Earth Optimism—Recapturing the Positive

Earth Optimism—recapturing the positive

N ANCY K NOWLTON

On Earth Day weekend , Earth Optimism summits and This is a genuine problem. I have found that almost any- related events around the world celebrated conservation one can rattle off a long list of environmental problems, but success stories. In Washington, DC, over  presentations even conservation professionals are often remarkably un- featured progress in protecting species and spaces, reducing aware of what has been achieved, particularly in areas out- pollution, restoring habitats, harvesting wisely, and tackling side their expertise. We all need to know about what is climate change (EarthOptimism, ). Participants included working, as conservation successes such as those documen- not only conservation scientists, but also policy makers, stu- ted in this issue of Oryx provide an antidote to despair and dents, artists, engineers, inventors, and representatives of its partner, apathy, and are a source of inspiration and infor- business, media and philanthropy. mation for those wishing to replicate or expand the scale of The successes described during the summits represented a success. fraction of positive developments around the world, and these In this issue, for example, I gained much from Martin & continue to accumulate. Articles in this issue of Oryx,forex- Richardson’s() report of the complete eradication of ample, point to progress in ameliorating negative human– rats and mice from South Georgia, one of the most impor- wildlife interactions (Jamwal et al., ;Pozoetal.,; tant seabird nesting islands globally. The article provides Scheijen et al., ), valuing protected areas (Davenport valuable details on how this extraordinary success was et al., ;Deacon&Tutchings,; Lham et al., ), achieved: the planning and funding required, how risks and increasing the potential for biodiversity and human well- were minimized and effectiveness was monitored, and the being to improve hand-in-hand (Benedicto Royuela et al., need for continued vigilance. Even if South Georgia is just ; Sardeshpande & MacMillan, ). one island, and removing invasive rodents is just one con- A consistent theme in these—and many other—reports is servation challenge, the fact that it was done on a surpris- the importance of engaging local communities (Kujirakwinja ingly large scale by a small conservation organization is et al., ; Olendo et al., ;Superinaetal.,). This extremely encouraging, and the lessons learned will facilitate bottom-up aspect of conservation successes means that by comparable efforts elsewhere, including in the tropics where definition many are small in scale—each a drop in the bucket removing rats could even benefit coral reefs (Graham et al., compared to the overall scope of the challenges we face. This ). mismatch in scale has led some to conclude that talking about Over the last decade we have made inroads in profession- such small successes is counterproductive because it could al and public awareness that all is not lost. When we orga- result in a decreased sense of the urgency of conservation nized the first Beyond the Obituaries symposium on ocean amongst the general public and policy makers, or in the conservation successes in  at the Smithsonian’s arming of those who oppose conservation outright with National Museum of Natural History, one of my colleagues arguments that we need do no more. I received one e-mail told me there weren’t enough successes even to fill a day- suggesting that ‘Scientists who engage in optimism events long programme. Less than  years after the launch of should be ashamed of themselves’. #OceanOptimism by  of us in , the tag has been Yet no one involved in the Earth Optimism and related used by over , Twitter accounts. In addition to a grow- movements argues that we are anywhere close to achieving ing number of professional articles that analyse the elements what is needed to return human activities to sustainable le- of success (e.g. Cinner et al., ; Pringle, ), several vels. Nor are we suggesting that conservation failures or con- books have featured this theme (e.g. Balmford, ; cerns go unexamined (plus there seems to be little risk of Bloomberg & Pope, ). this, as reports of ongoing and impending disasters continue Nevertheless, we are in a race against time across all en- to pour in; e.g. Ripple et al. ). Rather, we are saying that vironmental fronts, and I often feel that the efforts to pub- we need more clearly documented and narrated stories of licize environmental successes are themselves too small in conservation success and better ways of finding these exem- scale. Whenever I tell an audience about the partial recovery plars, which are often hard to track down. of sea turtles (Mazaris et al., ) or of Chesapeake Bay (Lefcheck et al., ), it is gratifying to know that – more people are now aware of these achievements. But if our goal is to reach one billion people with this message— as it should be—our efforts are falling far short. Fortunately, NANCY KNOWLTON, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 163, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA. E-mail [email protected] the media now seems more receptive to telling the story of

