Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
goals and proper monitoring and evaluation of project success (see Section 7.8). It
is easy to get a rosy picture of project implementation when reading these topics in
the comfort of your own office. But conservation is messy and difficult in the real
world. It is also hard for conservation professionals to talk openly with examples
from their own experience, because this can damage their ability to continue to
work in an area. Some principles about how conservation works in the real world
are given below:
●
There is never a blank canvas—
pre-existing relationships
between individuals
and institutions constrain possible actions.
●
Everyone will want a
piece of the action
. Often the people who end up doing
the work are not the ideal people for the job. They may have influence or just
fit a particular profile (a particular nationality or employed by a particular
organisation).
●
Many projects are compromised by lack of
money
. However, if there is too
much money this is also a danger, as it attracts corruption and mismanage-
ment, particularly if there is pressure to spend to a timetable.
●
People who understand and adapt to the
political, social and cultural
context
of their work are far more likely to be successful than those who do not recog-
nise the enormous socio-cultural divides that can exist between people. This
particularly applies to highly educated people from developed countries who
can be very rigid in their view of the world.
●
For this reason, the most effective people are those who work
on the ground
in
the long term, living with local people and speaking the language, often on
small budgets, rather than flying in and out. They need to have input from
outside though, to stop them losing perspective.
●
Projects do not evolve at a consistent and measured pace. They happen in
bursts of activity followed by stasis, and are often
implemented piece-meal
as
funding and capacity are available, rather than in logical and tidy packages.
●
Projects are implemented and assessed in a
short time frame
(1-5 years) and so
short-term success is required to demonstrate value for money to donors. This
mitigates against long-term sustainability, and pushes people towards easy wins.
●
Funding goes to
fashionable
management strategies and conservation issues,
that tick the right boxes with donors, not necessarily to the most effective
management for the particular case. Similarly, investment levels and priority-
setting are political and fashion-led.
●
It may be partly true that individuals and organisations involved in conserva-
tion are idealistic and not primarily driven by the profit motive, but there are
still strong incentives to attract funding, enhance individual careers and
organisations' reputations that mean
people's motives
are not always as clearcut
as might at first appear. Idealists can also be dogmatic and ruthless in pursu-
ing their goals.
●
Successful conservation involves making trade-offs,
compromises
and deals
with influential people.
