Thread by @Omarsaifos

1st paper from my PhD - Making a case to consider trust, justice, & power in conservation relationships -
out in @ConBiology, with @aidank & Sam Staddon @GeosciencesEd
Summary 🧵 (1/9)
Open-access paper here 👇
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/co…

Trust is seen as key by conservation scientists & practitioners for the cooperation needed to achieve their goals. We explored relations between conservation org-Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities, large-small orgs, & intra-org conservation worker relations (2/9)

Through a focused review, we find trust-building interventions are often conceived to incentivise local cooperation within dominant paradigms. Prevalent framings inc. how to build trust to ensure compliance, remove local opposition, & encourage belief in conservation (3/9)

When trust-building is promoted as a technical fix that does not plan to address power asymmetries in conservation practice, inequities may inadvertently be reinforced (4/9)

In conservation, although trust & justice are often discussed separately, understanding their interdependence is key to addressing asymmetrical power relations (5/9)

We drew on #EnvironmentalJustice theory as well as #PoliticalEcology to better calibrate trust-building ambitions for the historical-political settings of conservation, especially in the Global South where legacies of problematic power relations from colonialism remain (6/9)

We produce a conceptual framework that proposes 1) perceptions of justice as an antecedent for trust & trustworthiness; 2) trust & trustworthiness drive perceptions of justice; 3) these links are mediated by different forms of power (7/9)

We highlight any trust-building effort must be twinned with addressing people’s perspectives of justice. Being trusted in certain ways & the costs incurred to maintain a more powerful actor’s trust can produce feelings of (in)justice (8/9)

Gaining the trust of historically marginalised actors necessitates not only a justice framework, but also likely involves conservation organisations explicitly ceding power and relinquishing control, trusting in others’ leadership (9/9)