Course description
Biodiversity is increasingly threatened worldwide. Global policy agreements and actors try to reduce this threat through various instruments, including parks (in their various forms) and through collaborations with local actors. However, conservation is often hindered by its colonial history and a lack of diversity in conservation values, including respect for local and traditional knowledge.
The aim of this course is to provide students with elements for reflection and analysis concerning contemporary debates on nature conservation and protection and sustainability. The course looks at definitions as well as historical and cultural aspects of nature conservation and the implementation of various protected areas (from community to government led) around the world. It also uses examples and case studies to address current management issues in nature protection. Venice is an ideal place in which to teach this course: it shelters a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as several marine protected areas. We will use field trips to these different areas to understand the local challenges of conservation.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will understand current global trends in biodiversity policy and how it impacts local areas, be able to apply IUCN tools such as those on governance and the protected area typology, and understand the application of these policies and tools to the case of different parks in and around the Venice Lagoon.

Teaching approach
Teaching will be a mixture of classic teaching, discussion groups around key works, films and online interview extracts from conservation field, and a field visit to a Venice lagune marine park and to the UNESCO World Heritage center in Venice.

Assessment
Evaluation will be done in two steps:
1) group work: student groups apply assigned IUCN conservation tools to a protected area of their choice (to be confirmed with the professor), and present this work orally in class (70% of the grade)
2) individual work: a 2-page policy brief assessing a conservation intervention from the student’s home country including its challenges and opportunities for collaborative governance of conservation landscapes (30%).

Overview of the Course

What is conservation? Histories of conservation.
From definitions to the colonial history of conservation to the diverse voices that shape the discipline today.
Readings
Adams WM, 2004. Against extinction: the story of conservation. Earthscan, London (excerpts from this book will be assigned)
Mbaria J. & Ogada M. 2016. The big conservation lie: the untold story of wildlife conservation in Kenya. Lens & Pens Publishing, Auburn. (excerpts from this book will be assigned, and videos viewed)
Sandbrook, C., et al. 2019. The global conservation movement is diverse but not divided. Nature Sustainability 2, 316–323.
Exploration on-line: self-evaluation: https://www.futureconservation.org/

Diversity of actors and values, Indigenous peoples and local community perspectives
The necessity of a diversity of perspectives and the consequences of excluding them.
- Fairhead, J. and M. Leach. 1996. Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest Savanna Mosaic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (A film summarizing this book will be shown)
- Haudenosaunee. Thanksgiving Address: greetings to the natural world. Ohén:Ton Karihwatéhkwen. The Tracking Project.
- Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions. (selected chapters)
- Pascual U. et al. 2023. Diverse values of nature for sustainability. Nature: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06406-9
- Tengö, M., Hill, R., Malmer, P., Raymond, C. M., Spierenburg, M., Danielsen, F., Elmqvist, T., & Folke, C. (2017). Weaving knowledge systems in IPBES, CBD and beyond—Lessons learned for sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2016.12.005
- Zanjani L.V., Govan H., Jonas H.C., Karfakis T., Mwamidi D.M., Stewart J., Walters G. & Dominguez P. 2023. Territories of life as key to global environmental sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 63: 101298. Based on this ICCA report : https://report.territoriesoflife.org/

Threats and opportunities
From the Red list of ecosystems and species to the green list of protected areas and Nature’s contributions to people.
- Díaz, S. et al. (2018). Assessing nature’s contributions to people. Science, 359(6373), 270–272.
- Keith, D. A., et al. (2013). Scientific foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems. PLoS ONE, 8(5), e62111.
- Locatelli, B., et al. (2025). Intertwined people–nature relations are central to nature-based adaptation to climate change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 380(1917), 20230213. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0213
- Piccolo, J. J., Taylor, B., Washington, H., Kopnina, H., Gray, J., Alberro, H., & Orlikowska, E. (2022). “Nature’s contributions to people” and peoples’ moral obligations to nature. Biological Conservation, 270, 109572.
- Walters, G., Ndjabounda, E. N., Ikabanga, D., Biteau, J. P., Hymas, O., White, L. J. T., Obiang, A.-M. N., Ondo, P. N., Jeffery, K. J., Lachenaud, O., & Stévart, T. (2016). Peri-urban conservation in the Mondah forest of Libreville, Gabon: Red List assessments of endemic plant species, and avoiding protected area downsizing. Oryx, 50(3), 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315000204

