Approaches to biodiversity policy

Dr. Miller discussed a draft of his forthcoming World Resources Institute Report "Balancing the Scales - Policies for Increasing Biodiversity's Chances through Bioregional Management." He presented four different approaches to biodiversity conservation, and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses in order to synthesize policy recommendations for managing conservation through bioregional efforts.

He looked at a number of approaches, including bioregional movement, which grew out of a geographic focus on conservation.  This revolves around the three themes of bioregions, governance and ecosystems.

In summary, the bioregional approach is characterized by the devolution of power to local and regional bodies, the construction of governance around bounded places, and intense information gathering and evaluation. Bioregional approaches are not typically methodological or synthetically analytic. They focus on the unique and resist analysis. Techniques are often traded orally at meetings, rather than published.