SGER: Pathways to Change in Environmental Organizations: Linking Population and Environment

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Abstract

The linkages between population and environment have become an increasing focus of attention at a range of scales from global networks of organizations to community-based projects and in a range of settings, including academic, government, and non-government organizations. The purpose of this project is to explore the efforts of two conservation non-government organizations (NGOs), The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, to build population-environment (PE) issues into their portfolios of projects to protect biodiversity in less developed countries. These organizations have traditionally focused on the protection of biodiversity and their activities reflect a dominant concern with ecological aspects of environmental issues. In contrast, addressing PE issues requires attention to social aspects of environmental issues. This, in turn, generates a need to incorporate new frameworks of analysis and methods from the social sciences into conservation projects. Thus, the efforts of these NGOs raise questions about organizational capacity and change. The work of these two organizations to consider PE linkages is one example of a more general trend to incorporate social dimensions into, and develop integrated approaches for, environmental management. Some authors have argued that this shift requires a significant change in the dynamics of organizations in government, corporate, and non-profit sectors. It is not clear, however, the degree to which such change is episodic or continuous. This project investigates internal and external organizational dynamics of developing PE activities in field programs in less developed countries. It examines dynamics for projects that span six countries (Ecuador, Guatemala, Madagascar, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States) with respect to how PE linkages are defined, what frameworks of analysis and methods are used in to address these linkages, factors internal and external to the organization that have helped and hindered in incorporating population issues into field projects, the connections between PE activities and other activities, frameworks of analysis and methods used in the organizations, the role of partnership arrangements, and how PE activities are adapted to local social conditions and priorities at project sites. Data about the field activities, and the NGOs more generally, are generated from documents, field visits, interviews, and observations, in collaboration with members of the organizations. This exploratory project provides lessons for future work on PE issues, generates insights into the organizational dynamics of linking ideas across disciplinary fields in environmental management, and contributes to the development of a larger research agenda. This research agenda addresses a broader range of organizations in the PE arena to develop understandings of how interactions in this arena affect the capacity of conservation NGOs to incorporate innovations related to PE (i.e., ideas, frameworks of analysis, methods to address conservation issues in new ways) into their programs. In addition, findings from the project will inform teaching materials and curriculum development related to the integration of social and ecological dimensions of environmental issues.