Focusing on structure and process to integrate and mainstream the social sciences in conservation

Bennett et al. (2016) point out that calls to integrate the social and natural sciences in conservation are now routine. Yet, these calls have a limited effect because they continue to go unheeded, though, as Bennett et al. state, “everyone working in conservation, it seems, recognizes that natural science alone cannot solve conservation problems.” Highlighting the need for more comprehensive integration, they present a “framework for a collaborative and integrated conservation science and practice” that ostensibly contains a set of structures for inter- or trans-disciplinary team science. However, there is a conspicuous lack of explanation of these structures and, perhaps more importantly, no mention of the corresponding processes necessary to facilitate integration. By not detailing these aspects of their framework, Bennett et al. leave their intent implicit and miss a valuable opportunity to explicate the important role structures and processes perform in interdisciplinary research. As professionals in fields adjacent to conservation have come to understand, the synergistic relationship between structures and processes creates the hospitable environment required for integration and dispels the ad hoc approach to inclusion. Acknowledging the importance of both structures and processes is essential at this nascent and critical stage of emerging interdisciplinarity in conservation.