CSPE - The implementation gap in environmental initiatives through community engagement and public pedagogies

据估计，乌干达、博茨瓦纳和尼日利亚70%的人口直接依赖其生态系统丰富的生物多样性维持生计、健康和福祉。随着社会、文化和经济繁荣的恶化，这些生态系统正以惊人的速度遭到破坏。目前，土地退化每年导致撒哈拉以南地区农业GDP的损失超过3%，预计到2025年，非洲将失去三分之二的可耕地。虽然针对这些环境和社会现实的研究、创新和政策是在国家和国际范围内进行的，但这些研究、创新和政策主要是在没有社区参与或质量投入的情况下进行的，而且大多没有成功实施。CSPE网络将社区和公共教育学中的环境和社会科学家聚集在一起，以解决这一明显的实施差距。迫切需要缩小环境研究、创新和政策与影响和受环境影响的社区之间的差距，以便有效地解决与生物多样性退化有关的日益严重的问题。CSPE网络将寻求通过促进创新的跨学科和跨部门合作来发展创新和经济增长，以解决在与社区经历的社会、文化和经济因素接触时生物多样性的丧失。乌干达、博茨瓦纳和尼日利亚在非正规、社区和公共教育方面有着丰富而重要的历史。社区和公共教学侧重于正规教育机构之外的学习和教学，包括在各种公共和社区空间学习，并可以通过教学、参与、社会艺术和流行文化等许多形式出现。在非洲背景下，在社区参与、土著了解方式和职业发展方面有很大的研究和实践领域，但这一社会科学领域很少与环境科学直接合作。因此，目标是平行的(环境可持续性和人民的福祉)，但缺乏共同的语言、方法或专业知识。在依赖环境的人口中，社区和公共教学是将新的科学信息与现有的社会文化知识和现实联系起来所需的最强有力、最快速和最适当的参与形式。环境政策执行方面的差距并不新鲜，但主要归因于治理和控制的失败。CSPE网络假定，在没有真正社区参与的情况下解决生物多样性退化问题是一个注定要继续失败的项目。同样，要解决没有丰富的、以科学为基础的环境知识的人口的健康、福祉和教育问题也是徒劳的。此外，这三个国家的领导人都认识到，它们面临的环境挑战需要跨部门和整体关注(《乌干达愿景2040》；《尼日利亚愿景20：2020年》；《博茨瓦纳国家发展计划10》)。CSPE网络提出，如果没有社区的充分参与，治理只会进一步扩大社区与试图保护社区的政策制定者和研究人员之间的差距。这种持续的动态和不断增加的一系列问题并不是由于缺乏知识、专门知识或财政资源。这是由于环境科学和社区参与之间的脱节：这个网络旨在缓解脱节。

It is estimated that 70% of the population of Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria directly depend on the rich biodiversity of their ecosystems for their livelihoods, health and well-being. These ecosystems are being damaged at alarming rates in conjunction with a deterioration of social, cultural, and economic prosperity. Land degradation currently leads to annual loss of more than 3% of agriculture GDP in the sub-Saharan region, with two-thirds of arable land expected to be lost in Africa by 2025. While research, innovation, and policy addressing these environmental and social realities is carried out nationally and internationally, these occur largely without community involvement or qualitative input, and mostly without successful implementation. The CSPE Network brings together environmental and social scientists in community and public pedagogies to address this apparent implementation gap. As a matter of urgency, the gap between environmental research, innovation, and policy and the communities impacting and being impacted by the environment needs to be mitigated, in order to effectively address the growing issues related to biodiversity degradation. The CSPE Network will seek to develop Innovation and Economic Growth by facilitating innovative cross-disciplinary and cross-sector collaborations to address biodiversity loss in engagement with the social, cultural, and economic factors experienced by communities. Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria have a rich, important history of non-formal, community and public pedagogies. Focused on learning and teaching outside formal educational institutions, community and public pedagogies include learning in various public and community spaces and can emerge for example, through instruction, engagement, social arts, and popular culture, amongst many other forms. There is a significant field of research and practice in community engagement, indigenous ways of knowing, and vocational development in the African context, but this social science area rarely works directly with environmental science. Hence, there are parallel objectives (environmental sustainability and the well being of people) but a lack of common language, approach, or expertise. In the context of environment-dependent populations, community and public pedagogies are the strongest, fastest, and most appropriate forms of engagement required to connect new scientific information with existing socio-cultural knowledge and realities. The environmental policy implementation gap is not new but it is predominantly put down to failures of governance and control. The CSPE Network postulates that addressing biodiversity degradation without genuine community engagement is a project destined to continue to fail. Likewise, to address the health, well-being, and education of populations without rich, science-based environmental knowledge is equally futile. Furthermore, the leadership of all three countries recognise that the environmental challenges they face require inter-sectoral and holistic attention (Uganda Vision 2040; Nigeria Vision 20:2020; Botswana National Development Plan 10). The CSPE Network proposes that without the full engagement of communities, governance will only further widen the gap between communities and the policy makers and researchers trying to protect them. This sustained dynamic and the ever-increasing set of problems is due not to a lack of knowledge, expertise or financial resources. It is due to the disconnect between environmental science and the engagement of communities: a disconnect this network is designed to mitigate.