Title: Working together towards a Thriving Future: Communities, culture, and conservation

by Ana Lemos, Msc
Environmental Social Scientist
Program Manager

Abstract: Historically, conservation efforts have struggled to
integrate human wellbeing with biodiversity conservation by
seeking to protect threatened landscapes by restricting human
use and encroachment. Yet in recent decades the global
environmental conservation community has recognized that for
initiatives to be successful, we must engage with local
communities. We don’t just need to protect land and
biodiversity, we need to create Thriving Futures, where both
places and people thrive. What tools or approaches can be
used that result in effective engagement of local communities in
conservation? I will present my experience working alongside
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs ) in the
Andes Amazon and East Africa to ensure they have the tools,
resources, and partnerships they need to create and lead
solutions that benefit both their communities and landscapes.
By paying attention to local people’s wellbeing through an
assets-based approach, it increases local peoples’ commitment
to and benefits from conservation and can enhance
environmental sustainability as local communities can and do
act as stewards of the natural resources that secure their
livelihoods.