Assessing the impact of conservation has always been inherently complex because of the many confounding factors influencing biodiversity’s response to management. As conservation moves toward integrating socioeconomic impacts, expansive landscape scales, and partnerships with major stakeholders not traditionally associated with conservation (e.g., chemical manufacturers, natural resource extraction companies), the task becomes yet more complicated. At the Nature Conservancy, a suite of tools combining collaboration and accountability has emerged that help us evaluate our programs’ effectiveness in the face of high uncertainty and wide-ranging stakeholder perspectives.

The Nature Conservancy’s approach begins with an a priori assessment of the information needed by managers to adapt our conservation work in a dynamic environment. Priority programs participate in internal and external peer-review, receiving written, virtual (internet-based conversations), and in-person feedback supporting careful articulation of expected results, evaluation and response mechanisms. These programs are then held directly accountable to senior managers including the chief conservation officer and board of directors on an on-going basis through business plans, management dashboards, and project abstract review. Special resources are assigned for evaluating programs presenting the greatest potential for risk and leverage. This process emphasizes learning and adapting to benefit the organization and wider community of conservation practitioners.

This presentation was given at the 23-24 June 2011 Environmental Evaluators Network Forum in Washington, D.C.