Evidence-based conservation is the application of evidence in

nature conservation Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values unde ...

management actions and policy making. It is defined as systematically assessing scientific information from published,

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed publications and texts, practitioners' experiences, independent expert assessment, and local and

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

knowledge on a specific conservation topic. This includes assessing the current effectiveness of different management interventions, threats and emerging problems and economic factors. Evidence-based conservation was organized based on the observations that decision making in conservation was based on

intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledge; unconscious cognition; ...

and or practitioner experience often disregarding other forms of evidence of successes and failures (e.g. scientific information). This has led to costly and poor outcomes. Evidence-based conservation provides access to information that will support decision making through an evidence-based framework of "what works" in conservation. The evidence-based approach to conservation is based on evidence-based practice which started in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and later spread to

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and other fields. It is part of the larger movement towards

evidence-based practices Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. While seemingly obviously desirable, the proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to indiv ...

Systematic review

A systematic review consists of a non-subjective assessment of available data and evidence related to management. Synthesizing results from different studies over different time periods, locations or sample sizes can reduce the bias present in individual studies. Systematic reviews differ from traditional reviews by being easily understood, peer-reviewed and repeatable. Detailed protocols remain available for conducting a thorough, unbiased systematic review. In a Cochrane systematic review, there is little evidence that environmental conservation, and enhancement activities can have any effect on adults' well-being and health. However, there is a high level of perceived benefits based on the feedback of the participants.

Synopsis

Part of implementing an evidence-based conservation analysis requires generating a synopsis. This refers to the brief description of a single study or a systematic review. Synopses form the building blocks of summaries when collated across specific themes.

Summary

A summary is broader than a synopsis and refers to the standardized description of results extracted from several studies or systematic reviews on a particular topic. Summaries are regularly updated as more information becomes available and are ideally generated through a rigorous review process.

History

Evidence-based conservation is inspired by

evidence-based medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...

. Evidence-based conservation was first noted in the literature in 2000. Over the last decade, the methodology for generating systematic reviews (e.g. protocols, systematic maps) have been improved and standardized. In addition, several collaborative networks have been formed and two journals have been launched. The Collaboration for Environmental Evidence has a journal title
''Environmental Evidence''
dedicated to the publication of systematic reviews, review protocols and systematic maps on impacts of human activity and the effectiveness of management interventions. It currently has centres located in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

the UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Th
Conservation Evidence
group has a journal titled
Conservation Evidence
' that was launched in 2004 to document the effectiveness of conservation interventions. Conservation Evidence is a web-based database repository that systematizes and provides access to conservation efforts, programs, and research on the biodiversity and the environment based on high quality, reviewed publications.

Critique

Since evidence-based conservation is based on the primary data on interventions, it is as good as the available data. Even when data are available, some authors have noted that evidence-based conservation may not be routinely used in decision making for management and conservation policy. Often there may be a disconnect between the science that is produced and the management interventions taken. Three reasons have been suggested for this in the literature: # the scope of the scientific questions may not cover adequately the management requirements (this translates to lack of "actionable evidence" for management), # the scientific research produced covers the management needs, yet the recommendations from the evidence may not be feasible for implementation due to practical constraints (time, financial budgets etc.) or # the conservation practitioners do not have access to the evidence. Often peer reviewed journal articles produced by scientists are not freely available (open access) or use complicated jargon that managers may not always comprehend. In a survey in eastern England, it was found that park managers get only 2.4% of their information from primary scientific literature. These areas need further attention in the future. Evidence-based conservation has also been criticised in the past for ignoring traditional forms of knowledge and experience.Adams, W. M. & Sandbrook, C. (2013) "Conservation, Evidence and Policy". ''Oryx'', 47(3), 329–335 However, the steps of evidence-based conservation can be designed to take traditional forms of knowledge also into consideration.

Bibliography

* Salafsky, Nick, et al. "Improving the practice of conservation: a conceptual framework and research agenda for conservation science." Conservation biology 16.6 (2002): 1469–1479. * Pullin, Andrew S., and Teri M. Knight. "Doing more good than harm–Building an evidence-base for conservation and environmental management." ''Biological Conservation'' 142.5 (2009): 931–934. * Sutherland, William J., et al. "The need for evidence-based conservation." ''Trends in ecology & evolution'' 19.6 (2004): 305–308. * Brooks, Jeremy S., et al. "Testing hypotheses for the success of different conservation strategies." ''Conservation biology'' 20.5 (2006): 1528–1538.
">"Box 1 : Conservation: Dollars and sense", ''Nature, International Weekly Journal of Scienc''e. September 29, 2005. pp. 614–616

References

{{Social accountability Nature conservation organizations Environmental economics Environmental issues Environmental science Evidence-based practices