SHARED
PRINCIPLES
While there are growing calls for more work at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and equity, spatial conservation planning and environmental justice analyses are still very siloed. A set of shared principles across biodiversity and human equity-focused efforts can offer a framework to address both challenges by guiding purposeful selection and application of maps and advancing equitable conservation planning.
Working Together At The Intersection
Without a focused and coordinated effort to connect conservation objectives (the what) and conservation maps/data (the where), planning efforts may continue to be piecemeal, arbitrary, and ineffective at addressing the interconnected crises at hand: biodiversity loss, climate change, and inequitable access to nature and its benefits. ​A set of shared principles can offer a framework to address these challenges by guiding purposeful selection and application of maps and advancing equitable conservation planning. As the conservation community recognizes the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in conservation success, the spatial planning process should adapt to reflect it. Doing so may allow researchers, practitioners, policymakers, funders, and communities to be more explicit in investing limited resources in places that serve to generate positive outcomes at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and equity.
Shared Principles
Environmental Health
the state of well-being that leads to clean air, water, soil, and suitable climate. The state may change to aid communities in surviving external challenges.
Access to Resources
the availability and attainability of resources and suitable climates without undue burden.
Fundamental Needs
the conditions necessary for individuals and communities to fulfill needs related to safety and respect and to avoid serious harm. Some needs that can only come from human interactions with each other and their environment.
Representation
the opportunity and ability to speak or act on behalf of a community. It is meant to ensure the inclusion of appropriate communities and their components.
Durability
the ability to sustain or adapt in face of a stressor, especially those caused by climate change, globalization, and urbanization.
Recovery
the process of reducing or reversing the negative impacts of natural or manmade risks on communities to allow for restoration to a former or better state.
JOIN US
We represent a community of scientists with expertise in creating, analyzing and/or using spatial data. We believe spatial data analysis can play an important role in ensuring that prioritization of future conservation efforts improves biodiversity, addresses climate change, and advances the well-being of people, particularly overburdened and disproportionately impacted communities. For some of us, our mission is conservation, but we value equity. For others, it is vice versa. Here we identify a set of shared principles that underlie spatial prioritizations for making positive impact at the intersection of the two.
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Lindsay Rosa
Defenders of Wildlife
Together, we recognize
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” (G.E.P. Box, 1976). The data and maps oversimplify our world and therefore have inherent errors. We are not trying to correct these, but work within their bounds and make their limitations clear to the user. Importantly, we recognize that these maps are based on our current reality and reflect the systems that we are trying to change (see decolonization). They are often created by historically privileged people and organizations.
Communities have the right to define, collect, protect, interpret, manage, and apply data in a way that respects their ethics, values, and/or relational responsibilities. Inclusion of these data should be voluntary and must genuinely make space for the needs of communities. Indigenous communities in particular, have unique governance structures, histories, and practices that should be respected.
We aim to maximize benefits and minimize harm. Though the principles are shared among us, specific actions that may be beneficial for one - people or wildlife communities - may not benefit the other. It is important to recognize potential harms and unintended consequences.
We may have some data, but we do not have all the information. Local groups hold knowledge critical to prioritizing action and allocating resources in their communities. Understanding values and needs and facilitating meaningful involvement in mapping and decision-making are paramount to achieving better outcomes for people and nature.
Colonialism has affected marginalized groups in different ways, resulting in different inequities and requiring different approaches and solutions. Forcibly displaced Indigenous peoples have different circumstances and needs than people that endured forced migration from the Global South or minorities that willingly migrated. As a result, inequity can look different for different communities.
This work and its context are ever-changing. We cannot assume that because something was right for the past or present, that it will be right for the future. Quantitative and holistic metrics of success will also need to keep pace with the ever-evolving paradigm.
There is not one map to rule them all.
To the contrary, new maps will be created to answer new questions that arise from changing conditions and our understanding of them. These shared principles should guide effective application of knowledge to the map-making and spatial analysis that often informs decision-making. Intentional map selection and use will be important to addressing biodiversity loss, climate change, and inequitable access to nature and its benefits together.