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The dynamic feasibility of resisting (R), accepting (A), or directing (D) ecological change

Amanda E. Cravens; Katherine R. Clifford; Corrine Knapp; William R. Travis
Conservation Biology · Vol. 39, Issue 2 · 2025

Abstract

Ecological transformations are occurring as a result of climate change, challenging traditional approaches to land management decision‐making. The resist–accept–direct (RAD) framework helps managers consider how to respond to this challenge. We examined how the feasibility of the choices to resist, accept, and direct shifts in complex and dynamic ways through time. We considered 4 distinct types of social feasibility: regulatory, financial, public, and organizational. Our commentary is grounded in literature review and the examples that exist but necessarily has speculative elements because empirical evidence on this newly emerging management strategy is scarce. We expect that resist strategies will become less feasible over time as managers encounter situations where resisting is ecologically, by regulation, financially, or publicly not feasible. Similarly, we expect that as regulatory frameworks increasingly permit their use, if costs decrease, and if the public accepts them, managers will increasingly view accept and direct strategies as more viable options than they do at present. Exploring multiple types of feasibility over time allows consideration of both social and ecological trajectories of change in tandem. Our theorizing suggested that deepening the time horizon of decision‐making allows one to think carefully about when one should adopt different approaches and how to combine them over time.

Bibliographic Information

JournalConservation Biology
PublisherWiley
Publication Date2025-04-01
Publication Year2025
Volume39
Issue2
Document TypeJournal Article
Print ISSN0888-8892
eISSN1523-1739
DOI10.1111/cobi.14331
SubjectConservation Science

Access Information

NARA Access Coverage1997-01-01~Current
Journal Homepagehttps://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/15231739
Publisher PageOpen Publisher Page
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