Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom.
Conserv Biol. 2011 Jun;25(3):476-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01625.x. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
Integrating knowledge from across the natural and social sciences is necessary to effectively address societal tradeoffs between human use of biological diversity and its preservation. Collaborative processes can change the ways decision makers think about scientific evidence, enhance levels of mutual trust and credibility, and advance the conservation policy discourse. Canada has responsibility for a large fraction of some major ecosystems, such as boreal forests, Arctic tundra, wetlands, and temperate and Arctic oceans. Stressors to biological diversity within these ecosystems arise from activities of the country's resource-based economy, as well as external drivers of environmental change. Effective management is complicated by incongruence between ecological and political boundaries and conflicting perspectives on social and economic goals. Many knowledge gaps about stressors and their management might be reduced through targeted, timely research. We identify 40 questions that, if addressed or answered, would advance research that has a high probability of supporting development of effective policies and management strategies for species, ecosystems, and ecological processes in Canada. A total of 396 candidate questions drawn from natural and social science disciplines were contributed by individuals with diverse organizational affiliations. These were collaboratively winnowed to 40 by our team of collaborators. The questions emphasize understanding ecosystems, the effects and mitigation of climate change, coordinating governance and management efforts across multiple jurisdictions, and examining relations between conservation policy and the social and economic well-being of Aboriginal peoples. The questions we identified provide potential links between evidence from the conservation sciences and formulation of policies for conservation and resource management. Our collaborative process of communication and engagement between scientists and decision makers for generating and prioritizing research questions at a national level could be a model for similar efforts beyond Canada.
整合自然科学和社会科学的知识对于有效解决人类利用生物多样性与保护生物多样性之间的社会权衡至关重要。合作过程可以改变决策者思考科学证据的方式，增强相互信任和信誉水平，并推动保护政策的讨论。加拿大负责一些主要生态系统的很大一部分，如北方森林、北极苔原、湿地以及温带和北极海洋。这些生态系统中的生物多样性压力来自于该国资源型经济的活动，以及环境变化的外部驱动因素。有效的管理因生态和政治边界之间的不一致以及对社会和经济目标的冲突观点而变得复杂。通过有针对性的、及时的研究，可以减少许多关于压力源及其管理的知识差距。我们确定了 40 个问题，如果得到解决或回答，将有助于推进研究，从而有很大的可能性为加拿大的物种、生态系统和生态过程制定有效的政策和管理策略。总共从自然和社会科学学科中选出 396 个候选问题，这些问题是由具有不同组织背景的个人提出的。我们的合作团队通过协作将这些问题减少到 40 个。这些问题强调了对生态系统的理解、气候变化的影响和缓解、协调多个司法管辖区的治理和管理工作，以及研究保护政策与原住民社会和经济福祉之间的关系。我们确定的问题为保护科学的证据与保护和资源管理政策的制定之间提供了潜在的联系。我们在科学家和决策者之间进行的沟通和参与的合作过程，用于在国家层面生成和优先考虑研究问题，可能成为加拿大以外类似努力的模式。
