Editor’s Note

In this issue of Current Conservation, we have an eclectic collection of articles from around the world. Vivek Chandran chases after the elusive Tranvancore reedtail in India’s Western Ghats, while Aina Brias-Guinart draws parallels between her research in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, and learning to use taxi be—large minibuses that travel across the city. Through a campaign to reduce threats to the
giant ibis and other birds in northern Cambodia, Emiel de Lange demonstrates the importance of understanding how information and behaviours spread through social groups, before designing conservation interventions.

We have three articles on the topic of extinction. Diogo Veríssimo and Ivan Jarić write about a phenomenon that they call ‘societal extinction’—the disappearance of species from our collective memory—and why this matters for conservation management and cultural identity. In the Research in Translation section, we learn about the cascading effects that result from the loss of plants and animals and
their associated ecological functions from an ecosystem, as well as how to apply decision science to complex scenarios, such as preventing the extinction of species and ecosystems, while also considering the needs of people.

At the turn of the millennium, Mac Chapin openly critiqued the functioning of three big conservation NGOs. 18 years later, Hari Sridhar talks to him about his motivations for writing the article (which remains relevant today), the storm it created, and the current relationship between these organisations and indigenous peoples. Finally, our regular columnist Kartel Shockington (who may or may not
exist) sends strongly-worded letters to the Siberian tundra and the global economy, amongst others, urging them to change themselves to conform to our prescribed models of reality.

– Devathi Parashuram