Workshops & Courses
研讨会与课程
W-68
Workshop
Prioritizing Social-Ecological System Variables of Human-Elephant Conflict in China-Laos Transboundary Region
Thursday, July 2nd, 2026
Organizer(s):
Description
Background
The China-Laos transboundary region represents a critical area for global biodiversity conservation, yet human-elephant conflict (HEC) has emerged as an increasingly pressing issue threatening both local livelihoods and Asian elephant survival. This complex challenge involves intricate interactions among ecological, social, and economic dimensions, necessitating systematic and integrated research approaches to disentangle and identify its key driving factors for effective mitigation strategies.
Scope
This workshop comprehensively examines HEC in the China-Laos transboundary region across multiple interconnected dimensions including ecology, society, economy, and policy. We will convene diverse stakeholders from the region and beyond, encompassing research institutions, international and local NGOs, forestry and wildlife management agencies, and local community representatives. Participants bring complementary expertise in ecology, conservation technology, social science, community development, and policy, ensuring a holistic and representative examination of the issue.
Goals
By adopting an interdisciplinary, participatory, and systems-based approach, this workshop aims to identify and refine a minimal yet robust set of essential social-ecological system variables (ESEVs) influencing HEC dynamics in the region. It seeks to elucidate the critical characteristics, processes, and interactions driving HEC while generating methodological innovations and practical guidance for advancing transboundary conservation research and practice.
Objectives
To achieve this goal, the workshop pursues three specific objectives:
Develop a foundational selection criteria checklist: The workshop facilitator will conduct a systematic review of literature on HEC and transboundary conservation to identify variables and indicators closely related to social-ecological system dynamics, generating a foundational checklist covering ecological, social, economic, and policy dimensions. During the workshop, participants will supplement this checklist based on their expertise, ensuring comprehensiveness.
Prioritize core variables through participatory scoring: Multi-stakeholder groups will validate, supplement, and score each variable based on importance and feasibility, collectively identifying a prioritized minimal essential variable set that captures key HEC drivers in the China-Laos transboundary region.
Explore scenario-based dynamics: Building on the prioritized variables, participants will engage in scenario planning exercises examining how climate change, land-use change, and policy shifts might reshape HEC variables, and what these changes imply for local community exposure to HEC risks across the border.
Outcomes
This workshop will deliver:
A prioritized list of core social-ecological variables driving HEC
Priority research directions
A collaborative network for future research, data sharing, and joint actions.
Participant Takeaways
Participants gain a transferable method for variable identification, systemic thinking tools, cross-regional insights, and membership in an ongoing network for future academic and conservation collaboration.
Program Outline
Introduction
Duration: 10 mins
Content:
Introduction to workshop background, objectives, agenda, and participants
Background Presentation & Participant Familiarization
Duration: 20 mins
Content:
Presentation on HEC status in the China-Laos transboundary region, existing research, and the preliminary candidate list of social-ecological system variables (ESEVs) derived from literature review. Participants will be invited to briefly introduce themselves, their organization, expertise, and connection to HEC or transboundary conservation, fostering rapport among diverse stakeholders from different backgrounds and countries.
Breakout discussion I: ESEVs prioritization
Duration: 30 mins
Content:
Participants divided into groups to:
Discuss the candidate variable list, supplement any missing key variables, generate a revised variable list.
Score each variable based on importance and feasibility using a simple scoring matrix (e.g: 1-5 scale) calculate priority scores, to identify the most critical variables set.
Tea break
Duration: 10 mins
Content:
Informal networking
Breakout discussion II: Scenario planning
Duration: 30 mins
Content:
Building on the prioritized variables, groups will engage in scenario planning exercises to explore how variable importance and dynamics might shift under different future contexts. Discussions will focus on three scenarios: climate change, land-use change, and policy change. Groups will examine how these scenarios might reshape the HEC variables and indicators, and what this means for local community exposure to HEC risks in the context of transboundary.
Group Reporting & Plenary Discussion
Duration: 20 mins
Content:
Groups present their scenario planning insights, highlighting key differences across scenarios and implications for community HEC exposure; all participants synthesize inputs to identify robust variables that remain critical across multiple scenarios.
Wrap-up
Duration: 10 mins
Content:
Summary of workshop outcomes; discussion on future research collaboration, application of findings, and potential policy implications.
Materials that participants need to bring:
Workshop agenda, pre-selected criteria checklist of ESEVs, scoring sheets, scenario discussion maps. etc.
