TY - JOUR
T1 - Global South leadership towards inclusive tropical ecology and conservation
AU - Ocampo-Ariza, Carolina
AU - Toledo-Hernández, Manuel
AU - Librán-Embid, Felipe
AU - Armenteras, Dolors
AU - Vansynghel, Justine
AU - Raveloaritiana, Estelle
AU - Arimond, Isabelle
AU - Angulo-Rubiano, Andrés
AU - Tscharntke, Teja
AU - Ramírez-Castañeda, Valeria
AU - Wurz, Annemarie
AU - Marcacci, Gabriel
AU - Anders, Mina
AU - Urbina-Cardona, J. Nicolás
AU - de Vos, Asha
AU - Devy, Soubadra
AU - Westphal, Catrin
AU - Toomey, Anne
AU - Sheherazade, null
AU - Chirango, Yolanda
AU - Maas, Bea
N1 - Funding Information:
This manuscript started through discussions with the Functional Agrobiodiversity group at the University of Göttingen, and we are grateful to all members for their valuable feedback. We also thank Evert Thomas and Brenton Ladd for their frequent reminders of the relevance of diversity and inclusion in scientific research in the tropics. We are very thankful to the associate editor and one anonymous reviewer for their feedback about the manuscript. We are thankful to Yan Yan from Westlake University, Philipp Arimond, Riko Fardiansah, Oussama Ait Hmida, Osama Adel, Héloïse Marcacci and Francisco d'Albertas Gomes de Carvalho for their help and advice with translations in Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Arabic, and Portuguese. We are also thankful to AfroLingo for their assistance with translations to African languages. Other language translations of the abstract and figure were made with the help of DeepL software and Google Translate.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Associação Brasileira de Ciência Ecológica e Conservação
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Strengthening participation of Global South researchers in tropical ecology and conservation is a target of our scientific community, but strategies for fostering increased engagement are mostly directed at Global North institutions and researchers. Whereas such approaches are crucial, there are unique challenges to addressing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the Global South given its socio-economic, cultural and scientific contexts. Sustainable solutions protecting biodiversity in the tropics depend on the leadership of Global South communities, and therefore DEI improvements in the Global South are paramount in our field. Here, we propose ten key actions towards equitable international collaborations in tropical ecology, which, led by Global South researchers, may improve DEI at institutional, national and international levels. At an institutional level, we recommend (1) becoming role models for DEI, (2) co-developing research with local stakeholders, and (3) promoting transparent funding management favouring local scientists. At a national level, we encourage (4) engagement in political actions protecting scientists and their research in tropical countries, (5) participation in improving biodiversity research policies, and (6) devising research that reaches society. At an international level, we encourage Global South researchers in international collaborations to (7) lead and direct funding applications, (8) ensure equitable workloads, and (9) procure equal benefits among national and foreign collaborators. Finally, (10) we propose that Global South leadership in DEI efforts has the most potential for worldwide improvements, supporting positive long-lasting changes in our entire scientific community. Supplementary materials provide this abstract in 18 other languages spoken in the Global South.
AB - Strengthening participation of Global South researchers in tropical ecology and conservation is a target of our scientific community, but strategies for fostering increased engagement are mostly directed at Global North institutions and researchers. Whereas such approaches are crucial, there are unique challenges to addressing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the Global South given its socio-economic, cultural and scientific contexts. Sustainable solutions protecting biodiversity in the tropics depend on the leadership of Global South communities, and therefore DEI improvements in the Global South are paramount in our field. Here, we propose ten key actions towards equitable international collaborations in tropical ecology, which, led by Global South researchers, may improve DEI at institutional, national and international levels. At an institutional level, we recommend (1) becoming role models for DEI, (2) co-developing research with local stakeholders, and (3) promoting transparent funding management favouring local scientists. At a national level, we encourage (4) engagement in political actions protecting scientists and their research in tropical countries, (5) participation in improving biodiversity research policies, and (6) devising research that reaches society. At an international level, we encourage Global South researchers in international collaborations to (7) lead and direct funding applications, (8) ensure equitable workloads, and (9) procure equal benefits among national and foreign collaborators. Finally, (10) we propose that Global South leadership in DEI efforts has the most potential for worldwide improvements, supporting positive long-lasting changes in our entire scientific community. Supplementary materials provide this abstract in 18 other languages spoken in the Global South.
KW - Diversity
KW - Equity
KW - Global South
KW - Inclusion
KW - International collaborations
KW - Local stakeholders
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85148734995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pecon.2023.01.002
DO - 10.1016/j.pecon.2023.01.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85148734995
VL - 21
SP - 17
EP - 24
JO - Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation
JF - Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation
SN - 2530-0644
IS - 1
ER -