Conservation Priorities 2023-24

Felipe Melo

Questions

  1. The history of setting conservation priorities is full of conflicts. Please write a critical text commenting on how different actors and powers interact to set conservation priorities and comment on the shortcomings of a biased process for both nature and people.

  2. Describe the core principles and tools used for systematic conservation planning. Comment on known exercises that resulted into public policies either nationally or globally.

Questions

  1. Critically assess why human-induced climate change is such a concern for biological conservation scientists today in context of past climate change and species extinctions.

  2. Comment on the utility of political ecology as a field of knowledge with potential to achieve socially-committed conservation outcomes.

  3. Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of one of the following conservation frameworks: 5a) Biodiversity Hotspots 5b) Half-earth 5c) Convivial Conservation

Preferred Questions

  • Climate change (3) is the “must”
  • Follows history of conservation biology
  • All others avoided, why?

Performance per question

  • Conservation frameworks need more attention
  • Preferred questions are better answered but varies a lot
  • Comprehension on political ecology varies enormously

Distribution of students’ scores

  • 22% failed (n=9)
  • 50% Commendation + Distinction (n=21)

Highlights

  • Climate change is a “hot issue” but most students have only superficial reflection about it, not much more than any average person without access to scientific literature such as MSc students
  • Naïve arguments presented throughout the answers to most questions. This reflects lack of reading that leads to weak argumentation.
  • Biodiversity Hotspots is a famous approach but few people were really able to define and use it correctly

Highlights

  • There were very good, concise and comprehensive answers (gold standard).
  • Good answers = domain of concepts + critical thinking + deep argumentation
  • “Easy” subjects such as climate change were treated with due criticism

Tips to improve

  • Reading is certainly needed. The lack of sharp thinking reflect poor reading habits
  • Avoid overuse of examples. They illustrate but cannot form the core of arguing and do not substitute the use of concepts
  • Precise management of concepts and terms are also needed. Know very well what you are writing, there is no way to extract good information from incomplete knowledge

Final thoughts

  • An exam where you must choose 3 out of 5 must not be seen as a big issue at your stage (Masters’ degree). Learn to face these challenges.
  • Come to see me if you want to receive specific suggestions to improve your learning process
  • This is just an exam, it does not define what you are and will be as a professional (no matter the grade obtained)