Welcome to TNC's Conservation Audit Program Homepage  

[PLEASE NOTE: recent changes to COL have made some links in this workspace problematic.  Thanks for your patience while fixes are made.

This page is regularly updated.  Please feel free to use it and share comments with Tim Reed at Treed@tnc.org ]

The Nature Conservancy first piloted Conservation Audits at two sites in 2001.  A formal Conservation Audit Program was created in December 2003 as part of the Conservation Measures Group.  Since then, we have conducted reviews of 40 Programs/Projects across the Conservancy (As of August 2008).  Our objective is to complete 20-30 per year going forward, with a goal of 1 in every Operating Unit per year (so 75/year) by 2015.   These Conservation Audits are all voluntary.

Conservation Audits are defined by TNC as “a peer-review of the processes (inputs, actions and outputs) and, where applicable, the results (outcomes and impacts) of a conservation project, regardless of scale”.    Specifically, Conservation Audit Teams attempt to answer the question: Is the Program/Project in alignment with TNC's Conservation Approach (part of Conservation by Design) and our Conservation Action Planning (CAP) process (formerly called "5S")?  This assessment is made by a team of 4-10 peers (often including non-TNC staff) over the course of 3-5 days and includes field site visits, partner meetings, and general discussion of the Program/Project's use of adaptive management and project management principles.  

 

The purpose of TNC’s Conservation Audit Program is three-fold:

      -    To improve conservation at both the project level and across the organization through a process of “quality assurance / quality control” that assesses adherence to TNC’s standard approach for conservation project management: Conservation Action Planning (CAP)

      -    To reinforce the credibility (internal and external) and accountability of our conservation work by objectively reviewing a project team’s plans, actions, outcomes, and use of adaptive management

      -       To facilitate learning across TNC, and throughout the conservation community, by identifying and sharing those best-practices, successes  – and failures – which advance the conservation process

 

If you are interested in joining a Conservation Audit "peer-review" Team or have a Project that you'd like to have audited, please contact Tim Reed, Director of TNC's Conservation Audit Program, at Treed@tnc.org.

 

Please use the following links for more information:

Background Documents (includes a description of the Conservation Audit process)

Upcoming Conservation Audits

Reports

Conservation Audit Team "workplaces" (i.e. e-rooms) for current Conservation Audit Review & Project Teams

 

The "CbD GATEWAY": TNC's Conservation Action Planning (CAP) & Efroymson Coaches Network Workspace

 

For more information about measures and conservation audits across the conservation community, please go to: www.conservationmeasures.org