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Five lessons for avoiding failure when scaling in conservation

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 8, pages 1804–1814 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Many attempts to scale conservation actions have failed to deliver their intended benefits, caused unintended harm or later been abandoned, hampering efforts to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. Here we encourage those calling for scaling to pause and reflect on past scaling efforts, which offer valuable lessons: the total impact of an action depends on both its effectiveness and scalability; effectiveness can change depending on scale for multiple reasons; feedback processes can change socio-ecological conditions influencing future adoption; and the drive to scale can incentivize bad practices that undermine long-term outcomes. Cutting across these themes is the recognition that monitoring scaling can enhance evidence-informed adaptive management, reporting and research. We draw on evidence and concepts from disparate fields, explore new linkages between often isolated concepts and suggest strategies for practitioners, policymakers and researchers. Reflecting on these five lessons may help in the scaling of effective conservation actions in responsible ways to meet the triple goals of reversing biodiversity loss, combating climate change and supporting human wellbeing.

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Fig. 1: Types of scaling and lessons for scaling impact.

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Acknowledgements

T. Pienkowski., M.C. and M.M. thank the Leverhulme Trust for the research grant (RPG-2021-440) that supported this work. This is contribution #9 from the “Insights for Catalyzing Conservation at Scale” initiative.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Thomas Pienkowski, Arundhati Jagadish.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Thomas Pienkowski, Gloria Christelle Blaise, Alec Philip Christie, Matt Clark, Abha Joglekar & Morena Mills

  2. The Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA

    Arundhati Jagadish

  3. Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India

    Arundhati Jagadish

  4. Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY, USA

    Willow Battista

  5. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Gloria Christelle Blaise

  6. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Alec Philip Christie

  7. Downing College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Alec Philip Christie

  8. Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Antony Philip Emenyu & Tom Powell

  9. Department of Management, Society and Communication, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Kristian Steensen Nielsen

  10. Department of Biology and Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Thomas White

  11. The Biodiversity Consultancy, Cambridge, UK

    Thomas White

Authors
  1. Thomas Pienkowski
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  2. Arundhati Jagadish
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  3. Willow Battista
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  4. Gloria Christelle Blaise
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  5. Alec Philip Christie
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  6. Matt Clark
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  7. Antony Philip Emenyu
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  8. Abha Joglekar
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  9. Kristian Steensen Nielsen
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  10. Tom Powell
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  11. Thomas White
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  12. Morena Mills
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Contributions

T. Pienkowski and A. Jagadish conceived the study idea. T. Pienkowski, A. Jagadish, W.B., G.C.B., A.P.C., A.P.E., A. Joglekar, K.S.N., T. Powell, T.W. and M.M. wrote the original draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and visualized the results. M.M. supervised the study. A. Jagadish and M.M. acquired the funding.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Thomas Pienkowski or Arundhati Jagadish.

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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks George Holmes, Vanessa Adams and Seerp Wigboldus for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Pienkowski, T., Jagadish, A., Battista, W. et al. Five lessons for avoiding failure when scaling in conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 1804–1814 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02507-4

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