Conservation storytelling from science to IPBES "Science and
stories are not the same thing, although stories have long been
the outward face of conservation science. With the launch of
IPBES we are going to have to more carefully and strategically
untangle our stories from our science," writes IUCN experts in
the recent issue of Conservation Biology. "The rate of species’
extinctions that framed the launch of our discipline was too
high not to use whatever communication tools would be most
effective to get people to address the crisis," says Kent H.
Redford, Craig Groves, Rodrigo A. Medellin, and John G.
Robinson. "We practiced science, and science structured the
programs conservation practitioners implemented, but science
showed no promise of changing peoples’ attitudes and behaviors.
Stories did that, and we used them to convince the world of the
urgency of paying attention to the global loss of biodiversity
(genes, species, and ecosystems)." Mr Redford and Mr Groves have
long involvement with the IUCN exp