The Influence of Political Climate on Transborder Wildlife Conservation: A Case Study on the United States-Mexico Transborder Region

Abstract

Politics influences transborder conservation collaboration directly specific to wildlife projects. There is extensive research relating to transborder conservation as well as studies on the influence of governments and politics on conservation. However, research on the direct effects that government and/or politics have on transborder collaboration and conversation initiatives and interventions is scant. The need for understanding these influences and wildlife manager's' reactions to them is critical, as transborder collaboration is important to conserve and protect the wildlife that travels/inhabits the lands extending across border regions. The purpose of this study is twofold. The first goal is to understand the influence that politics has on transborder collaboration. The second goal is to determine how wildlife managers react to the political climate and its influence, as well as developing new insights to generate recommendations for future transborder collaborations and initiatives to occur effectively. This research focused directly on wildlife managers in the Arizona-Sonora region who conduct work specifically related on wildlife projects across the transborder region in direct collaboration with their neighboring country. I relied on political ecology theory as well as community-based collaboration as my conceptual framework to guide my study. The insights generated in this study provide future recommendations for transborder regions all across the globe.