Open AccessCooperative conservation: Seven ways to save the world
Author(s) -
Curry Oliver S.,
Hare Darragh,
Hepburn Cameron,
Johnson Dominic D. P.,
Buhrmester Michael D.,
Whitehouse Harvey,
Macdonald David W.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
conservation science and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2578-4854
DOI - 10.1111/csp2.123
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , dilemma , deference , altruism (biology) , mutualism (biology) , property rights , social dilemma , law and economics , economics , political science , sociology , public relations , microeconomics , ecology , social psychology , psychology , law , epistemology , social science , philosophy , biology
The world faces serious environmental problems. To solve them we must work together. Fortunately, humans are a very cooperative species. We have faced a range of cooperative problems in the past, and have evolved and invented a range of cooperative solutions to them—kin altruism, mutualism, reciprocity, heroism, deference, fairness, and property rights. Here, we illustrate how each of these solutions can be pressed into the service of conservation goals. Unlocking this potential will require overcoming conservationists' current cycloptic focus on only one type of cooperative problem (the prisoner's dilemma) and one type of solution (reciprocity). Only then will policy makers be able draw on the full range of cooperative dispositions and design more systematic and effective environmental interventions.