Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals - Softcover

Jacobson, Susan Kay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559635096 ISBN 13: 9781559635097

Publisher: Island Press, 1999

Synopsis

Community and public support are essential to the success of conservation and resource management programs. Often, the level of support received depends on whether or not the goals and importance of the program have been clearly explained to the public, the press, or policymakers. Without good communication, even the best programs are liable to fail.

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals provides in-depth guidance on achieving conservation goals through better communications. It introduces communication approaches -- marketing and mass media, citizen participation, public information, environmental interpretation, and conservation education activities -- and offers scores of real-world examples and straightforward advice that will help conservationists develop the skills they need to communicate effectively. Following an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the communication process, the book:

• describes research techniques for gathering background information and targeting audiences
• outlines the steps involved in developing a communications campaign
• explains how to use mass media-from giving interviews to writing news releases and holding press conferences
• provides examples for developing interpretive media for conservation
• explores long-term conservation education strategies
• presents program evaluation techniques to determine the level of success achieved, or to identify steps for improvement

Throughout, the author presents a rich storehouse of examples, guidelines, and planning tools for all kinds of communication challenges. Strategies and materials that have been used by organizations across the country -- from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to The Nature Conservancy, from Adirondack Park to Yellowstone National Park -- are featured, providing both inspiration and support for others involved with similar projects.

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals is a much-needed contribution to the environmental literature that will play a vital role in helping scientists, managers, concerned citizens, and students to more effectively communicate their knowledge and concern about the environment, and to achieve greater professional and community success with their environmental campaigns.

About this title

About the Author

Susan K. Jacobson is associate professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and director of the Program for Studies in Tropical Conservation at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

From the Back Cover

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals provides in-depth guidance on achieving conservation goals through better communications. It introduces communication approaches and offers scores of real-world examples and straightforward advice that will help conservationists develop the skills they need to communicate effectively.

Following an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the communication process, the book:
-- Describes research techniques for gathering background information and targeting audiences
-- Outlines the steps involved in developing a communications campaign
-- Explains how to use mass media
-- Provides examples for developing interpretive media
-- Explores long-term conservation education strategies
-- Presents program evaluation techniques

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals is a much-needed addition to the environmental literature that will play a vital role in helping scientists, managers, concerned citizens, and students to more effectively communicate their knowledge and concern about the environment and to achieve greater professional and community success with their environmental campaigns.

Edition details

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1559635096
• ISBN 13: 9781559635097
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368