Integrating Justice and Equity into the Regional Conservation Planning Process
Start Date
4-4-2023 10:10 AM
End Date
4-4-2023 10:19 AM
Abstract
Ecological conservation and restoration efforts in urban landscapes necessarily interact with environmental justice issues, and conservation practitioners are challenged to incorporate these important dynamics into their process. This presentation focuses on a case study of a recent effort, led by the Regional Habitat Connectivity Working Group of the Portland/Vancouver area, to meaningfully integrate the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion into their Strategic Action Plan (SAP). The Working Group and consultant team completed a full audit of the draft SAP and facilitated multiple internal engagement sessions which resulted in; recommended changes to the plan, a draft community engagement framework and a geospatial dataset, based on community vulnerability factors, to help focus relationship building and engagement efforts.
The highest-level message of this work is that the movement to respond to the biodiversity and climate crises is inextricably connected with movements to expand civil rights, reduce income inequality, and achieve social justice. White supremacy and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources are two sides of the same coin, and it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no addressing one of these problems without addressing the other. 215 years of settler colonialism and systemic racism have been inscribed upon the region’s landscape itself, directing the distribution of environmental amenities and burdens across our communities, and delineating barriers and corridors affecting the movement of plants and animals. At the same time, the momentum that is building in these movements separately gains orders of magnitude more efficacy and meaning when pursued together.
Subjects
GIS / modeling, Habitat restoration, Land use planning
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40494
Integrating Justice and Equity into the Regional Conservation Planning Process
Ecological conservation and restoration efforts in urban landscapes necessarily interact with environmental justice issues, and conservation practitioners are challenged to incorporate these important dynamics into their process. This presentation focuses on a case study of a recent effort, led by the Regional Habitat Connectivity Working Group of the Portland/Vancouver area, to meaningfully integrate the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion into their Strategic Action Plan (SAP). The Working Group and consultant team completed a full audit of the draft SAP and facilitated multiple internal engagement sessions which resulted in; recommended changes to the plan, a draft community engagement framework and a geospatial dataset, based on community vulnerability factors, to help focus relationship building and engagement efforts.
The highest-level message of this work is that the movement to respond to the biodiversity and climate crises is inextricably connected with movements to expand civil rights, reduce income inequality, and achieve social justice. White supremacy and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources are two sides of the same coin, and it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no addressing one of these problems without addressing the other. 215 years of settler colonialism and systemic racism have been inscribed upon the region’s landscape itself, directing the distribution of environmental amenities and burdens across our communities, and delineating barriers and corridors affecting the movement of plants and animals. At the same time, the momentum that is building in these movements separately gains orders of magnitude more efficacy and meaning when pursued together.
