Our blog provides news, updates and insights related to evidence-based conservation from the Conservation Evidence team as well as our partner organisations and others in the conservation community. To get in touch about the blog please contact Nigel Taylor at nt461@cam.ac.uk. We’re always happy to receive suggestions for new guest blog posts.
Expert insights into alpine peatland conservation complement global scientific evidence
“Conserving and restoring threatened ecosystems requires us to make decisions on how to manage them. Firstly, we need to identify what is threatening the ecosystem and what elements of the ecosystem are degraded. Once we know what needs managing, we must identify what actions to take that will reduce threats or repair the ecosystem. We can identify the most effective actions by consulting with experts and practitioners and weighing up the evidence on what works in conservation…”
Future infrastructure expansion poses severe biodiversity risks and requires effective, evidence-based and transparent mitigation strategies
“Land use change and overexploitation are two of the largest threats to biodiversity. Infrastructure development and expansion is a significant driver of land use change, including for new housing, roads, railways, power lines, dams, mines, oil and gas and renewable energy facilities; it threatens almost half (46%) of known threatened species with documented threats…”
Do we know what plants need?
Tim Pankhurst, East of England Conservation Manager at Plantlife, shares his thoughts on the need for evidence in plant conservation.
How do you solve a problem like Spartina?
“In conservation we are often faced with difficult decisions. What management actions can we implement to address a threat? Will they be effective? Is this likely to apply in my situation? Deciding upon actions requires weighing up available evidence but assessing and interpreting the complexity of evidence is often challenging…”
Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making
“Transforming Conservation is a new book that brings together 75 leading experts in different elements of good decision making in conservation. It guides the reader through the decision-making process, from how to identify stakeholders and frame the problem, to actually making the decision…”
The Conservation Learning initiative: improving the impact of conservation strategies
Working in partnership with the MAVA Foundation and Foundations of Success, we are excited to present the Conservation Learning Initiative.
Conservation on a wing and a prayer, or following the evidence?
Last month, we published our 25th synopsis, a global synthesis of evidence for conservation actions for butterflies and moths. Featuring 587 studies testing the effectiveness of 152 possible actions, and reviewed by 20 experts from around the world, the synopsis summarises evidence for the impact of interventions ranging from managing farmland in ways which might benefit insects to restoring degraded habitats, and from restricting chemical and light pollution to using translocations…
Plenty more fish in the… CE synopsis on Marine Fish Conservation!
The Marine Fish Synopsis aims to help researchers, fisheries managers and stakeholders address this exact need. This newly updated version of the synopsis (with additional actions) focusses on one of the main threats, overfishing – the harvesting of too many fish from the sea for populations to sustain themselves – and synthesizes the global evidence for effects of interventions to conserve fish numbers, or reverse the effects of sometimes decades of fish population decline.
“Show me the money!”: Poor reporting of costs of conservation interventions hampers ability to prioritize funds for nature
We reviewed 1,987 papers and found that only 8.8% of papers reported the total cost of the intervention being tested (White et al 2022). When papers did report costs, the reporting was often unstandardized and missing important information… This makes it difficult for conservationists to use this information, as it is difficult to know whether or not the costs are relevant to your circumstance.
New non-English language studies database: increasing the availability of conservation evidence
We are delighted to announce that we have now launched our non-English language database of studies testing conservation actions on our website. This forms part of our freely available Conservation Evidence resource of systematically-gathered evidence designed to help support conservation management or policy decisions…