It is well accepted that conservation efforts worldwide must involve a cross-section of stakeholders, including those most affected by changes in land use, to promote the long-term protection of biodiversity, critical habitats, and fragile landscapes. Conservation organizations and land trusts, both big and small, are searching for better ways to build functional alliances for the protection of nature. Efforts over the past decade have assisted in building collaborations that connect the Cornell scientific community, including graduate students, to nongovernmental conservation organizations. Such efforts are producing unique contributions to conservation science and graduate education, and to conservation planning and management internationally as well as in Pennsylvania and New York.

Despite decades of concern and activism, the state of the Earth`s environmental resources continues to worsen with erosion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution, etc. Closely linked are the needs and concerns of rural populations, those most connected to the deteriorating natural resource base. In developing and developed countries alike, conflicts arise between those concerned about conservation and the protection of biodiversity and those focused on economic development. It seems that the Earth's natural and human resources continue to spiral toward unacceptable consequences in spite of our growing understanding of the root causes of these problems.
Conservationists and development professionals now recognize that sustainable solutions cut across many disciplines and must involve the collaborative efforts of many different stakeholder groups. This program recognizes that the academy must engage in educating the "new conservationist," those able to work rigorously on interdisciplinary, real-world environmental problems and apply the best science to these problems. The program is focused on building effective partnerships inside and outside the university. Collectively, such a commitment defines conservation science in a developing world.

Beginning with a small seed grant in the late 1980s, this program has focused the land-grant mission of Cornell University on building a conservation science program in the Department of Natural Resources. Efforts began with a strong international focus, identified as conservation and sustainable development (CSD), and with the teaching of the first sustainability course on campus. A similar course, Global Seminar, exists today, as does a new offering, International Conservation, both of which appeal to the career interests of many graduate and undergraduate students. Major internal and external funding during the 1990s helped expand this program by attracting talented graduate students, many from developing nations, who are committed to becoming new conservationists. The program developed close working relationships with many research institutes and conservation organizations that provided real-world research environments for students and an outlet for the application of results. A major collaborative relationship was recently developed with the Nature Conservancy (TNC)`s China Yunnan Great Rivers Project, which actually provided a context for refocusing a portion of this program to CSD issues in North America. Now involving more local collaborations with organizations including the Finger Lakes Land Trust, TNC-NY, and the E.L. Rose Conservancy of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, efforts continue to emphasize the education of new conservationists.

This program has prepared graduate students for professional careers in conservation science, yielding 45 graduate degrees since 1988; 15 were international students. Graduates, including those with PhDs, hold a variety of professional positions in universities, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, bilateral donor organizations, foundations, and private enterprises. Over 40 research publications have been co-authored with these students. Work with the TNC-China Yunnan Great Rivers Project yielded management recommendations for conservation efforts in alpine regions and a new technique for monitoring long-term ecological changes at the landscape level. The Rose Conservancy project provided six faculty/staff, three undergraduates, and one MPS student the opportunity to work on specific land conservation planning and management projects. Past efforts have helped to enhance the planning and management effectiveness of the Conservancy, developed a heritage-greenway planning guide, formulated a geographic information system database, and conducted initial biodiversity inventories. Current projects are examining the aquatic ecology of Silver Lake, developing management recommendations for enhancing the biodiversity, and designing a landscape-monitoring scheme. A similar project was initiated this year with the Nature Conservancy to examine the Tug Hill region of New York.

conservation and sustainable development

• Ruth Sherman (Natural Resources)
• Clifford Kraft (Natural Resources)
• Steven Morreale (Natural Resources)
• Renee Mullen (TNC - USA)