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ERA Case Studies

By admin on 3/26/2007 | Keyword(s): Ecoregional assessments; Webpage; Case Studies; regional assessment
 

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ERA Toolbox

  1. Assemble Team
  2. Engage Partners & Stakeholders
  3. Conduct Peer Reviews
  4. Share Products & Data
  5. Manage Data
  6. Define Assessment Unit
  7. Select Targets
  8. Set Goals
  9. Assess Viability
  10. Analyze Threats
  11. Design Ecoregional Portfolio
  12. Establish Measures
  13. Define Priorities for Action
  14. Develop Financial Plan


Ecoregional Assessment Case Study Library

Case Studies are stories from the field sharing approaches, methods and innovations to achieve quaility ecoregional assessments. Case Studies are available in the Ecoregional Assessment Toolbox organized by the Standards for Ecoregional Assessments. Here is the complete library of Ecoregional Assessment Case Studies for easy browsing.

Contributing to the case study library. If you have an approach, method or innovation to share, consider developing and submitting a case study to this library. First download the case study template. Then submit the completed template to conservationgateway@tnc.org. Any questions you may have should also be directed to the above address.

Assemble Team

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  • Organization of a tri-national and multidisciplinary team for Gran Chaco Ecoregional Assessment, South America The Gran Chaco ecoregional assessment covers an area that includes three countries. The organizational structure and professional skills needed to ensure success of this project includes: (1) a mentor who raises the carefully assembled professional team to functional level via training; (2) a manager who coordinates project activities to ensure the completion of the project in a timely fashion; (3) a facilitator who fosters a participatory process and makes the ecoregional plan relevant to local communities.
  • Have a story to share on this topic? Download a template and submit a case study for review.

Engage Partners & Stakeholders

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Conduct Peer Reviews

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Share Products & Data

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Manage Data

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  • Ecoregional Data Management Team. In 2005, the Ecoregional Data Management Team (EDMT) pilot project (see TOOLS section below) spawned a formal project to develop Ecoregional Data Management Tools Software 1.0, on a shared TNC server. This project is currently in development and results will be formally evaluated by TNC in April 2006 to determine how these tools may serve the organization. A summary of this project can be accessed at: /workspaces/EDMT

    Working in collaboration with the development of ERA Data Standard 1.0, EDMT extends functionality provided by CPT to include spatial data, data rollup, data visualization, and the following features:
    • Integrating spatial data into the CPT model. EDMT 1.0 is built on an SDE/Geodatabase model, and features a personal geodatabase version for use on laptop computers.
    • Systematizing data resulting from ecoregional portfolios and also data extending beyond portfolio sites and across the ecoregional landscape.
    • Compatibility with site optimization tools such as Marxan, SITES, and SPOT, without requiring the use of these tools,
    • Freshwater and marine assessment data are supported and can be used in conjunction with terrestrial data for analysis and developing ecoregional-scale conservation vision.
  • Arizona Ecoregional Rollup. A six-ecoregion geodatabase for the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico was completed by the TNC’s Arizona chapter between 1999 and 2004. They were designed to identify an efficient network of lands where the viability of a region’s biological diversity could be maximized by abating major threats. Assessments are systematic and comprehensive analyses that represent a new, synthetic data source for more than 1300 species and ecological systems found in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. To facilitate analyses across ecoregional boundaries, we aggregated and standardized data for six assessments into a single geodatabase that includes the Apache Highlands, Arizona-New Mexico Mountains, Colorado Plateau, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Southern Rocky Mountains ecoregions. A summary report describes the assessment process and the methods used to develop the geodatabase. A summary report describing this work, as well as GIS data sets can be downloaded from: http://www.azconservation.org/ecoregions.htm
  • Conservation Priorities for Freshwater Biodiversity in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (2003) is a freshwater ecoregional assessment featuring extensive management of freshwater species and ecosystems data across a large geographic extent. A summary report describing this work can be downloaded from: /docs/2003/08/UMRB_report.pdf (.pdf, 5.18MB).
  • Have a story to share on this topic? Download a template and submit a case study for review.

