Coordinated policies and effective global environmental governance are needed to address the global biodiversity crisis. Human dimensions like geopolitics influence conservation decision-making and outcomes. The importance of considering these complex social factors is heightened in an era of renewed great-power politics, as the intensifying US–China rivalry has direct implications for environmental governance and biodiversity outcomes. Can the US–China rivalry and its confrontational dynamics be channeled into conservation policymaking to improve biodiversity outcomes? Drawing from international relations and policy studies, policy diffusion theory can provide conservationists with useful insights into the interdependency of policy decisions. Here, we examine the four mechanisms—competition, coercion, learning, and emulation—of the classic model of policy diffusion theory in the context of environmental policymaking. We explore a case study for each mechanism to illustrate how it can benefit biodiversity conservation, and point to examples of relevant policies and actions that could improve outcomes. To operationalize this concept for conservation, we present a decision tree that conservationists can use to determine the most relevant policy diffusion mechanism in different policy contexts. Upon determining the appropriate mechanism, conservationists can take further steps to intentionally trigger the mechanism and catalyze conservation policy diffusion across jurisdictions.

中文翻译：

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全球生物多样性保护的政策扩散：中美大国政治中的学习、竞争、胁迫与模仿


解决全球生物多样性危机需要协调一致的政策和有效的全球环境治理。地缘政治等人文因素影响保护决策和结果。在新的大国政治时代，考虑这些复杂的社会因素的重要性更加突出，因为中美竞争的加剧对环境治理和生物多样性成果产生直接影响。中美竞争及其对抗动态能否转化为保护政策制定以改善生物多样性成果？借鉴国际关系和政策研究的经验，政策扩散理论可以为自然资源保护主义者提供有关政策决策相互依赖性的有用见解。在这里，我们研究了环境政策制定背景下政策扩散理论经典模型的四种机制——竞争、强制、学习和模仿。我们对每种机制进行了案例研究，以说明它如何有利于生物多样性保护，并指出可以改善结果的相关政策和行动的例子。为了将这一保护概念付诸实践，我们提出了一个决策树，保护主义者可以用它来确定不同政策背景下最相关的政策扩散机制。在确定适当的机制后，自然资源保护主义者可以采取进一步措施，有意触发该机制并促进跨辖区的保护政策传播。