In response to the social and economic challenges
humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) deve... more In response to the social and economic challenges humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) developed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to help countries set priorities and measurable targets to drive progress toward key human development and environmental areas with the goal of eradicating challenges to sustainable development by 2030. The SDGs target multiple issues including poverty, lack of access to clean drinking water, gender inequality, and limited women’s rights, but one of the most pressing issues is conserving our remaining biodiversity. As many as one million species are in danger of going extinct with current trends. The record levels of income inequality, lack of fresh drinking water, and global pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak have been linked to the degradation of earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity. It has become clear that protecting wildlife, ensuring animal welfare, and conserving habitats are crucial to achieving the SDGs and improving human well-being. Although the SDGs certainly provide a thorough breakdown of most social issues plaguing the earth, they do so through an economic and human development focus. However, as this report conveys, the conservation of wildlife and welfare of domestic and wild animals are key to achieving the SDGs. Through key examples, this report outlines how animals affect different aspects of sustainable development and provides recommendations for policy makers to incorporate animals into country- and local-level implementation of the SDGs.
International Journal of Community Well-Being, 2019
Many wildlife conservation projects aim to create sustainable and effective solutions by incorpor... more Many wildlife conservation projects aim to create sustainable and effective solutions by incorporating human and community well-being into their projects. While a few of these projects are incorporating a community well-being approach based on non-economic factors such as health, education, culture, community vitality, and good governance, most define well-being in purely economic terms. Often, the goal is equitable sharing of the economic value of wildlife as the primary incentive for communities to conserve wildlife. However, these projects have had variable results due to a variety of factors. The question of how conservation projects can reliably and consistently improve both community well-being and wildlife outcomes has yet to be answered. The authors posit that existing indices that measure well-being such as the government of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, can provide a framework to systematically identify well-being factors through a community-driven method. In this article, nine sustainable and successful community-based wildlife conservation projects are assessed to determine what aspects of well-being (as described by the nine domains of Bhutan's GNH framework) were considered in project planning and implementation. The results indicate that each project did incorporate a variety of aspects of human well-being into planning and implementation, which likely contributed to their success. Future research recommendations include the development and testing of a community-based well-being instrument to analyze and guide community-based wildlife conservation programs.
In response to the social and economic challenges
humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) deve... more In response to the social and economic challenges humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) developed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to help countries set priorities and measurable targets to drive progress toward key human development and environmental areas with the goal of eradicating challenges to sustainable development by 2030. The SDGs target multiple issues including poverty, lack of access to clean drinking water, gender inequality, and limited women’s rights, but one of the most pressing issues is conserving our remaining biodiversity. As many as one million species are in danger of going extinct with current trends. The record levels of income inequality, lack of fresh drinking water, and global pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak have been linked to the degradation of earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity. It has become clear that protecting wildlife, ensuring animal welfare, and conserving habitats are crucial to achieving the SDGs and improving human well-being. Although the SDGs certainly provide a thorough breakdown of most social issues plaguing the earth, they do so through an economic and human development focus. However, as this report conveys, the conservation of wildlife and welfare of domestic and wild animals are key to achieving the SDGs. Through key examples, this report outlines how animals affect different aspects of sustainable development and provides recommendations for policy makers to incorporate animals into country- and local-level implementation of the SDGs.
International Journal of Community Well-Being, 2019
Many wildlife conservation projects aim to create sustainable and effective solutions by incorpor... more Many wildlife conservation projects aim to create sustainable and effective solutions by incorporating human and community well-being into their projects. While a few of these projects are incorporating a community well-being approach based on non-economic factors such as health, education, culture, community vitality, and good governance, most define well-being in purely economic terms. Often, the goal is equitable sharing of the economic value of wildlife as the primary incentive for communities to conserve wildlife. However, these projects have had variable results due to a variety of factors. The question of how conservation projects can reliably and consistently improve both community well-being and wildlife outcomes has yet to be answered. The authors posit that existing indices that measure well-being such as the government of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, can provide a framework to systematically identify well-being factors through a community-driven method. In this article, nine sustainable and successful community-based wildlife conservation projects are assessed to determine what aspects of well-being (as described by the nine domains of Bhutan's GNH framework) were considered in project planning and implementation. The results indicate that each project did incorporate a variety of aspects of human well-being into planning and implementation, which likely contributed to their success. Future research recommendations include the development and testing of a community-based well-being instrument to analyze and guide community-based wildlife conservation programs.
Uploads
Papers by Mark Hofberg
humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) developed
a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015
to help countries set priorities and measurable targets
to drive progress toward key human development
and environmental areas with the goal of eradicating
challenges to sustainable development by 2030. The SDGs
target multiple issues including poverty, lack of access
to clean drinking water, gender inequality, and limited
women’s rights, but one of the most pressing issues is
conserving our remaining biodiversity. As many as one
million species are in danger of going extinct with current
trends. The record levels of income inequality, lack of
fresh drinking water, and global pandemics such as the
COVID-19 outbreak have been linked to the degradation
of earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity. It has become
clear that protecting wildlife, ensuring animal welfare, and
conserving habitats are crucial to achieving the SDGs and
improving human well-being.
Although the SDGs certainly provide a thorough
breakdown of most social issues plaguing the earth, they
do so through an economic and human development
focus. However, as this report conveys, the conservation of
wildlife and welfare of domestic and wild animals are key
to achieving the SDGs. Through key examples, this report
outlines how animals affect different aspects of sustainable
development and provides recommendations for policy
makers to incorporate animals into country- and local-level
implementation of the SDGs.
humans are facing, the United Nations (UN) developed
a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015
to help countries set priorities and measurable targets
to drive progress toward key human development
and environmental areas with the goal of eradicating
challenges to sustainable development by 2030. The SDGs
target multiple issues including poverty, lack of access
to clean drinking water, gender inequality, and limited
women’s rights, but one of the most pressing issues is
conserving our remaining biodiversity. As many as one
million species are in danger of going extinct with current
trends. The record levels of income inequality, lack of
fresh drinking water, and global pandemics such as the
COVID-19 outbreak have been linked to the degradation
of earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity. It has become
clear that protecting wildlife, ensuring animal welfare, and
conserving habitats are crucial to achieving the SDGs and
improving human well-being.
Although the SDGs certainly provide a thorough
breakdown of most social issues plaguing the earth, they
do so through an economic and human development
focus. However, as this report conveys, the conservation of
wildlife and welfare of domestic and wild animals are key
to achieving the SDGs. Through key examples, this report
outlines how animals affect different aspects of sustainable
development and provides recommendations for policy
makers to incorporate animals into country- and local-level
implementation of the SDGs.