CapeNature, the conservation authority for the Western Cape Province, South Africa, initiated a process in 2017 to strengthen adaptive management of the protected areas under its management.  Management plans strive for adaptive management, yet few are structured in a way that enables the adaptive management cycle to function fully. To facilitate adaptive management, the planning process must be founded upon clearly articulated goals and measures of success. The GEF-5 Protected Area Project, Improving the Management Effectiveness of the Protected Areas Network, presented an opportunity for CapeNature to pilot the application of the Conservation Standards, a strategic adaptive management framework designed…

Collaboratively developed by partners from Quebec, Canada and beyond, this resource builds off of CMP’s threats classification to provide a more detailed, third-level classification, and will provide several benefits : Offers a more detailed and practical classification of threats to biodiversity than existing versions; Facilitates the classification of threats due to inclusions and exclusions provided in the entry descriptions as well as several examples; The terminology avoids technical and local terms in order to facilitate its’ implementation regardless of the localization; It is available in English and French, which promotes the exchange of data between English or French speaking organizations…

This report, a product of CMP’s Collaborative Learning Initiative, provides an overview of Global Environment and Development Agendas: Strategies for Conservation. It includes the defining characteristics of this strategy, a generic situation analysis of the context to be navigated in applying this strategy, a generic theory of change of how to influence and leverage agendas for conservation, and recommendations for design and implementation of the strategy. You can find all resources from this initiative in this Google folder. View this initiative’s webinar presentation here:

This report, a product of CMP’s Collaborative Learning Initiative, represents the first comprehensive attempt to systematically and rigorously assess the effects of the CS on funding success. Nonetheless, we faced numerous challenges and limitations, which provide useful guidance on what a future “ideal” evaluation of the CS could look like. We challenge future funders, practitioners and researchers to invest in the kind of long-term research needed to answer the broader question of whether the CS leads to more efficient, more effective conservation projects. An ideal study would involve randomized assignment of projects to apply the CS (“treatment”), and long-term measurement…

This report, a product of CMP’s Collaborative Learning Initiative, describes the rationale for and conditions that warrant a holistic approach to conservation efforts. Through a very ambitious and rapid-fire effort, a 30-member holistic approaches working group crafted this product, which includes a clear definition of a “holistic approach,” a situation assessment that lays out when more holistic approaches are needed, a working theory of change, and thoughts on when and how to use this approach with success. The work is grounded in the context that a significant portion of the world’s high-conservation-value areas are occupied, surrounded, and/or owned or managed…

CMP and CCNet members have updated the basic presentations supporting the Conservation Standards Steps 1-2. These presentations use high-quality photographs and reduced text on slides, and they include detailed presenters’ notes. As new presentations are developed, they will be added to the site. If you are interested in reviewing and giving feedback on these basic CS Training PowerPoints, please fill out this feedback form. English Presentations Folder French Presentations Folder

Southern Palawan in the Philippines is home to the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, the headwater of 33 watersheds and the habitat of newly discovered plants and of wildlife unique to the Palawan faunal region.  Illegal mining, poaching, unbridled agricultural growth, and forest overexploitation pose very real threats to the landscape, a major contributor to the world’s biodiversity.  In 2017, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) sought to address these threats through an initiative called Protect Wildlife. Protect Wildlife used all stages of the Conservation Standards to facilitate collaboration among…