Challenges and opportunities for integrating social science in a conservation nongovernmental organization

Although the importance of social science to conservation practice and policy is well accepted, social scientists remain in the minority in conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We explored how social science has started to inform the work of WWT, an NGO dedicated to the restoration of wetlands for people and nature. Through reflections on our experiences working in WWT's social dimensions unit and interviews with colleagues from different backgrounds and roles, we critically reflected on the integration of social science in wetland conservation science, advocacy, and practice. Social science was a relatively new and marginal research domain for WWT. There was confusion within the organization around what social science entails and its value for conservation practice. We and our colleagues have faced challenges communicating across disciplines and establishing a rigorous ethical review process for social science research. It is difficult to navigate under a scarcity mindset in conservation (i.e., that there is not enough time, resources, or funding) and at the same time to build collaborations and long-term relationships and contribute to wider environmental and social movements. Social science integration brought multiple opportunities to WWT, including creating and showing impact, building support, and broadening funding opportunities. Social science was seen to inform campaigns and wetland restoration policy. Further integration of social science is needed at WWT. To achieve this, we recommend building confidence in the role of social science across teams through further training to improve organizational competency in social science theory and methods. We emphasize the need for thoughtful, long-term approaches alongside shorter term approaches to wetland restoration. We recommend that conservation NGOs promote practices of self-reflection to recognize the inherently political nature of conservation. We expect that our experiences and recommendations are relevant for other organizations. We invite other perspectives and hope our reflections lead to further conversations in the conservation sector.