Human-Centred Conservation: Redefining Our Relationship with Nature | Special Episode 6 ORC 2025

pecial Episode — Recorded live at the Oppenheimer Research Conference 2025. How do we build conservation models that work for both people and nature? In this eye-opening conversation, Lessah Mandoloma (Oxford) and Katie Mackenzie (Jamma Conservation & Communities) unpack the principles of human-centred conservation—a framework that challenges siloed thinking, brings communities into decision-making, and addresses the real trade-offs that shape conservation outcomes.

They explore: • Why conservation must start with honest conversations about power, rights, and benefits • How to break silos between health, climate, food systems and biodiversity • Why communities must be treated as partners, not passive beneficiaries • The importance of co-defining goals and returning research findings to communities

A hopeful and practical roadmap for conservation that recognises humanity as part of nature—not outside of it.