Preparing students for the operational environmental career: an integrated project-based road map for academic programs

Although in academic courses of environmental disciplines, students may receive an interdisciplinary training on a VTR logic (V: “ecosystem Values”, T: anthropogenic Threats; R: conservation Responses), rarely they are prepared to work according to a problem solving and decision making approach, simulating operational circumstances in real project contexts. I propose a re-thinking of the teaching activity in academic conservation courses with a main focus on an operational project cycle. I reviewed a large number of trans-disciplinary conceptual tools and approaches developed by professionals and organizations belonging to the large arena of management disciplines, also not strictly related to the conservation world. I included these approaches and tools in a comprehensive framework following a project logic. This road map could be useful to communicate an operational approach to students in environmental conservation. © 2018, AESS.