Ten years on for the Letter from the Conservation Front Line

Abstract

The biodiversity crisis continues apace, with daily calls for more action to save species and populations in peril from direct and indirect human activities and other pressures. The expanding human footprint is also causing alterations in animal behaviour, as species attempt to survive displacement in increasingly fragmented and modified habitats (Lehman et al., 2021). On 16 January 2014, Animal Conservation established a new initiative asking conservation practitioners and policymakers to tell us what information they need from scientists to help them make a difference in the real world. The Letter from the Conservation Front Line was born (Gordon et al., 2014; herein also referred to as the Letters).

The challenges facing biodiversity raised in the 2014 editorial are as relevant today as they were 10 years ago. Biodiversity loss continues apace, and yet, funding for conservation is still a pittance relative to what is required, climate change (not mentioned in the original editorial) is the existential threat of our time, and pressures for urban/infrastructure/agricultural development can have huge knock-on effects on biodiversity conservation. Now, more than ever, we need scientists/researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to work together to face these threats head on, if we are to make any headway in reversing the current trends of decimating our planet's natural heritage and the benefits to people which it generates.

Effective conservation outcomes require collaboration between conservation practitioners and those who conduct the research that provides evidence in support of the implemented actions. Furthermore, the gap between theory and practice, despite recent progress (Jarvis et al., 2020), is as wide as ever and much more still needs to be done. Conservation scientists need to develop research programmes that meet not only their own needs for research publications but also the needs of those who are directly working on the ground to advance positive outcomes for biodiversity across the planet. This requires funding bodies to acknowledge the benefits of applied research that is outcome-focused, as well as effective communication of research outcomes to those capable of their implementation (Kadykalo et al., 2021; Toomey, 2023).

With this editorial, we'd like to celebrate the successful first 10 years of this section of the journal in terms of the number of Letters published over these years, the high numbers of downloads and citations received by many of these publications, and the broad geographic representation in their authorship. Since its inception, we have so far published 39 Letters in this series, ranging from trophy hunting of fish (Costa-Pereira, 2016), to the impacts of artisanal gold exploitation within protected areas in Madagascar (Cabeza et al., 2019) and paying fishers to conserve endangered guitarfish in Brazil (Wosnick, Da Costa De Lima Wosiak, & Machado Filho, 2020), through to the role of citizen science in generating conservation actions in Italy (Battisti & Gippoliti, 2024). If the download figures are anything to go by, these Letters have been widely read and some are well cited: according to our publisher's data, most have been downloaded at least 500 and several over a thousand times. One of the most pleasing things about the Letters is that they come from a wide range of countries (36 countries across six continents are represented among the authorship), particularly lower-income countries, bringing the often-unheard voices into the authorship of an international conservation journal.

With the Letter from the Conservation Front Line, we provide a platform in Animal Conservation for conservation practitioners to highlight particular knowledge that they need from conservation science to tackle issues they face at the front line of conservation. By bringing attention to gaps in our knowledge and sharing experiences and insights, the authors of this series of Letters add to the diversity of voices that collectively influence conservation research, practice, and policy. This diversity is critical for developing effective conservation action (Sandbrook et al., 2019).

So please, if you are a practitioner or a policy maker, consider drafting a Letter from the Conservation Front Line. Your voice will be heard and could galvanise research action that can make a difference in the issues you face. If you are a researcher, please read these Letters and find out how your research could help those fighting for nature at the front line.