Fellowship on Civic Engagement in Conservation
Images from the Fellowship are here. At Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, VT.
This summer the Atlantic Center for the Environment will
conduct a three-week fellowship program on land
conservation and stewardship for conservation
professionals from Andean countries. This intensive
program will be practical and problem-solving in its
approach, introducing participants to conservation issues
in the northeastern United States, and enabling them to
begin a dialogue with their North American counterparts.
Its broad goals are to provide training and professional
development for conservation leaders from the central
Andes, promote an exchange of ideas and innovations in
the area of landscape conservation and stewardship, and
strengthen the capacity of NGOs in both regions to
conserve natural areas through stewardship. Through
round-table discussions, site visits and internships,
participants will have the opportunity to share ideas
with their counterparts, acquire new information and
develop their practical skills.
DATES:
13 July – 2 August 2008 (three
weeks)
Larger map. Profiles are available
in brief or in-depth.
The itinerary is here.
FELLOWSHIP
ACTIVITIES: The fellowship program will
begin at the Atlantic Center's headquarters in Ipswich,
Massachusetts and will involve travel in the northeastern
United States (including Massachusetts, Maine, New
Hampshire and Vermont) and possibly eastern Canada. It
will have five principal elements as follows:
• a
two-day
orientation upon arrival in the United
States during which participants will present their work
at home and discuss their personal and professional goals
for the program;
• a two-week
seminar/study-tour in northeastern North America to
introduce participants to a cross-section of NGOs,
citizens groups, government agencies, businesses,
philanthropic organizations and educational institutions
concerned with conservation. The study-tour will include
day-long seminars on institutional management of NGOs,
practical conservation techniques, and tools for public
participation and negotiation. Site visits will be
prioritized by relevance to the Andean Páramo Project and
the Great Inca Trail Project;
• a group
case-study project, during which participants will
make site visits, meet with a broad range of people
representing different sectors and interest groups, and
share their observations and recommendations in a final
public meeting; and
• a final
debriefing and
presentations session to include program
evaluation and a public forum during which participants
will present their findings to their study-tour hosts and
interested citizens and discuss plans for follow-up.
PROGRAM
THEME: The
program theme of
civic engagement in stewardship takes an overall landscape view,
addressing conservation needs on land that cannot be
separated from human existence and commerce, and
encouraging personal responsibility for sound natural
resource management. The fellowship will focus on
landscape conservation and the related fields of
biodiversity conservation, rural economic development,
and sustainable agriculture and forestry. There will be a
special emphasis this year on public participation in
environmental decision-making as it relates to natural
resources. Specific topics will include:
• Tools
for conservation and stewardship;
• Involving local citizens in conservation through public
participation and education;
• Partnerships of NGOs and local government;
• Building public/private partnerships for land
protection;
• Techniques for local community involvement in protected
area/wider landscape management, enabling public
participation, and citizen science; and
•
Issues of “preservation vs.
conservation,”
problems and opportunities of private ownership, and
extending conservation practices beyond the boundaries of
protected areas.