IALE Outreach and Policy Working Group (OPWG)

Mission      

Landscape ecologists investigate the interaction between human activities and the environment at many scales, from local to global. Landscape ecology thus offers critical and relevant framework for efforts aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and regional levels.  Hence it is imperative for the landscape ecology community to engage with other scientific communities as well as actors in defining, planning and implementing policy and resource management strategies from municipalities, regional and national agencies to international bodies like the United Nations.  Many of the most critical issues in this period of the Anthropocene include land use change and urbanization, air and water pollution, agriculture, invasive species, biodiversity, and climate change.

While most policymakers, practitioners, and resources managers have little awareness of how insights from landscape ecology can improve policy development and implementation, most landscape ecology researchers are typically not trained to provide appropriate guidance to policymakers and practitioners in a format that is easily understood and germane to their pressing needs.  Hence, the landscape ecology community need an effective forum and mechanism to engage with policy makers   and other societal actors to provide valuable insights, while also learning about the current and emerging issues within the context of attaining the SDGs. The Outreach and Policy Working Group (OPWG) seeks promote awareness, understanding, and application of Landscape Ecology research findings for policymakers and practitioners, towards a collective goal of addressing Sustainability and Conservation issues in the 21st century.  This will be done through a Global discourse on the intersection between Landscape Ecology community and other scientific organizations, as well as policy makers and other societal actors on commonalities in achieving SDGs.

Goals

The goals of OPWG are to:

• identify opportunities where the field of LE can inform policy related to pressing issues;
• support landscape ecologists interested in translating their research results into policy;
• engage with policy makers to identify key information needs that landscape ecologists can investigate;
• encourage landscape ecologists to identify gaps between knowledge and existing policy;
• support training for landscape ecologists to work in policy-related fields;
• prepare reports and white papers in collaboration with other professional societies.

Activities (2020 – 2021)

The focus and activities of OPWG for 2019 – 2020 will include:

• Webinar series on to improve the “Knowledge Base” and understanding of intersections between Landscape Ecology and policy related and resource management issues.
• Promote special issue publications on cross-disciplinary approaches to addressing human-environmental interactions and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services provision, and SDGs,
• Coordinate with other Working groups to streamline collaborative initiatives with organizations such as ESP, IPBES, Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS), Conservation Social Science and the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP). The goal is to leverage landscape perspectives in the work of these organizations and vice-versa and enhance collective understanding of human-environment and socio-economic dimensions of addressing Sustainable Development Goals.

Membership

All colleagues interested in contributing to our working group are welcome to contact us, via the Working Group Lead, Henry N. N. Bulley - hbulley(at)bmcc.cuny.edu or Co-Lead, Audrey Mayer - almayer(at)mtu.edu. We are especially seeking members who are involved in policy making and as such welcome planners, elected officials, and other practitioners to join our group.  

Current OPWG Members are listed below in alphabetic order: