嘉宾：Michael Whitfield，美国北洛矶山脉保护合作社的保护生物学家和研究员
Guest Speaker: Michael Whitfield, Conservation Biologist and Research Fellow, North Rockies Conservation Cooperative, USA
The Earth is facing environmental and social crises, accompanied by a sharp decline in biodiversity. Nature conservation is often perceived as conflicting with the provision of housing, adequate food, clean air and water, and outdoor recreational spaces. Addressing these formidable challenges requires robust collaboration among individuals and groups dedicated to conserving wildlife and nature to jointly achieve holistic nature conservation. There are many successful cases of environmental conservation through landscape collaboration in the United States; however, the implementation of this concept is sometimes hindered by imperfect application and a lack of appropriate metrics for measuring outcomes. In this webinar, Michael Whitfield, the 2019 Kingsbury Browne Fellow, will introduce cases of holistic nature conservation, discuss the elements of holistic landscape collaboration that simultaneously meet ecological and social goals, and analyze the implementation outcomes in various contexts. Hosted by Jim Levitt, the webinar is based on Whitfield's 2019 working paper, Toward Holistic Landscape Conservation in the 21st Century (Original text available at: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/working-papers/toward-holistic-landscape-conservation-21st-century).
Michael Whitfield is a conservation biologist and research fellow at the North Rockies Conservation Cooperative. He is the founder and former executive director of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, a catalyst for the High Divide Collaborative. Previously, Whitfield was the founder and executive director of the Teton Regional Land Trust, and he has been a long-time leader in the Land Trust Alliance and large-scale landscape conservation groups. In 2019, he was awarded the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award and Fellowship by the Land Trust Alliance and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. This annual award recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation, and creativity in land conservation. Whitfield currently lives and works in the Teton Valley of Idaho, USA.
Jim Levitt is the Director of the International Program on Conservation and Land Management at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and a research fellow at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. Additionally, he serves as a senior research fellow at Highstead, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing land conservation in the New England region of the United States. Levitt focuses on researching landmark innovations in land and biodiversity conservation (both contemporary and historical) that exhibit five characteristics: novelty and creativity in conception, strategic significance, measurable effectiveness, international transferability, and durability. Levitt has authored and edited numerous articles and four books on land and biodiversity conservation.
