About Us - image

About Us

© Ralph Lee Hopkins

Leveraging Social Science to Strengthen Outcomes for People and Nature

It is impossible to speak about the conservation of natural resources without considering the role people play in resource use, management, protection, and, in some cases, degradation. Conservation of nature is, therefore, requires an understanding of this central role of people, a social process. Social science is key to understanding these varied and complex systems and how conservation organizations can best work within them.

Yet most conservation practitioners do not have a full understanding of, nor receive adequate training, for how social science theory,  methods  and tools can be used.

The Conservation Social Science Partnership (ConSoSci) is a growing community of the world's leading conservation NGOs, social science practitioners, and researchers who recognize that social science is as important as ecological science to making informed decisions on the best conservation actions that benefit both nature and people. We seek to address critical gaps in social science capacity, implementation, and accessibility in conservation.

 

Our Mission

ConSoSci’s mission is to promote, facilitate, and coordinate the use of effective and ethical social science, data collection practices, and analysis to inform conservation decision-making.

Our Vision

ConSoSci envisions a world where nature and people thrive together, enabled by a deep understanding of the relationship between people, their well-being, and the environment.

OUR GOAL: Social science widely integrated into conservation work leading to better conservation outcomes

Our strategies:

  • Making the Case
    Working with conservation funders and decision makers to mainstream social science into conservation projects, programs and organizations.
  • Developing Tools
    Simplifying the process of collecting, curating, analyzing and visualizing conservation social science data.
  • Building Capacity
    Building literacy in conservation social science and the capacity to use conservation social science approaches and tools.
  • Demonstrating Success
    Demonstrating how conservation social science improves conservation and human well-being outcomes and practice.
  • Bridging Communities
    Bringing together academic social scientists and conservation researchers infacilitated dialogue and collaboration.
Julie Larsen Maher/ WCS

Founding Lead Organizations