Integrated Practical: Analysis of Conflicts in Species Conservation

Abstract

The objective of this course is to analyse a concrete conflict in the context of species conservation. It is based on concepts from social sciences and natural sciences. The conflict will be examined from the perspectives of all affected stakeholders. The aim is to demonstrate how conflicts among stakeholders can be resolved to achieve a mutually agreed consensus.

Objective

The students know -the history of a specific conflict within the field of species conservation -the major lines of conflict (values and interests) -the main political actors and their resources -the actors’ fundamental lines of reasoning and instruments in negotiation processes -the scope of action and possibilities for coalitions in the elaboration or development of solution concepts They have gained routine -in working with literature, documents and reports of organizations and administrations -in the preparation, conduction, and evaluation of expert interviews -elaboration of common solutions, respectively solution concept

Content

Wolves have naturally returned to Switzerland since the mid-1990s. While their population levels have been low for the first 10-15 years, now we are in an exponential growth phase. As of 2022, there are some 150 wolves in Switzerland and 16 confirmed wolf packs (11 on the Swiss territory, and 5 sharing borders with either Italy or France). The number of confirmed wolf attacks on cattle, mainly sheep, is also on the raise. Further, since this year, in some areas, wolves have started attacking cows. All these evolutions are only furthering an already highly tense relationship between agriculture and conservation. Finding solutions that are acceptable to all parties involved are tricky as we are dealing here with a typical example of wicked problems. In this course, we want to create a “knowledge lab” where different types of knowledge systems confluence. For this, we will use scientific knowledge, expert knowledge, local knowledge, inter alia. We will create a highly interactive teaching where you, the students, will have to be proactively involved and engaged in putting the dots together. We will touch on both, inter- and transdisciplinarity. We will, however, not teach disciplinary knowledge. For example, the course will not be about the wolf and its biology and ecology. Rather, we will teach, touch, experience on how to address complexity in a highly volatile world, where different stakeholders hold different beliefs and values, and who have different views on how to solve the “wolf problem” in Switzerland. This means we will touch on the psychology, political, socio-economic, cultural, economic, and management dimensions of the problem at stake. You will be mainly working in groups. You will likely use tandem work, focus group work, maybe interviews (depending on time and need), and mostly, you will play. We will develop (or modify existing) games. These are role playing games which are also known as strategy games. Read here for getting a better idea. “Strategy games to improve environmental policymaking” https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00881-0 All these different methods and tools will help us to identify, address, and discuss the complexity that problems like wolves and other species can create in Switzerland and elsewhere.

Resources