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How conservation initiatives go to scale

Author

Listed:
  • Morena Mills

    (Imperial College London
    The University of Queensland
    The University of Queensland)

  • Michael Bode

    (Queensland University of Technology)

  • Michael B. Mascia

    (Conservation International)

  • Rebecca Weeks

    (James Cook University)

  • Stefan Gelcich

    (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

  • Nigel Dudley

    (Equilibrium Research
    University of Queensland, St Lucia)

  • Hugh Govan

    (The University of the South Pacific)

  • Carla L. Archibald

    (The University of Queensland
    The University of Queensland
    University of Queensland, St Lucia)

  • Cristina Romero-de-Diego

    (The University of Queensland
    The University of Queensland
    University of Queensland, St Lucia)

  • Matthew Holden

    (The University of Queensland
    University of Queensland)

  • Duan Biggs

    (The University of Queensland
    Griffith University
    Stellenbosch University
    Stellenbosch University)

  • Louise Glew

    (World Wildlife Fund)

  • Robin Naidoo

    (World Wildlife Fund)

  • Hugh P. Possingham

    (The University of Queensland
    The Nature Conservancy)

Abstract

Although a major portion of the planet’s land and sea is managed to conserve biodiversity, little is known about the extent, speed and patterns of adoption of conservation initiatives. We undertook a quantitative exploration of how area-based conservation initiatives go to scale by analysing the adoption of 22 widely recognized and diverse initiatives from across the globe. We use a standardized approach to compare the potential of different initiatives to reach scale. While our study is not exhaustive, our analyses reveal consistent patterns across a variety of initiatives: adoption of most initiatives (82% of our case studies) started slowly before rapidly going to scale. Consistent with diffusion of innovation theory, most initiatives exhibit slow–fast–slow (that is, sigmoidal) dynamics driven by interactions between existing and potential adopters. However, uptake rates and saturation points vary among the initiatives and across localities. Our models suggest that the uptake of most of our case studies is limited; over half of the initiatives will be taken up by

Suggested Citation

  • Morena Mills & Michael Bode & Michael B. Mascia & Rebecca Weeks & Stefan Gelcich & Nigel Dudley & Hugh Govan & Carla L. Archibald & Cristina Romero-de-Diego & Matthew Holden & Duan Biggs & Louise Glew, 2019. "How conservation initiatives go to scale," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 935-940, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:2:y:2019:i:10:d:10.1038_s41893-019-0384-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0384-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Clark, Matt & Andrews, Jeffrey & Hillis, Vicken, 2022. "A quantitative application of diffusion of innovations for modeling the spread of conservation behaviors," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 473(C).

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