Professor Steve Redpath, from the University of Aberdeen, will present the Department of Biological Sciences seminar, with a talk entitled, "Understanding and managing conservation conflicts".  

Conflicts are ubiquitous and challenging to manage. Conservation conflicts emerge when different groups disagree over conservation objectives and one party is seen to be asserting its interests at the expense of others. They can be positive, but invariably they are damaging to conservation and human livelihoods. I start by considering how we conceptualise such conflicts and present a framework for understanding and managing them. I will explore some of the big challenges to addressing these so-called "wicked problems", drawing from a variety of case studies, and consider what we need to do to try and find successful and durable outcomes.

Professor Steve Redpath received his PhD from Leeds University in 1989, and subsequently worked for the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology before moving to Aberdeen University in 2007. His research interests lie in conservation and ecology. Much of his earlier work focused on population ecology - what impact do predators, parasites and competitors have on population size and dynamics? Current research is on conservation conflicts - how do we enable coexistence between livelihoods and biodiversity conservation? He increasingly works with a variety of disciplines and stakeholders to address these issues.