What is the future of conservation

In a forthcoming article in Trends in Ecology & Evolution entitled “What is the future of conservation?” Daniel Doak and colleagues rail against what they term ‘new conservation science (NCS)’. Doak et al., never quite get round to providing a clear definition of what NCS is. Rather they describe NCS through a series of the problems with ‘traditional’ conservation science they claim are made (somewhat tenuously in my opinion) that NCS makes and the NCS remedies to these posited problems with traditional conservation approaches.  In short they claim that NCS claim (see, it is already getting tortuously tenuous) that traditional conservation:

a) Ignores the well-being of the poor and therefore causes suffering.

b) Is based on the myth of pristine nature.

c) Wrongly assume that nature is inherently fragile.

d) And finally, that NCS claims that “conservation for biodiversity’s sake” is failing.

Doak et al., then suggest that…