Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 67
CO M M UNIC AT IO N
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RE W I L D I NG
Resolving Conflicts in the Field
How “conservation conflict transformation” can help advance rewilding efforts
BY FRANC INE M ADDE N
to talk about?
For me, it’s conflict. And I’m talking about
great, destructive conflict. But the reason why
may not be what you think. I don’t revel in
destruction—but this kind of conflict is an opportunity for
constructive change. For progress.
Conflict is also central to how my organization
approaches conservation. We call this approach conservation conflict transformation.
Think about all the different ways that you can address
conflict as existing on a spectrum. At one end you have a
rights-based dispute. You might just take the person to court,
file a lawsuit, settle the dispute, and you’re done. Moving
along the spectrum, you might be negotiating for a new car.
It doesn’t matter if you and the dealer get along. All that
matters is that you get the car, they get their money, and you
go home, never to see each other again. Moving further along
the spectrum, we get to conflict resolution, for example, a
divorce or an interest-based negotiation, where each person
is wondering what they can get out of it, or what the alternatives might be if there’s no easy agreement.
Finally, we’ve made it to the opposite end of the
spectrum than we started from. Here, we have conflict
transformation. It’s the most comprehensive way of engaging with really deep-rooted, seemingly intractable conflict.
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