Hi - I'm passionate about conservation approached from the social sciences perspective. I truly feel very strongly about the damage that some of the polarised views within conservation can inflict (boo to fortress conservation!). I studied ecology, worked as a botanist, got frustrated with the arrogant and overtly eco-centric view of the majority of ecologists I came across and so threw it all in and went off and did a Masters in Rural Development and Conservation, where I learnt a lot about anthropology and ethnobotany and completely changed my vision. For my Masters project I went to Gabon and studied the use of forest products by the Baka forest peoples. I was impressed by the deeply spiritual and respectful relationship that they have with the forest and with nature. I'm now doing a project about the wild food plant scene in Brazil, and trying to map out the significance of this activity in people's lives and the motivations that people have for getting invovled (guess what - money isn't that important!). I feel that conservationists have gotten a bit stuck on the economic valuation of nature that is associated with the rather bureaucratic view that came along with the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment and the Rainforest Crunch-type Non-Timber Forest Product obsession that started in the 80s. I'd like to contribute to a broader appreciation of the broader and more complex nature of the human-nature relationship spectrum. It feels like a critical issue in the face of the Global Ecological Crisis we face. Bottom line: Conservation is essentially all about people.

I just made my first post on Steemit today and I was thinking I might blog about my research. I'd love to see the conservation research community coalesce here on steemit and start to transmit our ideas to a broader audience via this platform (what percentage of humanity actually reads peer-reviewed papers??). Peace and Love!