Key discourses
Understanding discourses and their effect on conservation: from wilderness to degradation narratives and the institutions that may promote them.
- Cronon, W. (1996). The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature. Environmental History, 1(1), 7–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/3985059
- Leach, M., & Mearns, R. (1996). The lie of the land: Challenging received wisdom on the African environment. James Currey. (selected chapters)
- Sithole, S. S., Fernandes, M., Hymas, O., Sharma, K., & Walters, G. (2021). Stuck in the Colonial Past?: Perpetuating Racist, Environmental Myths of Kenya in a Swiss Zoo. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 30(2), 95–111

Actors
Understanding the role of the state, NGOs, rural actors, Indigenous peoples and youth in conservation.
Borrini-Feyerabend, G. (2024). Territories of life: Exploring vitality of governance for conserved and protected areas (First). ICCA Consortium. https://doi.org/10.70841/VY54762
Brockington, D., & Scholfield, K. (2010). The Conservationist Mode of Production and Conservation NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa. Antipode, 42(3), 551–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00763.x
Brown, D., Bégou, B., Clement, F., Coolsaet, B., Darmet, L., Gingembre, M., Harmáčková, Z. V., Martin, A., Nohlová, B., & Barnaud, C. (2024). Conceptualising rural environmental justice in Europe in an age of climate-influenced landscape transformations. Journal of Rural Studies, 110, 103371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103371
Garland, E. (2008). The Elephant in the Room: Confronting the Colonial Character of Wildlife Conservation in Africa. African Studies Review, 51(3), 51–74. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/27667379
Mustonen, Tero, Antoine Scherer, and Jennifer Kelleher. 2022. “We Belong to the Land: Review of Two Northern Rewilding Sites as a Vehicle for Equity in Conservation.” Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9 (1): 1–9.
Sithole, S. S., Walters, G. M., Mbatha, P., & Matose, F. (2024). Youth engagement in global conservation governance. Conservation Biology, 38(6), e14387.
Speaker: Dr. Samantha Sithole, Birdlife International, Zimbabwe, Youth in conservation.

Governance and conservation
The role of decision-making, power dynamics and inclusive practices in conservation.
Borrini-Feyerabend, G. et al. (2013). Governance of Protected Areas: From understanding to action. Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 20, Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Xvi + 124pp. https ://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/PAG-020.pdf (excerpts from this book will be assigned)
Shackleton R.T., et al. 2023. Navigating power in conservation. Conservation Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12877

Tools for conservation
This segment of the course presents a variety of tools in conservation including protected areas, perceptions and nature-based solutions with examples from the Venetian Lagoon with examples of the REST-COAST project https://rest-coast.eu/ and Thetis project https://www.thetis.it/en/progetto-natalie/.
Bennett, N. J. (2016). Using perceptions as evidence to improve conservation and environmental management. Conservation Biology, 30(3), 582–592.
Cohen-Shacham, E., Cabecinha, E., & Andrade, A. (Eds.). (2025). Applying the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based SolutionsTM. 21 case studies from around the globe. IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://doi.org/10.2305/RFTD6180
Cohen-Shacham, E., Walters, G., Janzen, C., & Maginnis, S. (Eds.). (2016). Nature-based solutions to address global societal challenges. IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2016.13.en
Dudley, N. (2008). Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. X + 86pp. WITH Stolton, S., P. Shadie and N. Dudley (2013).
Gurney, G. G. et al. (2021). Biodiversity needs every tool in the box: Use OECMs. Nature, 595(7869), 646–649. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02041-4
Hockings, M., Stolton, S., Leverington, F., Dudley, N. and Courrau, J. (2006). Evaluating Effectiveness: A framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas. 2nd edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xiv + 105 pp.
Pernice, U. et al. (2024). Co-Developing Business Plans for Upscaled Coastal Nature-Based Solutions Restoration: An Application to the Venice Lagoon (Italy). Sustainability, 16(20). https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208835
Speaker: Dr. Olivier Hymas, World Commission of Protected Areas, IUCN, OECMs

Protected areas
Protected areas remain a key tool for conservation. This segment presents their role, challenges and opportunities.
Brockington, D., and J. Igoe. 2006. ‘Eviction for Conservation: A Global Overview’. Conservation and Society 4 (3): 424–70
Margules, C. R., & Pressey, R. L. (2000). Systematic conservation planning. Nature, 405, 243–253.
Tauli-Corpuz, V., Alcorn, J., Molnar, A., Healy, C., & Barrow, E. (2020). Cornered by PAs: Adopting rights-based approaches to enable cost-effective conservation and climate action. World Development, 130, 104923. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104923

