In May 2027, the George Wright Society and the University of California, Berkeley, will publish a special edition of their open-access journal Parks Stewardship Forum (https://escholarship.org/uc/psf) focused on the theme of “Capacity Development for Protected and Conserved Areas: North American Perspectives.” Next year will be a milestone for the place-based conservation community, with three major international conferences being held to convene, inspire, inform, and advance parks and conserved areas and the people who steward them:  the International Marine Protected Area Congress (March 2027 in Senegal); the World Ranger Conference (April 2027 in Argentina), and the IUCN World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress (September 2027 in Panama).

 

The special issue aims to add important voices and ideas to the dialogue of these three major conferences by focusing on the critical issue of capacity development, particularly as it focuses on or provides models for parks and other kinds of place-based conservation in North America: Canada, Mexico, USA. (“Parks” and “place-based conservation” are intended to be inclusive of a wide range of designations and activities, including conserved areas, marine protected areas, cultural and historic sites, areas managed by Indigenous Peoples, etc.) The special issue will address timely issues such as those below, and the guest editors, Jonathan Putnam and Lauren Wenzel, are open to others:

 

• How are North American parks agencies meeting the challenges of building internal management capacity to effectively manage parks in light of global, national, and regional pressures, as well as the ambition to reach the global goal to conserve 30% of the earth’s most ecologically important lands, waters, and seas by 2030?

• What will the future conservation workforce need in order to meet the challenges of place-based management for the coming decades? What skills and capacity should they have, and what programs are being implemented to build these (e.g., certifications, leadership development, mentoring)?

• How are local community partnerships expanding management capacity for place-based conservation and creating models for community-based conservation?

• How are Indigenous Peoples building their capacity for place-based conservation, including challenges, successes and unique perspectives?

• What is the state of capacity development as well as future needs and directions for North America?(This could include papers focused on this topic at the national scale for Canada, the United States and Mexico, as well as a continental-wide perspective.)

 

This special issue aims to showcase new data and novel insights relevant to place-based management in North America. We are prioritizing original contributions that offer diverse perspectives on capacity building that have not been previously published.

 

Proposals will be evaluated and contributions invited by the special issue guest editors.

 

The timeline of the special issue is designed to allow authors to provide preprints of their work in time for circulation to participants at IMPAC6 (March 22–27, 2027) and the World Ranger Conference (April 19–23, 2027), both of which will occur before the publication of the PSF special issue on May 15, 2027:

 

• Deadline for proposals via webform below: August 1, 2026

• Acceptance decisions from guest editors by August 15, 2026 (authors will receive manuscript preparation guidelines at this time)

• Manuscripts due by December 1, 2026

• Guest editor feedback to authors & revisions by authors: December 1, 2026–January 15, 2027

• Copyediting & layout design by PSF managing editors (authors will approve both text and layout): January 15–March 1, 2027

• Final papers available as preprints: March 1, 2027

• Publication of special issue: May 15, 2027

 

To submit a proposal, fill out the form below.  For questions about the special issue, please reach out to the guest editors at psf@georgewright.org.