A panel at the conservation symposium in Wellington discuss "people power". Meg Rutledge (left), Ang Phuri Sherpa, Karen Fifield, Johanna Vega and Jean Fleming. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
A panel at the conservation symposium in Wellington discuss "people power". Meg Rutledge (left), Ang Phuri Sherpa, Karen Fifield, Johanna Vega and Jean Fleming. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Shut up and listen.
That was the message conservationists heard at an international symposium in Wellington today.
While some might expect the key to encouraging the general public to take up the conservation cause, members of a panel at Wellington Zoo's Wild Ideas symposium said it was important to listen to others instead.
"We need to close our moths and open our ears," said Johanna Vega of Proyecto Titi, an organisation for the protection of the cotton-top tamarin.
They come because they want to be part of the group, and the group is cool.
"As conservationists, we love to talk. Passion, we have passion over our species. We always want to talk about them," said Vega, who was one of the experts on a panel focusing on the topic of people power, how the power of people can be harnessed to protect the environment and animals.
Science communicator Jean Fleming said it was inherently known that people's minds couldn't be changed simply by presenting them with facts.
She said conservationists needed to listen to people who didn't agree with them, and ask themselves why that person had a different opinion.
"Do that from a position of mutual respect and equality," she said.
Natureland Zoo's Meg Rutledge said it was also important to listen to all the relevant voices on a topic.
"Listen to understand, not listen to reply," Wellington Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield said.
Ang Phuri Sherpa from the Red Panda Network said harnessing the power of the people was like harvesting crops.
"You start with good seed, you sow it, you water it, you weed it," he said.
"Start at the beginning. Talk with them. Design a programme moulding people from the beginning . . . so that they can learn in the process."
Fleming said there was "something really magical about what happens to people when they're involved in a bigger group".
"This whole business of belonging to the group. I think that that is how you bring people in, because it becomes part of their identity and they feel they belong."
Vega agreed, saying most people who joined conservation groups didn't initially join because they wanted to save the cotton-top tamarin, or whatever animal they were protecting.
"They come because they want to be part of the group, and the group is cool," she said.
All campaigns to reduce our population . . . none of them have worked, so it's inherently a bad argument to get into. We're just another species whose common call is to reproduce.
It was also important to realise other people with different views could have good ideas.
"Us scientists are experts. It's hard not to be, you know, 'I'm the expert and I'm here in the community and I know what you need to save your forest and to save your resources.' We need to work and be more humble and open to people and to other experts."
Rutledge said they needed to build a culture that took ego out of the equation.
"Other people's ideas might bring something to the table that we would never get even though we know the most about the topic," she said.
The panel agreed raising overpopulation in discussion was not the way to improve conservation efforts.
"Inherently you come back to blame, and blame is never a useful location to start from if you want people to work together," Rutledge said.
"I don't think it's a worthwhile agenda for many conservation organisations to take on because you're starting with pointing the finger.
"I don't think you can talk about the population growth rates in some areas while standing in one of the least densely populated countries with one of the highest per capita car use, highest per capita boat use."
Fleming, who previously worked as a reproductive biologist, said discussion about population control didn't work.
"All campaigns to reduce our population . . . none of them have worked, so it's inherently a bad argument to get into. We're just another species whose common call is to reproduce."
The symposium began yesterday with members of all 12 of Wellington Zoo's conservation partners around the world: The groups are 21st Century Tiger (UK), Golden Lion Tamarin Association (Brazil), Cheetah Outreach (South Africa), Fauna and Flora International (Vietnam), Free The Bears (Asia), Proyecto Titi (Colombia), Red Panda Network (Nepal), TRAFFIC (Southeast Asia), Kea Conservation Trust, the Jane Goodall Institute, and Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.
On Saturday visitors to the zoo can listen to the representatives from the 12 conservation groups who will be giving talks and running animal encounters.
