The ANdinA 5 day retreat is happening in Chile in 2024 on February 19-23. It is the 6th of several international conferences for ecologists, especially early career ecologists. The purpose is to get more ecology researchers to orient their work towards making a difference in conservation. The conference will involve walking through Conguillio National Park while reflecting on your role as a socially responsible ecologist. Cost is $600-1,400 and covers airfare, food, and lodging. Traditionally, the role of ecological science has been to avoid policy-making and activism. It is becoming more and more difficult to ignore the ecological crisis we are facing and the political decisions leading to it. In public health and medicine, it is the role of the physician to publicly speak up if political decisions are made against scientific recommendations with harmful impacts to society, yet ecologists often maintain a professional detachment from public issues. As ecological researchers, we are largely funded by society and our funding agencies have expectations for their investment. Like any other members of society, we are prone to biases and opinions based on our own social and political opinions. We make mistakes; however we have poorly developed systems to manage this or to remediate problems.
This leads to questions such as: How can we be more effective in preventing further deterioration of the natural world in light of the ecological knowledge our discipline has gathered? What should our role as ecological researchers be? Is it sufficient to only engage in research and effective communication, or should we be taking a more disruptive role in driving change? How should professional ecological societies challenge the traditional roles of their members and their collective voice in decision-making? How can we work more effectively with other stakeholders?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |