Abstract

Recent years have seen heated debates within the conservation community about why, what and how to conserve. These have tended to be dominated by a small number of (mostly) white, western men occupying powerful positions. The Future of Conservation survey set out to discover what the wider community of conservationists felt about the issues under debate. With nearly 9,000 respondents, it is the largest ever survey of the conservation community, and provides some startling results that challenge conventional thinking. In this seminar, Chris Sandbrook will outline the contours of current conservation debates, provide an early insight into the unpublished findings of the survey, and discuss their implications for the conservation movement. (If you would like to take the survey yourself, it is at www.futureconservation.org)