Biodiversity conservation indicators and conflict management: Application of environmental expert-based approach in Romania

Managing conservation projects requires implementing interventions that are influenced by people's knowledge and their ways of comprehending a situation. This complexity often leads to challenges in communication and collaboration, especially in situations where conflicting parties are involved. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of strengthening conflict resolution strategies in the context of biodiversity conservation projects. To achieve this objective, the research focused on two main aspects which include the identification of key performance indicators as perceived by environmental experts within a conservation project, and the assessment of conflict management styles employed by these experts. The study performed literature review to select 27 basic performance indicators for biodiversity conservation projects. A survey of 25 experts collected data on their perception regarding the indicators and conflict management style. Using multi-criteria analysis, specifically the direct analysis of a performance matrix, this study ranked 27 basic indicators used to evaluate conservation project performance. The results showed that the most important indicator was “natural regeneration capacity”, the most used conflict management style was “integrating”, and the least used one was “avoiding”. The study recognized that conflicts, when managed effectively, can reveal different perspectives on challenges. Therefore, competitive interests can stimulate innovative problem-solving and generate productive results. This study enhances understanding of conflict management styles, which contributes to improved conflict resolution and, ultimately, better management of biodiversity conservation projects.