Explore the importance of engagement, education and empowerment in supporting the conservation work of local communities
See the wide-ranging discussion of the theme within a full-length film and book, and within many community stories, videos, webinars, presentations and publications…
Several rural and urban Nova Scotian communities face issues with accessing healthy and sustainable foods. Many communities began initiating self-sustaining food projects, such as community gardens, in an attempt to improve food security. ...
Severe land degradation and environmental disasters can act as triggers to new community conservation and development initiatives and as stimulus to existing ones. ...
Koh Sralao is a small 300 household mangrove-estuarine fishing village on the southwestern coast of Cambodia. Fishers have spoken about fish declines for decades and continue to be concerned about fish stocks...
Since 2011, indigenous communities have worked with researchers from the Asociación Faunagua, World Fisheries Trust, and the University of Victoria, to better understand the fisheries situation, and identify pathways to improve livelihood and food security in the region...
Local community groups have been key actors in the Eastern Shore’s forestry and wilderness conversation...
The Coquimbo Region's climate is semi-arid with scarce rainfall. The increasing water scarcity is particularly challenging for the Coquimbo Region’s communities as many make their livelihoods from agriculture and goat farming....
Conservation was seen at Koh Pitak as being an essential element of livelihood recovery. The community recognised that they themselves were partially to blame for the environmental degradation that had occurred and designed initiatives to reverse this trend. ...
The Maya people engage in conservation activities that help to maintain the services that the local environment provides....
Due to a number of factors, Odisha is one of the poorest states in India. The Samudram Women’s Federation, a state level federation of women fish workers and a social enterprise, is working to reduce poverty and protect biodiversity....
In an attempt to protect local forest reserves, community members in Tujereng, The Gambia, have pursued the government’s Community Forestry Programme (CFP), seeking new ways to sustain and expand local conservation efforts....
The Punta Allen community is estimated to be less than 1 metre above sea level, with a population of around 600 persons. Their co-management approach has helped the fishery to develop in a sustainable manner....
This short movie was produced to communicate scientific findings that describe the plurality of human-ocean relationships and their associated values on Yaeyama islands, Okinawa, Japan...
This film looks at how coastal communities across Canada and around the world are preparing for, and responding to, a range of climate change impacts and other hazards hitting the coast....
In the summer of 2014, in partnership with the Community Conservation Research Network and the University of Victoria’s Science Venture program, Uu-a-thluk hosted science camps in several Nuu-chah-nulth communities with stewardship as a focus. Equipped with cameras, the children and youth went into their territories......
Members of a Gambian community discuss conservation and stewardship...
A video report on the inhabitants of the scenic Koh Pitak island and their efforts to manage local ecotourism...
Across the Canadian Maritimes there are many unpublicized stories of coastal community heros, groups of people working together to protect the health of their fisheries, watersheds, and community heritage....
Promoting Environmental Conservation and Cooperation (PECC) is a project of the Kesho Trust in cooperation with 6 villages adjacent to Saadani National Park, Tanzania. The project is focused on building relationships between park management and communities through improved mutual understanding and open communication....
Celebrating community involvement in marine conservation and management...
This webinar presents some of the insights coming from the work of the Community Conservation Research Network (CCRN) over the past six years. Tony Charles, CCRN Director, explores the linkages of Communities, Conservation and Livelihoods by drawing on the network’s case studies of communities around......
Issues of power and politics are at the heart of community conservation which in turn influences its ultimate success and failure. Power is central to understanding processes and structures associated with resource and environmental conservation. This may be particularly important in the case of community......
What are the fundamental principles of engagement of First Nations governments, organizations and peoples in community conservation, land use and resource management issues? How can these principles, such as respect, guide process and action? This talk will cover these questions, as well as what reconciliation......
In this webinar, Dawn Foxcroft and Michelle Colyn discuss the power of intergenerational knowledge transmission between youth and elders and its connection to stewardship in Indigenous communities. As members of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, along Canada’s West Coast, and working for Uu-a-thluk, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council......
Dr. Fikret Berkes is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba and a core member of the Community Conservation Research Network team. Dr. Berkes is a leader in developing and applying the approaches of social-ecological systems, resilience, community-based management, adaptive co-management, indigenous knowledge......
The over 400 registrants attending the Communities
Charles, A., Loucks, L., Berkes, F., and D. Armitage. 2020. Community science: A typology and its implications for governance of social-ecological systems. Environmental Science & Policy 106:77-86.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.01.019
Charles, A., L. Sweeney, L. Dean & R. Zimmerman. 2020. Nova Scotian Communities & COVID-19: Challenges and Resilience. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Available online:https://www.communityconservation.net/nova-scotian-communities-and-covid-19/
Charles, A. 2018. Meaningful partnerships in meaningful ocean governance. p.24-29 in: The Future of Ocean Governance and Capacity Development: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918-2002)
Bennett, N., Roth, R., Klain, S., Chan, K., Clark, D., Cullman, G., Epstein, G., Nelson, P., Stedman, R., Teel, T., Thomas, R., Wyborn, C., Currans, D., Greenberg, A., Sandlos, J & Verissimo, D. 2016. Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation. Conservation Biology
Bennett, N., Roth, R., Klain, S., Chan, K., Christie, P., Clark, D., Cullman, G., Curran, D., Durbin, T., Epstein, G., Greenberg, A., Nelson, P., Sandlos, J, Stedman, R., Teel, T., Thomas, R., Verissimo, D. and Wyborn, C. 2016. Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation. Biological Conservation 205: 93–108
Berdej, S., D. Armitage and A. Charles. 2016. Governance and Community Conservation. Community Conservation Research Network. Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Charles, A. Governance of tenure in small-scale fisheries: Key considerations. Land Tenure Journal 1:9-37. (2013)
Coastal CURA: Communities Managing Coasts Together. 2011. People in Places: Engaging Together in Integrated Resource Management. An International Conference in Halifax, Canada. June 27-29, 2011. [Available online at: http://www.coastalcura.ca/cap_follow2.html]
Graham, J., A. Charles, and A. Bull. 2006. Community Fisheries Management Handbook. Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada, 135p. https://www.communityconservation.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CommunityFisheriesManagementHandbook.pdf