Integrating Knowledge and Practice for Coexistence

Conservation Edgewalkers, launched in 2017, is an interdisciplinary initiative that inspires and empowers emerging conservationists to work across boundaries for sustainable coexistence in the common interest of all life. We support those who work at the intersections of disciplines, cultures, and sectors—where many of today’s most pressing conservation challenges unfold, and where innovation is most urgently needed.

We understand conservation not merely as a technocratic challenge, but as a social-ecological process deeply embedded in specific natural–social–cultural nexuses located in particular times and places. Addressing such complexity requires more than scientific evidence, technological innovation, market mechanisms, or policy reform alone. It calls for a fundamental shift in our ways of knowing, being, and participating within a vibrant Living Earth Community.

At the core of Conservation Edgewalkers is a commitment to cultivating reflexive, systems, and futures ways of knowing. These complementary approaches enable our fellows to critically examine their own positions and assumptions, engage with complexity and interdependence, and navigate uncertainty while imagining and shaping more just, resilient futures.

Our Vision

A world where all life thrives with dignity

Our Mission

To inspire and empower emerging conservationists to work across boundaries for sustainable coexistence

Our Approach

Knowledge Co-creation

Integrating diverse perspectives across disciplines, cultures, and sectors to co-create problem-oriented, contextual conservation knowledge.

Practice Co-learning

Facilitating collective learning through place-based prototyping, while actively disseminating experiences and insights across communities.

Community Co-building

Engaging with local and translocal communities to build equitable, collaborative networks that foster long-term partnerships.

Our Vision

A world where all life thrives with dignity

Our Mission

To inspire and empower emerging conservationists to work across boundaries for sustainable coexistence

Our Approach

Knowledge Co-creation

Integrating diverse perspectives across disciplines, cultures, and sectors to co-create problem-oriented, contextual conservation knowledge.

Practice Co-learning

Facilitating collective learning through place-based prototyping, while actively disseminating experiences and insights across communities.

Community Co-building

Engaging with local and translocal communities to build equitable, collaborative networks that foster long-term partnerships.

Ways of Knowing
at the edge

We cultivate reflexive, systems, and futures thinking to help emerging conservationists navigate complexity, cross boundaries, and co-create solutions for sustainable coexistence.

Reflexive Thinking

A mode of inquiry that consciously examines one’s assumptions and positionality, and how they shape understanding and action. It foregrounds critical self-reflection on one’s role within systems, enabling deeper learning and the possibility of transformative change.

Systems Thinking

A way of understanding the interactions, feedback, and dynamics among elements within a system. It moves beyond single-discipline perspectives and linear cause–effect reasoning, allowing engagement with complexity across ecological, social, and institutional domains.

Futures Thinking

A strategic approach to knowing that explores multiple possible futures and informs present actions. It embraces uncertainty, cultivates long-term vision, and strengthens the capacity to navigate change toward more just, resilient, and desirable outcomes.

Reflexive Thinking

A mode of inquiry that consciously examines one’s assumptions and positionality, and how they shape understanding and action. It foregrounds critical self-reflection on one’s role within systems, enabling deeper learning and the possibility of transformative change.

Systems Thinking

A way of understanding the interactions, feedback, and dynamics among elements within a system. It moves beyond single-discipline perspectives and linear cause–effect reasoning, allowing engagement with complexity across ecological, social, and institutional domains.

Futures Thinking

A strategic approach to knowing that explores multiple possible futures and informs present actions. It embraces uncertainty, cultivates long-term vision, and strengthens the capacity to navigate change toward more just, resilient, and desirable outcomes.

Read insightful essays & updates from our community

Conservation Edgewalkers Bulletin

Read the Bulletin

The Bulletin features analytical and reflective essays by Conservation Edgewalkers and student researchers, offering perspectives from the intersections of conservation science, culture, and practice.