Please -- I am seeking examples to illustrate the misunderstandings and related failings (simple and otherwise) that undermine projects and interventions on the topics of conservation, natural resources and development (with a focus on the tropics). The idea is to gather and explain examples to students. We often say that we learn from our mistakes ... but arguably we can all learn from each other people's mistakes too ... if we share them
Despite hearing many quirky stories it is hard to find examples in publications on conservation, natural resources, development etc. Surely there are plenty of examples in peoples experiences though!
There are important examples from wider topics in the wealthier world. For example, how paying blood donors as an incentive to increase donations, can decrease blood donations (as donors prefer to give), and how fining parents for collecting their children late from school has in some case actually increased the number of children collected late (as parents felt less guilty when they paid for it).
An example from my own work would be my earlier efforts to frame a project in Papua (Indonesian New Guinea) around the poorest people and then discovering that people in Papua find it offensive to be called "poor" (this concept cannot be used to motivate projects there).
Anything is potentially useful. I am especially keen to identify publications or cases that can be otherwise sourced and cited--though personal communications are welcome too. Anything fun, quirky or educational is especially desirable.
THANKS!
one of my favorite stories, pretty terrible.
Between 1990 and the early 2000s, local fishermen developed intensive fishery directed to sharks and rays within the Banc d'Arguin National Park (Mauritania), created in 1975. In a few years, several species have disappeared, and this in a well documented way: sawfish, lemon shark, African wedgefish... This did not prevent the Fondation internationale du Banc d'Arguin and its partners from publishing in 2004 a small book entitled "How the Banc d'Arguin National Park has become the Africa's largest shark sanctuary" which tries to learn lessons about the role of MPAs in the conservation of sharks and rays but without indicating the extinction of species classified as critically endangered by IUCN... within the park itself.
Perhaps this:
Young, T.P. 2006. Declining rural economies and the future of biodiversity: missing the forest for the trees? Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy 9:319-334.
I didn't obtain copyright over some of my data and it got used by someone else. Big mistake!
Perhaps the supplemental feeding of endangered bird species leading to changes in the sex ratio of offspring? See:
Clout, M. N., G. P. Elliott, and B. C. Robertson. 2002. Effects of supplementary feeding on the offspring sex ratio of kakapo: A dilemma for the conservation of a polygynous parrot. Biological Conservation 107: 13–18. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00267-1.
Hi Doug. Good question. The best I can think of relates to our current analyses of orangutan conservation strategies, where the evidence indicates that frequently practiced translocations of mostly healthy wild orangutans ends up killing more animals than if these were just left in the wild. Translocations happen because many assume that orangutans cannot survive in small forest patches in multifunctional landscapes, but in most cases they can (if there is no local killing problem). We have created a situation where removing orangutans that are close to people or companies has become standard practice. While translocating or "rescuing" orangutans makes excellent news, it appears to fundamentally undermine orangutan and broader biodiversity conservation objectives, by creating a situation in which we simply move animals whenever they are in the way of us or our development plans. This is work in progress but a recent paper was published here: https://smujo.id/biodiv/article/view/4852/3632, and other papers are forthcoming.
When important projects fail, the investigation is often focused on the engineering and technical reasons for the failure. That was the case in NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) that was lost in space after completing its nine-month journey to Mars. ..
Sauser, B. J., Reilly, R. R., & Shenhar, A. J. (2009). Why projects fail? How contingency theory can provide new insights–A comparative analysis of NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter loss. International Journal of Project Management, 27(7), 665-679.
the majority of e-government-for-development projects fail either totally or partially. This paper explains the underlying cause of failure: the oversize gaps between project design and on-the-ground reality (known as 'design-reality gaps')...
Heeks, R. (2003). Most e-government-for-development projects fail: how can risks be reduced? (Vol. 14). Manchester: Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.
development project will be destined to 'fail' when it is judged against unrealistic assumptions...
Kumar, S., & SurnameCorbridge, S. (2002). Programmed to fail? Development projects and the politics of participation. Journal of development studies, 39(2), 73-103.
When I was in the first year of Masters degree, I was "accused" of pseudoreplication. This is a very interesting topic for young researchers. How to identify "pseudoreplication" and how to respond if someone just accuse you of it.
Thanks everyone ... please pass the question along to anyone you know who might have some experiences in projects. I know people often have great stories that are not easy to verify and I am keen to capture more of them. Especially the entertaining ones!
Thanks again
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