International research and professional partnerships for conservation impact
We are very excited to share FOSer Arlyne Johnson’s contribution to a Perspectives article for a special issue of the Conservation Science and
Practice journal. The special issue gathers perspectives from around the world on the problem of parachute science - a phenomenon where foreign researchers engage in a project in a country other than their own without appropriately integrating or acknowledging local researchers and without investing in the professional capacity of a country's individuals or institutions.
Arlyne and colleagues share how partnerships between international and local research and practitioner communities can be structured to strengthen local capacity to lead in the conservation of their own regions, thus avoiding the pitfalls of parachute science. They describe how a decade-long partnership between an international NGO, and the national university and protected areas in Laos was structured. The authors illustrate the outcomes from four pathways used to advance national scientists and conservationists to the forefront of conservation science and practice in the country today.
Find the article here: More than an academic exercise: Structuring international partnerships to build research and professional capacity for conservation impact
Learn more about the editor of this special issue, Asha de Vos, and read her related article here: The Problem of ‘Colonial Science’
