ConservationEvidence.com

06/05/2026

Funders of conservation projects are uniquely positioned to support and incentivize tests of the effectiveness of interventions as part of the grant-making process.

In this paper, as 25 conservation funders and members of Conservation Evidence, we identify 11 approaches for funders to support embedding testing and discuss barriers and potential solutions.

By encouraging testing of actions as part of conservation practice, funders will ultimately facilitate a stronger evidence base for more effective decision-making and better outcomes.

Effective conservation practice requires decisions based on reliable and relevant evidence, but significant gaps in the evidence base exist. Incorporating well-designed tests of the effectiveness of ...

14/04/2026

There's definitely something fishy going on.....

New synopsis published: Fish Conservation in Inland Habitats: Global evidence for the effects of selected actions to conserve freshwater fishes. Available OPEN ACCESS pdf https://bit.ly/3Q9TnOr or online at www.conservationevidence.com

Evidence for the effects of actions such as: Add woody debris; Add boulders; Remove/reduce vegetation and many more.

03/03/2026

How should governments use evidence to set and deliver biodiversity targets?

In this talk, Prof. Anjali Goswami FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser at Defra, and evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum, walks through the full policy cycle behind the UK's legally binding biodiversity targets under the Environment Act.

Key takeaways:

➡️ Evidence needs to feed into policy from the start, not just at the monitoring stage
➡️ The UK has four ambitious targets including halting species decline by 2030 and restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife habitat
➡️ New technologies like earth observation, eDNA, and passive acoustic monitoring are transforming how we track progress
➡️ We need to move beyond siloed targets toward ecosystem-scale metrics — and be realistic about what climate change means for the ecosystems
of the future

A clear-eyed look at both the progress being made and the hard challenges ahead.

Link:

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05/02/2026

Fantastic to see this editorial in Nature Magazine by Aisling Irwin, inspired by our conference on "Delivering Effective Conservation Practice" in Cambridge last month. At which conservation scientists and practitioners came together to discuss how, in practical terms, we can better embed evidence in conservation decision making.

As Aisling mentions in the article "When it comes to conserving biodiversity, stronger evidence for what works and what doesn’t is sorely needed."

At Conservation Evidence this is what our team works on everyday, and its great to see our work recognised in this way. We want to thank everyone who contributed to the conference and our ongoing work making evidence-based conservation a reality.

➡️ Full article:

Globally, more than one million species are threatened with extinction, but often interventions intended to protect biodiversity are not rooted in robust research. The field has an opportunity to change that.

03/02/2026

Read a conservation practitioner's perspective on our recent Delivering Effective Conservation Practice meeting. Written by Jez Dagley, Director of Conservation at Essex Wildlife Trust.

Jez Dagley shares his highlights from our recent ‘Delivering Effective Conservation Practice’ meeting.

27/01/2026

🦌 Reintroduction and conservation of hard-ground swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) in Satpura Tiger Reserve, Central India

This case study in the Conservation Evidence Journal highlights how targeted habitat investment and phased translocation can restore threatened grassland herbivores.

Hard ground swamp deer have now re-established a breeding population in Satpura Tiger Reserve, offering a model for future species recovery programmes. ✅

🔗 https://bit.ly/3O55US2

20/01/2026

The videos are now live from our "Delivering Effective Conservation Practice" conference! 🎬

🔗 https://tinyurl.com/2saph669

With 150 people in the room and around 400 joining online throughout the day, the energy and insights shared were remarkable. Now you can catch up on (or revisit) all the talks from our fantastic lineup of speakers.

Whether you're embedding evidence into your organisation's decision-making, funding conservation projects, or working on the ground as a practitioner, there's something here for you.

A huge thank you again to everyone who joined us, spoke, and contributed to such a valuable day. 🌿

15/01/2026

🌍 Exciting news for evidence-based conservation!

We're thrilled to welcome Conservation Collective to our growing network of Evidence Champions.

Conservation Collective is a global network of 21 locally led Foundations supporting grassroots action for nature. As Evidence Champions, they now join a community of funders committed to embedding evidence into conservation decision-making—requiring grant applicants to reflect on the effectiveness of their proposed interventions.

This is a significant step toward ensuring conservation funding goes where it can make the greatest difference.

Welcome aboard! 🙌

13/01/2026

🐍 New paper alert in the Conservation Evidence Journal!

Don't let this American eel research slip past you!

A decade ago, four million young eels were released into the upper St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario as part of efforts to recover this Endangered species. So what happened to them?

Our latest paper in the Conservation Evidence Journal, by researchers at Trent University, Canada, revisits these translocated eels and finds encouraging news: they're still there, still growing, and still surviving in eastern Ontario rivers more than ten years later.

Key findings:

➡️ 215 eels collected from 19 sites across four rivers

➡️ Navigational locks along the Trent River appear to be helping eels bypass large dams previously thought impassable

➡️ High long-term survival post-release

The big question that remains: will these rivers eventually produce female eels large enough to make the epic migration to the Sargasso Sea to spawn?

Read the full paper 👉 https://bit.ly/3NjAKGn

(Photo credit: Scott Reid)

19/12/2025

🌊 Kelp forests generate an estimated $500 billion in ecosystem services annually, yet some regions have lost over 95% of their kelp.

So what actually works to protect them?

We've just released a global evidence synthesis for kelp conservation, bringing together 216 summaries from 110 publications to assess the effectiveness of 40 different conservation actions.

🔎 Freely available to explore here:

Anna Berthinussen introduces a new collation of evidence for kelp conservation

12/12/2025

🪸 Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most powerful.

New research from Ruiz-Diaz et al. (2025) in the Conservation Evidence Journal shows that installing shade structures over coral nurseries significantly reduces bleaching, lowers mortality, and even promotes faster coral growth.

☀️ The approach is low-cost, easy to deploy, and remarkably effective. Among the treatments tested, green vinyl shading performed best, offering corals crucial relief during heat stress events.

🌊 With coral reefs under increasing pressure from warming oceans, this kind of practical, scalable intervention could make a real difference, both in nurseries and potentially on open reefs.

🔗 Read the full study: https://bit.ly/4oV6xur

📸 Photo shows the three shading treatments tested: (A) unshaded, (B) clear vinyl, (C) green vinyl.