Perceived Barriers to Integrating Social Science and Conservation

Perceived barriers to integrating social science and conservation are discussed. The strongest barriers to integration of the social sciences are the lack of common vocabulary between biologists and social scientists and limited opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Some other important barriers are the lack of funding for collaborative work and the fact that traditional academic reward systems discourage interdisciplinary collaboration and applied problem solving. Both social and natural scientists need to assume, from the start, that their colleagues 'on the other side' have approaches that are worth considering. Results indicate that natural and social scientists share broadly similar views about conservation problems. Results also indicate that as the biodiversity crisis continues conservation biologists and social scientists can make collaboration happen.