“Advocacy” and “Activism” Are Not Dirty Words–How Activists Can Better Help Conservation Scientists
Date
2016
Authors
Parsons, E. Christien Michael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers in Marine Science
Abstract
Whether scientists should be advocates for conservation has been a matter of debate in the scientific community and literature (Brussard and Tull, 2007; Lackey, 2007; Noss, 2007; Chan, 2008; Nelson and Vucetich, 2009; Scott and Rachlow, 2010; Parsons, 2013; Rose and Parsons, 2015). Some are set against it, such as Lackey (2007), who considers that while scientists should be involved in the policy process, they should not show any preferences for conservation policies, nor even use value-laden terms in their work, such as good, healthy, or degradation. On the other side of the spectrum, Noss (2007) argues that everyone has opinions and values and, when it comes to making policy recommendations, who better to do so than scientists, who are closest to the facts?