Thomas Pienkowski

University of Oxford | OX · Department of Zoology

Climate change is triggering a diverse set of adaptive responses from communities across environmental and socioeconomic contexts. In African rangelands, selling livestock is critical for responding to changes in local environmental conditions. As these decisions further affect environmental and community wellbeing, identifying where, when, and how...

Poor mental health is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease but there is poor understanding of how it is influenced by people's interactions with ecological systems. In a theory-generating case study we asked how interactions with ecosystems were perceived to influence stressors associated with psychological distress in a rural sett...

Many attempts to scale conservation actions have failed to deliver their intended benefits, caused unintended harm, or later been abandoned, hampering efforts to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. Here, we encourage those calling for scaling to pause and reflect on past scaling efforts, which offer valuable lessons: the total impact of an action...

Many attempts to scale conservation actions have failed to deliver their intended benefits, caused unintended harm or later been abandoned, hampering efforts to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. Here we encourage those calling for scaling to pause and reflect on past scaling efforts, which offer valuable lessons: the total impact of an action de...

Many countries globally have committed to restoring forested landscapes on a large scale.Yet, there is limited understanding of why people engage with restoration programs and theassociated social impacts, hindering efforts to scale restoration. This study examines thedrivers for landholder engagement in farmland restoration in Brazil's Pontal doPa...

While many successful initiatives for conserving nature exist, efforts to take them to scale have been inadequate. Moreover, conservation science currently lacks a systematic methodology for determining if or when interventions will reach effective scales and how programmatic decisions will affect the scaling process. This paper presents a modellin...

1. Forest restoration has the potential to contribute to climate, biodiversity, and human well-being, responding to multiple global sustainable development goals. Yet, little is known about the factors associated with local actors’ choice to engage in forest restoration, limiting the development of effective scaling strategies. 2. Our study examine...

Achieving global climate, development, and biodiversity goals will require bringing conservation interventions to scale in suitable contexts and with appropriate timing. Practitioners and policymakers have a range of actions available to influence where, when, and by whom an initiative is adopted. Yet, to make effective management decisions, they m...

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, and both aspects have potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated workplace protective and risk factors. A better understanding might help improve working conditions, support...

Workplaces can be sources of both stress and support, affecting employees' mental health and productivity. Yet, little research has investigated variability in workplace risk factors for poor mental health in conservation. We aimed to explore how patterns of psychological distress—a state of emotional disturbance—and associated workplace risk facto...

When deciding how to conserve biodiversity, practitioners navigate diverse missions, sometimes conflicting approaches, and uncertain trade‐offs. These choices are based not only on evidence, funders’ priorities, stakeholders’ interests, and policies, but also on practitioners’ personal experiences, backgrounds, and values. Calls for greater reflexi...

Large, long-lived marine animals (‘marine megafauna’) are amongst the world's most threatened taxa, primarily due to overfishing. Reducing fisheries' impacts on marine megafauna is particularly challenging in small-scale fisheries (SSFs), where endangered species can have important consumptive use values. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have...

Agricultural intensification and expanding protected areas are proposed sustainable development approaches. But, their consequences for mental health are poorly understood. This study aims to predict how forest conservation and contract farming may alter resource access and depression risk in rural Uganda. Residents (N = 695) in 11 communities in M...

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding may help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job sat...

In the face of unprecedented biodiversity loss, the belief that conservation goals can be met could play an important role in ensuring they are fulfilled. We asked conservationists how optimistic they felt about key biodiversity outcomes over the next 10 years; 2341 people familiar with conservation in 144 countries responded. Respondents expressed...

Goals play important roles in people's lives because they focus attention, mobilize effort, and sustain motivation. Understanding conservationists’ satisfaction with goal progress may provide insights into real‐world environmental trends and flag risks to their well‐being and motivation. We asked 2694 conservationists working globally how satisfied...

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding can help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job sat...

Large, long-lived marine animals (‘marine megafauna’) play critical roles in ocean ecosystems, however, they are threatened by overfishing. Technologies and practices that reduce fisheries’ impacts on marine megafauna are well documented, yet less is known about how to encourage their adoption. This is particularly challenging in small-scale fisher...

Agricultural intensification and expanding protected areas are proposed sustainable development approaches. But, their consequences for mental health – a global priority – are poorly understood. We predict how forest conservation and contract farming may alter resource access and depression risk in rural Uganda. We asked 695 residents in 11 communi...

Mental illness is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease, but there is limited understanding of how it is influenced by socio-ecological context, particularly in the global south. We asked how interactions with ecological systems influence stressors associated with psychological distress in a rural Ugandan case study. We conducted an...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge loss of life, and immense social and economic harm. Wildlife trade has become central to discourse on COVID-19, zoonotic pandemics, and related policy responses, which must focus on “saving lives, protecting livelihoods, and safeguarding nature.” Proposed policy responses have included extreme measures such as...

Prioritizing conservation interventions based on their cost‐effectiveness may enhance global conservation impact. To do this prioritization, conservation decision‐makers need evidence of what works where and how much it costs. Yet, the size, representativeness, and strength of the cost‐effectiveness evidence base are unknown. We reviewed conservati...

For many researchers, particularly in academia, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a necessity, with major implications for their career progression. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that the current scientific publishing model is not fair and equitable, which can have severe consequences for the way science is accessed and used in nature co...

Despite a growing demand to integrate ecosystem services into sustainability decision-making, our understanding of the global distribution of the economic value of ES is scarce. We extracted information from provisioning and cultural ecosystem services (PCES) from The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) database using a meta-analytical...

Background Agricultural expansion is a leading driver of deforestation, yet malnutrition remains a significant cause of morbidity. Understanding trade-offs and synergies between forest protection and agricultural expansion, and how they vary between groups across time, could help guide socially equitable sustainable development. Forests have import...

Background: Potential synergies between public health and environmental protection that offer new opportunities for achieving health and sustainable development targets have been postulated. However, empirical evidence of the effect of ecosystem degradation and protection on public health outcomes is scarce, which restricts policy makers' ability t...

Myanmar offers unique opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and foreign direct investment due to projected economic growth linked to natural resource exploitation. Industrial-scale development introduces new land uses into the landscape, with unknown repercussions for local communities and biodiversity conservation. We use participatory...

An invasive crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, and several native shrimp species (Macrobrachium acanthurus, Macrobrachium faustinum, Macrobrachium carcinus, Xiphocaris elongata, and Atyidae sp.) found in the Black River Lower Morass (BRLM), a Ramsar Wetland in Jamaica, support subsistence and artisanal fisheries. Management of this fishery requires...