Figures & data
Figure 1. Venn diagram depicting the relationships among conservation permitting agency (1), funding agency (2), and practitioners (3). Size of the sphere for each participant portrays education and knowledge of representatives and adherence to respective responsibilities. A substantial three-way overlap (a) represents relative success of a conservation project (left). To foster success, the permitting agency respects the responsibility to support the practitioner within the guidelines of the permit (b), the two agencies work with synergy to enable the practitioner to perform at a level that matches their capabilities (c), and the funding agency provides resources and removes roadblocks that hinder practitioner performance (d). An example that hinders success may occur when the funding agency demands oversight of the permit compliance, and the permitting agency surrenders that oversight (right). The size of the sphere for permitting agency is greatly reduced due to the decision to abandon the responsibility to support the practitioner. The size of the sphere for the funding agency is reduced due to misfeasance, but the reduction is not as great because the agency has taken over a disproportionately and inappropriately larger role in the conservation process. The size of the sphere for the practitioner is greatly reduced because performance is damaged by the dysfunction between permitting and funding agencies. The overlap of permitting agency and practitioner is minimal, the overlap of permitting agency and funding agency is minimal, and the three-way overlap approaches nil.
