Colleen Begg

Conservation ecologist: carnivores, African wilderness with people, conservation leadership. PhD

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

https://t.co/zhp9edcPpO

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

Botswana! Democracy in action. "“I am proud of our democratic processes. Although I wanted a second term, I will respectfully step aside and participate in a smooth transition process,” Masisi said." Just amazing to see.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

Definitely hypocritical, illogical and complex. But so be it.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

Shooting magnificent "supertusker" elephants for personal trophies by private clients, wherever they might be, and no matter the money derived for conservation and communities feels as sacriligious to me as cutting down old trees or baobabs. 1/n

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

But it is also about them seeming to be too magnificent to be sold as a trophy to an individual client and not revered as national heritage. It is interesting to examine why I feel this way about some animals and can rationalise sport hunting for others for other species.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@JMBecologist This complexity is also why conservation & rewilding needs thinkers/leaders/ managers that have skills in adaptive governance snd management, humility, see failure as opportunity, not risk averse, collaborative, inclusive, critical thinkers, open minded. Learn by doing, carefully

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@kymeriandawn @John58784 @AmyDickman4 @paulakahumbu Different questions. Is it conservation? Which needs objective data based on metrics and indicators. Is it morally wrong? Ethics..depends on whose ethics and what ethical framework. These discussions go wrong as all mixed in together plus at different scales.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@AmyDickman4 @paulakahumbu Absolutely agree that the online hate directed at you in this debate is uncalled for, unacceptable and unproductive. I also don't think this debate on sport hunting can be productively had on open social media- too nuanced, site specific. This is not an effective forum

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@JMBecologist Humans are part of the ecosystems and in many cases have been "changing" it forever. Most troubling is when ecosystems are only considered wilderness without people and change. Assumption that change is bad for biodiversity and resilience.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@FattebertJ @AmyDickman4 @Nikolaj_Bi @KWSKenya @SheldrickTrust Who earns 100K a year as a PhD doing conservation work based in an African country or as an African national? Whether this is a big budget or not depends on mission and impact. I think it is hard to judge. Some work is much more expensive like animal rescue, translocation.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@doc_thoughts I find it a difficult line to tread, and get uncertain. I often don't know when to use my influence and voice and when not to? When I am taking up too much space, or when I am shrinking away. Do you have any guidelines in addition to keep learning snd reading?

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@JMBecologist As a conservation practitioner with a research background, the urgency and need for impact coupled with the type of questions I need answered makes it diificult to find common ground. When it works, and excellent science informs conservation questions it is so impactful.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@AmyDickman4 @IndyPrize @LionLandscapes @WildCRU_Ox Congratulations Amy, this is so well deserved for you and your multiple teams.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

Visa refusals, short time periods for visas, ongoing harassment at immigration for many even with visas while white Africans walk though is an ongoing problem.

[Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi @Abena2015]

As a #globalsouthscientist share your experiences with #visarefusals and what this experience communicated to you. I share mine here https://t.co/OKq1596wPl in @Nature
Tag the embassy to let us start the conversation to improve the situation @NLinGhana @CIFOR @ICCS_updates

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

@AmyDickman4 It's marketing not conservation but unfortunately many can't tell the difference.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

I know result chains and theory of change are meant to clarify assumptions but often it seems to embed the assumptions instead . If-then statements are useful for unpacking thinking but less useful for complex strategies as the further you go the more the assumptions compound.

[Colleen Begg @ColleenBegg1]

I am skeptical of complex strategies based on result chains in conservation. All those little boxes linked by colored lines. Ecological systems are open systems and humans are complex. There are many paths to the outcomes we want and things change rapidly along the way.