting on behalf of the AAAS’s Dialogue on Religion and Science, Robert O’Malley found in the guidelines “a robust and well-sourced rationale for competent and culturally sensitive engagement with faith-based leaders and communities.” Their comments appear on the last page of the document that was submitted to the RCBWG Board in February for advancing to the SCB Board of Governors.
Guidelines for Interacting draws upon SCB members’ experiences and concerns in response to a survey from May to September 2016, a forum at the 2016 International Marine Conservation Congress in Newfoundland/Labrador, a symposium, workshop and poster session at the 2017 ICCB in Colombia, and an e-mail request to all RCBWG members in October 2017. Guidelines that SCBmembers recommended fall under the usual stages of conservation projects---planning, initiating, implementing, closing, and following up. Members annotated their recommendations based on their experiences in the field and included their contact information so other interested members can readily reach them.
Interactive sessions will be held on Guidelines for Interacting at the European, Marine, North American, Latin America-Caribbean, and Asia congresses for conservation biology in coming months (June-August). In addition to receiving an over view of the guidelines, participants in these sessions will have opportunities to (1) share their insights after having used one or more of the guidelines, (2) discuss the possibility of preparing a case study using Guidelines for Interacting, (3) commit to presenting a case study at the 2019 ICCB for which a symposium will be proposed, and (4) identify other venues in which to share the guidelines.
SCB members who are attending one of these regional congresses are urged to participate. Please check the congress schedule for exact dates, times, and places.
SCB/RCBWG members who will be facilitating these sessions are: ECCB—Jame Schaefer (Marquette University); IMCC—David Johns (Portland State University); NACCCB—David Ostergren (Goshen College) and Israel Borokini (University of Nevada-Reno); LACCCB—Bob Sluka (A ROCHA); and Conservation Asia—Kit Magellan (U of Hong Kong).
Contact schaeferj@marquette.edu for additional information and update on exact days, times, and places of the various sessions at the congresses this summer.