Abstract:
Win–win solutions that both conserve biodiversity and promote human well-being are difficult to realize.
Trade-offs and the hard choices they entail are the norm. Since 2008, the Advancing Conservation in a
Social Context (ACSC) research initiative has been investigating the complex trade-offs that exist between
human well-being and biodiversity conservation goals, and between conservation and other economic,
political and social agendas across multiple scales. Resolving trade-offs is difficult because social prob-
lems – of which conservation is one – can be perceived and understood in a variety of disparate ways,
influenced (in part at least) by how people are raised and educated, their life experiences, and the options
they have faced. Pre-existing assumptions about the ‘‘right” approach to conservation often obscure
important differences in both power and understanding, and can limit the success of policy and program-
matic interventions. The new conservation debate challenges conservationists to be explicit about losses,
costs, and hard choices so they can be openly discussed and honestly negotiated. Not to do so can lead to
unrealized expectations, and ultimately to unresolved conflict. This paper explores the background and
limitations of win–win approaches to conservation and human well-being, discusses the prospect of
approaching conservation challenges in terms of trade-offs and hard choices, and presents a set of guiding principles that can serve to orient strategic analysis and communication regarding trade-offs.
