Kelly Biedenweg in the department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences was named a Fulbright Scholar last August and has been working with government organizations, research centers, and non-profit environmental groups in Chile to integrate considerations of human wellbeing in protected area management.
Human wellbeing considerations in protected area management are a growing phenomenon internationally. To achieve international certification, the IUCN Green List requires that protected areas consider social and economic impacts.
Biedenweg’s Fulbright scholarship formally concludes in February 2023, but since starting this work she has been able to develop human wellbeing indicators and monitoring plans for three protected areas, two in Patagonia and one in Central Chile. The largest project of this collaborative effort has been a manual providing a step-by-step guide for how to develop and implement wellbeing indicators in protected area management plans. This manual is written for protected area managers and their implementation teams, including both national government employees and private sector consultants. Over the course of her work in Chile, Biedenweg has also been invited to several online conferences, workshops and seminars to disseminate these ideas.
The final copy of the manual will be launched in March with an in-person training activity in Valdivia.