UNESCO World Heritage Globally and in Venice
This segment presents UNESCO World Heritage sites, their governance and their challenges, with a focus on the Venetian lagoon.
UNESCO (2008). Enhancing our Heritage Toolkit Assessing management effectiveness of natural World Heritage sites. World Heritage France 23. Paris, France: UNESCO. 106pp.
Trovo’, F. (2020). The Unesco site “Venice and its Lagoon”: Cultural heritage protection policies. https://air.iuav.it/handle/11578/313459
Speaker: A member of the Venice UNESCO office

International policy frameworks and national implementation
This segment presents the major policy frameworks of conservation and their challenges.
Agbor, D. T. (2022). Convention on Biological Diversity Post 2020 Target: A Critical Analyses of the Threat Posed by 30 X 30 Target, Devoid of a Human Rights Approach Towards Conservation to Land Rights in Developing Countries: Case Study Cameroon. American Journal of Environment and Climate, 1(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.54536/ajec.v1i2.628
Aronson, J., & Alexander, S. (2013). Ecosystem Restoration is Now a Global Priority: Time to Roll up our Sleeves: News Report from CBDCOP11. Restoration Ecology, 21(3), 293–296.
Büscher, B., & Fletcher, R. (2019). Towards Convivial Conservation. Conservation and Society, 17(3), 283. https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_19_75 (selected chapter)
Büscher, B. et al. 2017. ‘Half-Earth or Whole Earth? Radical Ideas for Conservation, and Their Implications’. Oryx 51 (03): 407–10.

Decolonising conservation
This segment presents several perspectives on decolonizing conservation.
Kashwan, P. (2020). American environmentalism’s racist roots have shaped global thinking about conservation. The Conversation, September 2.
Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2020). Decolonising the Academy: A case for convivial scholarship. Basler Afrika Bibliographien.
Trisos, C. H., Auerbach, J., & Katti, M. (2021). Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5(9), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w
Exploration of website: The Bukavu Series: https://www.gicnetwork.be/silent-voices-blog/

Co-curricular activity: Potentially, a visit to a park in the Venice lagoon area, such as the Parco naturale regionale del Fiume Sile https://www.parcosile.it/ or the Venice Lagoon UNESCO World Heritage Site (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/394/ ; https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/il-sito-unesco-venezia-e-la-sua-laguna )
*The content of this syllabus is subject to change.

Bibliography
Adams WM, 2004. Against extinction: the story of conservation. Earthscan, London;
Sterling, VA (excerpts from this book will be assigned)
Borrini-Feyerabend, G. et al. (2013). Governance of Protected Areas: From understanding to action. Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 20, Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Xvi + 124pp. (excerpts from this book will be assigned)
Cumming G.S., Davies Z.G., Fischer J. & Hajjar R. 2023. Toward a pluralistic conservation science. Conservation Letters 16 (3): e12952.
Dudley, N. (2008). Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories.
Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. X + 86pp.
Fairhead, J. and M. Leach. 1996. Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest Savanna Mosaic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (A film summarizing this book will be shown)
Gurney G.G. et al. . 2021. Biodiversity needs every tool in the box: use OECMs. Nature 595 (7869): 646–649.
Hockings, M., Stolton, S., Leverington, F., Dudley, N. and Courrau, J. (2006). Evaluating Effectiveness: A framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas. 2nd edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xiv + 105 pp.
Mbaria J. & Ogada M. 2016. The big conservation lie: the untold story of wildlife conservation in Kenya. Lens & Pens Publishing, Auburn.
Pascual U. + 86 co-auteurs. 2023. Diverse values of nature for sustainability. Nature: 1– 11.
Sandbrook, C., et al. 2019. The global conservation movement is diverse but not divided.
Nature Sustainability 2, 316–323. https://www.futureconservation.org/
Shackleton R.T., et al. 2023. Navigating power in conservation. Conservation Science
and Practice.
Tauli-Corpuz, V., Alcorn, J., Molnar, A., Healy, C., & Barrow, E. (2020). Cornered by PAs: Adopting rights-based approaches to enable cost-effective conservation and climate action. World Development, 130, 104923.
UNESCO (2008). Enhancing our Heritage Toolkit Assessing management effectiveness of natural World Heritage sites. World Heritage France 23. Paris, France: UNESCO. 106pp.
Zanjani L.V., Govan H., Jonas H.C., Karfakis T., Mwamidi D.M., Stewart J., Walters G. & Dominguez P. 2023. Territories of life as key to global environmental sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 63: 101298.
Based on this ICCA report : https://report.territoriesoflife.org/

Last updated: January 21, 2026