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Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Standard Standard

Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation. / Dickson, Iain; Butchart, Stuart H. M.; Catalano, Allison et al.
In: Conservation Biology, Vol. 37, No. 1, e13967, 02.2023.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

HarvardHarvard

Dickson, I, Butchart, SHM, Catalano, A, Gibbons, D, Jones, JPG, Lee-Brooks, K, Oldfield, T, Noble, D, Paterson, S, Roy, S, Semelin, J, Tinsley-Marshall, P, Trevelyan, R, Wauchope, H, Wicander, S & Sutherland, WJ 2023, 'Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation', Conservation Biology, vol. 37, no. 1, e13967. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13967

APA

Dickson, I., Butchart, S. H. M., Catalano, A., Gibbons, D., Jones, J. P. G., Lee-Brooks, K., Oldfield, T., Noble, D., Paterson, S., Roy, S., Semelin, J., Tinsley-Marshall, P., Trevelyan, R., Wauchope, H., Wicander, S., & Sutherland, W. J. (2023). Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation. Conservation Biology, 37(1), Article e13967. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13967

CBE

Dickson I, Butchart SHM, Catalano A, Gibbons D, Jones JPG, Lee-Brooks K, Oldfield T, Noble D, Paterson S, Roy S, et al. 2023. Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation. Conservation Biology. 37(1):Article e13967. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13967

MLA

Dickson, Iain et al. "Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation". Conservation Biology. 2023. 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13967

VancouverVancouver

Dickson I, Butchart SHM, Catalano A, Gibbons D, Jones JPG, Lee-Brooks K et al. Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation. Conservation Biology. 2023 Feb;37(1):e13967. Epub 2022 Jun 13. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13967

Author

Dickson, Iain ; Butchart, Stuart H. M. ; Catalano, Allison et al. / Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation. In: Conservation Biology. 2023 ; Vol. 37, No. 1.

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation

AU - Dickson, Iain

AU - Butchart, Stuart H. M.

AU - Catalano, Allison

AU - Gibbons, David

AU - Jones, Julia P. G.

AU - Lee-Brooks, Katie

AU - Oldfield, Thomasina

AU - Noble, David

AU - Paterson, Stuart

AU - Roy, Sugoto

AU - Semelin, Julien

AU - Tinsley-Marshall, Paul

AU - Trevelyan, Rosie

AU - Wauchope, Hannah

AU - Wicander, Sylvia

AU - Sutherland, William J.

N1 - © 2022 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - Although some sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. We devised a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure, and used these to develop a generic, 3-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail, at the top of which are 6 overarching cause categories that are further divided into midlevel cause categories and specific root causes. We tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes were more likely to be encountered than others and that a small number of root causes were more likely to be encountered by projects implementing particular types of conservation action. Our taxonomy could be used to improve identification, analysis, and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation.

AB - Although some sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. We devised a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure, and used these to develop a generic, 3-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail, at the top of which are 6 overarching cause categories that are further divided into midlevel cause categories and specific root causes. We tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes were more likely to be encountered than others and that a small number of root causes were more likely to be encountered by projects implementing particular types of conservation action. Our taxonomy could be used to improve identification, analysis, and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation.

KW - failure

KW - classification

KW - learning

KW - adaptive management

KW - reflection

KW - informing solutions

U2 - 10.1111/cobi.13967

DO - 10.1111/cobi.13967

M3 - Article

C2 - 35694785

VL - 37

JO - Conservation Biology

JF - Conservation Biology

SN - 0888-8892

IS - 1

M1 - e13967

ER -