Overview
This project investigates perceptions around controversial conservation issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Combining fieldwork and large-scale online studies, it assesses attitudes, beliefs, and policy preferences across sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and the US. Guided by a steering group of African conservation experts, the project ensures that issues affecting sub-Saharan communities are central to the research, bridging perspectives from local and global stakeholders.
Partners
Overview
This project investigates perceptions around controversial conservation issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Combining fieldwork and large-scale online studies, it assesses attitudes, beliefs, and policy preferences across sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and the US. Guided by a steering group of African conservation experts, the project ensures that issues affecting sub-Saharan communities are central to the research, bridging perspectives from local and global stakeholders.
Partners
Objectives
- Amplify local voices in international debates and policy processes by ensuring that IPLCs’ perspectives are heard, influencing decisions that materially affect their rights and livelihoods.
- Provide robust evidence on sub-Saharan African people’s moral beliefs and policy preferences, comparing these with external perspectives to inform conservation discussions globally.
- Test the impact of sharing on-the-ground realities from sub-Saharan Africa on external beliefs and policy preferences, fostering greater understanding and alignment in conservation values.
- Equip students and early-career researchers from sub-Saharan Africa with scientific and policy expertise, supporting their development as emerging leaders through mentorship, training, and cross-regional exchanges with peers from the UK and US.
- Establish lasting partnerships between UK, US, and sub-Saharan African institutions and civil society, building capacity and fostering an exchange of ideas that shapes informed conservation policies.
CBD Targets
Landscape Approach
”Being part of the MCC research project has been an exciting, rewarding and transformative experience. The expert mentorship and training has deepened my understanding of how contentious issues in conservation are not only confined to my community, or as black and white as the media would make it seem. ather these are prevalent across sub-Saharan Africa and are complex and require context-specific solutions.
Yolanda Mutinhima
MCC student, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe
Results/Impact
To inform morally contested decisions about the future of wildlife conservation and development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by providing robust evidence on local and external perspectives.
3,800
individuals contributed data
2
articles published, 3 under review
7
science-policy conferences attended
