An inclusive approach to assessing integrative scenarios and visions for protected area management

Creating protected area (PA) management strategies that enhance biodiversity conservation while also support the needs of residents and agriculture, tourism, energy, and water management sectors is a major global challenge. ENVISION aims to explore inclusive conservation as a creative and original approach that combines participatory scenario modelling, multi-narrative platforms, and co-creation of knowledge to build PA management strategies that are socially relevant, economically productive, and environmentally sustainable. The consideration of multiple dimensions of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and well-being in biodiversity scenarios is core to this approach. ENVISION will foster co-ordination across regional, national, and international stakeholders interested in PA management and post-2020 biodiversity conservation policy.
ENVISION assembles a team of interdisciplinary researchers across four study areas in Europe and the United States. We will identify historic and present visions for PAs using interviews and participatory scenario modelling (WP1, WP2), as well as quantify the consequences of multiple visions for biodiversity and ecosystem services (WP2). Social learning exercises will be developed for engaging stakeholders and examining how deliberation can build a collectively defined future for PAs in diverse land use contexts (WP3). The uncertainty inherent in modelled scenarios will be identified and translated into resilient PA management strategies (WP4). We will then evaluate PA governance across multiple sectors to design inclusive decision-making tools capable of supporting and upscaling research results (WP5). The main findings of ENVISION will be translated into PANORAMA, an online learning-based tool developed by IUCN that allows practitioners to share their experiences and learn how others have tackled similar problems across the globe (WP6). We will engage in a process of continuous knowledge co-creation and learning throughout the project with the research team and stakeholders within and across project sites (WP0, WP1, WP6).