Public Policy Events

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[PAST EVENT] Dr. Netra Chhetri - Reimagining conservation: Innovation in governance amid scarcity

November 7, 2024
3pm - 4:30pm
Location
Alan B. Miller Hall (Business School), Room 1008
101 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Open to the public
  • Registration/RSVP
Netra Chhetri event flyer with head shot of Netra

Collaboration across multiple levels of authority—local, regional, and national—is crucial in managing complex conservation challenges. In an era of increasing resource scarcity and environmental challenges, reimagining conservation requires innovative governance models that go beyond traditional top-down, command-and-control approaches to engage local communities in the management of natural resources. These models transform conservation into a more inclusive and sustainable practice that can be adaptive to the evolving challenges posed by changing environmental conditions.

Join the Institute for Integrative Conservation and visiting speaker, Netra Chhetri, for a presentation and discussion on Reimagining conservation: Innovation in governance amid scarcity.


Thursday, November 7th, 2024

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM

W&M Miller Hall, Room 1008

Williamsburg, VA

Netra will present how reimagining conservation demands not only the adoption of new technologies and practices but also a fundamental shift in the governance of natural resources - one that prioritizes inclusivity, adaptability, and sustainability, paving the way for resilient ecosystems and empowered communities in the face of future challenges.

Netra will highlight Nepal’s innovative and successful community forestry initiatives, which demonstrate the potential for resource conservation programs to not only preserve biodiversity but also to enhance the livelihoods of the rightful users of those resources. In Nepal, the coordination between local communities, regional bodies, and the national government ensures that decision-making is both inclusive and context-specific, allowing policies to be tailored to unique needs and social contexts. This layered approach enables more effective resource allocation and conflict resolution by drawing on the strengths of each governance level.  

Over time, Nepal’s initiatives have evolved into frameworks that empower communities through participatory governance and benefit-sharing mechanisms. Local actors contribute deep knowledge of ecosystems and community needs, while regional and national actors provide science-based innovations in policy, ensuring that conservation goals and human needs are balanced. A shift to participatory frameworks underscores the importance of involving local stakeholders in conservation efforts, ensuring that resource governance is both equitable and sustainable.

This event is sponsored by the Institute for Integrative Conservation as part of the IIC 2024-25 Conservation Speaker Series: Creativity and Innovation in Conservation.

This event is free and open to the public.

About Netra Chhetri

Netra B. Chhetri has been in the forefront of advancing innovative approaches to climate adaptation that tie together and link multi-scalar processes between environmental dynamics and social outcomes. Working at the complex intersections of climate change adaptation, food security, resource governance, grassroots innovation, and public engagement Professor Chhetri's skill set allows him to span the boundary of knowledge and practice, so that each reinforces the other.

Dr. Chhetri is a professor at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society. As a scholar, Professor Chhetri's efforts to develop a method for assessing the multiple sources of environmental impacts on society is unique and an important tool for designing and prioritizing climate adaptation strategies. As a practitioner, he has more than a decade of experience working at the complex intersection of science and policy and developing most promising solutions that focus on scalability, impact, and sustainability.

Professor Chhetri's expertise in global food security has evolved to focus on the impacts of climate change on global food systems, leading him to be one of the contributing authors to the Fourth (2007) and Fifth (2014) Assessment Reports of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  His work appears in numerous prestigious and peer-reviewed publications including Nature and the Journal of the National Academy of the Sciences. He is also a part of a team exploring how biofuel crops such as perennial grasses can be grown sustainably in the United States.

In addition to the talk (registration below), students can register here to attend a luncheon with Dr. Chhetri on November 7 between  12:15 - 1:45 PM: https://wmsas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyfVlAN5Us0dVky

For both the talk and the luncheon, attendees are encouraged to come even if it means coming late after class or leaving early to get to class

Sponsored by: Institute for Integrative Conservation

Contact

https://www.wm.edu/offices/iic/