© 2008 Valerie Hickey

Made by Serif

The management of natural resources occurs within a dynamic social, political, and institutional landscape. Managing for biological diversity is a subset of natural resources management that garners intense excitement for some, and excites intense opposition from others. Biodiversity itself is under immediate and increasing threat: over 10% of tropical forests have been clearcut, slashed and burned each decade for the past several; since 1980, 122 amphibian species have gone extinct, never to return; and fish populations have crashed at the tentacles of trawler nets and subsidized fishing fleets. These tales of tragedy exist despite the work and investments of thousands of local and international government bureaucracies, non-government organizations, and private land-owners. As the extinction crisis looms larger and demands on the public purse grow greater, understanding how conservation policies are made, how they are acted upon and which are successful, becomes ever more critical. My research provides insight into these questions and uses political analysis to inform strategies for conservation.