Developing learning landscape partnerships: why and how to work with protected area managers

There are many calls for more effective science-policy interaction and knowledge exchange in order to tackle persistent conservation problems; however, more clarity is needed surrounding the roles and practices involved. To address this challenge, we present the outcomes of an iterative, transdisciplinary process between researchers and protected area managers, to identify good practice in the development of what we call ‘learning landscape partnerships’. This was achieved by a series of deliberative workshops, informed by the literature, to consolidate pan -European experience of those who manage and study protected areas. The resultant ‘learning landscape partnership’ model highlights the key role of a ‘neglected actor’ in such partnerships - the protected area manager. Critically, protected area managers can act as intermediaries in interpreting science for use in conservation. However, this requires the recognition of: the boundary spanning work of individual researchers and protected area managers; the need for support and encouragement by their respective organisations; and the multi-dimensional institutional setting by which the relationship building occurs. Working with protected area managers therefore requires transformation in these three areas. Transformation is rarely straightforward but may be required to respond to the urgent conservation challenges facing our most valuable landscapes.