Bridging the research‐implementation gap requires engagement from practitioners

Abstract

Abstract A widely recognized challenge in natural resource management and conservation is the gap between the knowledge generated by researchers and the information being used to inform policy and practice. This research‐implementation gap can limit the effectiveness of conservation practice when it results in delayed adoption of approaches that produce better outcomes or a failure to discontinue the use of ineffective practices. To date, much of the discussion about bridging the research‐implementation gap has focused on changes to the supply side, that is, the flow of information from scientists to practitioners. However, changes to the practice of conservation, the demand side, are an important, and often overlooked, component of efforts to increase conservation gains in the face of unprecedented rates of extinction. We use a decision‐theory perspective to explore how program managers and implementers can use existing tools from evidence‐based conservation and adaptive management to more efficiently allocate investments to the use and generation of evidence. Use of these frameworks to achieve broad‐scale change in conservation practice will require building additional capacities into conservation programs across scales. We recommend five actions that conservation practitioners and their institutions can take to bridge the research‐implementation gap in conservation.

Keywords

• adaptive management
• decision making
• effectiveness
• evidence‐based practice
• knowing‐doing gap
• knowledge mobilization