Despite billions of dollars invested, “getting to scale” remains a fundamental challenge for conservation donors and practitioners. Occasionally, however, a conservation intervention will “go viral,” with rapid, widespread adoption that transforms the relationship between people and nature across large areas. The factors that shape rates and patterns of conservation interventions remain unclear, puzzling scientists and hindering evidence‐based policymaking. Diffusion of innovation theory—the study of the how and why innovations are adopted, and the rates and patterns of adoption—provides a novel lens for examining rates and patterns in the establishment of conservation interventions. Case studies from Tanzania and the Pacific illustrate that characteristics of the innovation, of the adopters, and of the social‐ecological context shape spatial and temporal dynamics in the diffusion of community‐centered conservation interventions. Differential trends in adoption mirrored the relative advantage of interventions to local villagers and villager access to external technical assistance. Theories of innovation diffusion highlight new arenas for conservation research and provide critical insights for conservation policy and practice, suggesting the potential to empower donors and practitioners with the ability to catalyze conservation at scale—and to do so at less cost and with longer‐lasting impacts.

中文翻译：

---

当保护开始流行时：创新的生物多样性保护政策和做法的传播

尽管投入了数十亿美元，“规模扩大”仍然是保护捐赠者和从业者的一项根本挑战。但是，有时保护性干预会“迅速传播”，并迅速广泛采用，从而在大范围内改变人与自然之间的关系。影响保护措施的速度和方式的因素仍然不清楚，这使科学家感到困惑，并阻碍了基于证据的政策制定。创新理论的扩散（研究如何采用创新方式，为何采用创新以及采用的速率和方式）为检验保护措施建立中的速率和方式提供了一个新颖的视角。坦桑尼亚和太平洋地区的案例研究表明，创新，采用者，在社区为中心的保护干预措施的传播中，社会生态环境影响了时空动态。采用的不同趋势反映了干预对当地村民和村民获得外部技术援助的相对优势。创新扩散的理论突出了保护研究的新领域，并为保护政策和实践提供了重要的见解，表明了使捐助者和从业者有能力大规模催化保护的潜力，并且可以以更低的成本和更持久的影响来实现这一目标。 。