Oryx, 2019, 53(1), 1–2 © 2018 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318001333 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 30 Sep 2021 at 12:19:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001333 2 Nancy Knowlton

environmental successes (Johns & Jacquet, ), and there EARTHOPTIMISM () Https://earthoptimism.si.edu [accessed  is a growing number of initiatives shining a spotlight on so- October ]. ’ GRAHAM, N.A.J., WILSON, S.K., CARR, P., HOEY, A.S., JENNINGS,S.& lutions and good news (e.g. the New York Times The Week  ’ MACNEIL, M.A. ( ) Seabirds enhance coral reef productivity and in Good News, David Byrne s Reasons to Be Cheerful pro- functioning in the absence of invasive rats. Nature, , –. ject, and the Solutions Journalism Network). JAMWAL, P.S., TAKPA,J.&PARSONS, M.H. () Factors contributing Even so, when it comes to changing the conservation con- to a striking shift in human–wildlife dynamics in Hemis National versation, the whole remains less than the sum of its parts, Park, India:  years of reported snow leopard depredation. Oryx, , –. perhaps because of the stickiness of bad news (Ledgerwood   JOHNS, L.N. & JACQUET,J.( ) Doom and gloom versus optimism: & Boydstun, ). What is needed is a truly global Earth an assessment of ocean-related U.S. science journalism (–). Optimism Alliance, underpinned by a curated and compel- Global Environmental Change, , –. ling bank of conservation success stories that anyone can KOLBERT,E.() How to Write about a Vanishing World. The share, and a media—and social media—campaign that can New Yorker. Https://www.newyorker.com/magazine////   spread them beyond the conservation choir. Flagging suc- how-to-write-about-a-vanishing-world [accessed October ]. KUJIRAKWINJA, D., PLUMPTRE, A.J., TWENDILONGE, A., MITAMBA, cesses with #EarthOptimism is just a start; we all need to G., MUBALAMA, L., WASSO, J.D.D. et al. () Establishing the be able to execute targeted searches for cases of success by Itombwe Natural Reserve: science, participatory consultations and geography, problem type, species and a host of other attri- zoning. Oryx, , –. butes, and uncover not only the facts but also the stories of LEDGERWOOD,A.&BOYDSTUN, A.E. () Sticky prospects: loss how progress was made (Olson, ). frames are cognitively stickier than gain frames. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, , –. Planning for such an alliance and story bank is ongoing,  LEFCHECK, J.S., ORTH, R.J., DENNISON, W.C., WILCOX, D.J., stimulated by the success of the events and the upcom- MURPHY, R.R., KEISMAN, J. et al. () Long-term nutrient ing th anniversary of Earth Day in . As Andrew reductions lead to the unprecedented recovery of a temperate coastal Revkin reminded me, the first Earth Day may have been sti- region. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the mulated by an environmental catastrophe, but the event it- United States of America, , –  self was more joyful than angry. In this age of environmental LHAM, D., WANGCHUK, S., STOLTON,S.&DUDLEY,N.( )  Assessing the effectiveness of a protected area network: a case study despair (Kolbert, ), we need to work harder to recapture of Bhutan. Oryx, , –. the positive. MARTIN, A.R. & RICHARDSON, M.G. () Rodent eradication scaled up: clearing rats and mice from South Georgia. Oryx, , –. The Editorial and the Oryx articles cited herein are freely MAZARIS, A.D., SCHOFIELD, G., GKAZINOU, C., ALMPANIDOU,V.&  available as a virtual issue of the journal at cambridge.org/ HAYS, G.D. ( ) Global sea turtle conservation successes. Science Advances, ,e. core/journals/oryx/virtual-issues. OLENDO, M.I., OKEMWA, G.M., MUNGA, C.N., MULUPI, L.K., MWASI, L.D., MOHAMED, H.B. et al. 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