While sustaining friendships from afar can be challenging, they may offer unexpected benefits for environmental conservation. These long-distance social ties can positively influence community-based conservation, according to a new study by an international team that includes Anne Pisor, assistant professor of anthropology at Penn State.

While the study, recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, focused on 28 fishing villages in northern Tanzania, the researchers said it has potential broader implications for global conservation efforts.

“When it comes to sustainably managing ecosystems like fisheries or forests, the question is: who is going to work together?” said Pisor, who is a co-funded faculty member in Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute. “It’s common to have a neighborhood or a village work together, but when a fishery or forest is really big, it takes multiple communities to get things done. Existing friendships between communities can be the backbone to those collaborations.”

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