Define Assessment Unit

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Select Targets

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Set Goals

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Assess Viability

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Analyze Threats

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  • Synthesis of Commercial Trawl Fishing Effort Data for Pacific Northwest Coast Ecoregional Assessment. This document describes the synthesis of commercial trawl fishing data for use in The Nature Conservancy’s offshore component of the Pacific Northwest Ecoregional Assessment. Fishery-dependent, commercial trawling is only one of several types of commercial and recreational fishing occurring in this region that should be considered within an ecoregional assessment. However, it is the only type of fishing effort with spatial information that has been uniformly collected in log books. Other types of fishing, such as commercial longline or pot/trap are only tracked at the port where fish are landed, and therefore offer minimal information about the location of fishing activity.

    For a complete ecosystem-based assessment it is necessary to include information about human uses of the marine environment in tandem with the biological and physical ecosystem components. NOTE: In using fisheries-related information in our ecoregional planning process we attempt to broaden our biodiversity conservation toolkit to include multiple management objectives, or ecosystem-based management (E-BM). To learn more about our E-BM approach visit www.marineebm.org.
  • Assessment of threats to the marine biodiversity of the Caribbean using expert workshops. The assessment of threats to biodiversity priority areas in the Caribbean was determined by experts in a workshop setting. Experts were asked to rank current threats, the persistence of threats to specific seascape and integrity features and future threats. Results were summarized in a web-based report and interactive map and were used to inform priority actions.
  • The Use of Experts to Assess Threats to Aquatic Targets in the Central Tallgrass Prairie. Threats to coarse and fine filter targets were identified by experts at a workshop. Experts provided a rank order of major stresses and sources of stress as well as an urgency rating and suggestions for management. A worksheet is provided to assist experts in the process.
  • Tennessee/Cumberland Freshwater Ecoregion Threats to areas of biodiversity significance were documented to inform site based and regional strategy development. Information was summarized by area of biodiversity significance, ecoregion and region (all four ecoregions). The World Wildlife Fund, US and TNC conducted additional spatial analyses to display patterns of sources of stress to the areas of biodiversity significance to inform strategy development.
  • Examples of threat forecasting from The Nature Conservancy. This is a one page document summarizing three examples of forecasting future threats for Ecoregional Assessements.
  • Root Cause Analysis of Threats. Provides an overview of root cause analysis as employed by WWF during the ecoregion conservation process to help understand threats to biodiversity conservation and the root cause of those threats.
  • Analysis of critical threats in the Vildivian Temperate Rainforest. An ecoregion conservation team conducted a detailed analysis of pervasive threats in the Vildivian Temperate Rainforest. The five top threats to biodiversity in this region are: conversion to plantations, extraction of firewood, extraction for timber, anthropogenic fire and overgrazing.
  • Have a story to share on this topic? Download a template and submit a case study for review.

Design Ecoregional Portfolios

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Establish Measures

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Define Prioirites for Action

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  • Southern Rocky Mountain Ecoregion. Defined area-based priorities considering conservation value (number of globally imperiled targets and viability), and level of threats. Information was gathered from the Natural Heritage Program, workshops and subject experts. Priorities were areas that had higher numbers of threatened targets with higher viability and higher levels of threats. Click here for related figures (.ppt, 1 MB)and spreadsheets (.xls, 107 kb).
  • Arizona (portions of 5 ecoregions). Defined a Biological Value Index using total # targets, global ranks, listed status, # endemic targets, taxonomic diversity, and # aquatic/riparian targets. Defined an Irreplaceability Index to evaluate uniqueness of targets in areas. Conducted multiple prioritization schemes among 499 areas and discussed different outcomes. Click here for related figures (.pdf, 301 kb) and spreadsheets (.xls, 369 kb).
  • Southeastern Regional Priorities. Four classes of urgency for actions were defined using level of threat and contribution to ecoregional goals. All highly threatened areas were priorities, and combinations of high levels of biological target contribution and high threats were priorities. A program was developed for data analyses. Further analyses included opportunities for conservation actions and priorities for specific strategies linked to specific threats. Click here for related figures (.ppt, 275 kb).
  • Prioritizing Conservation Areas in the Willamette Valley-Puget Trough-Georgia Basin. Ecoregion. Prioritization among terrestrial portfolio sites was determined by plotting conservation value against vulnerability. An Excel-based tool was developed to allow assessment of various conservation value weighting schemes. This tool also automates the reporting of results in tables, graphs and maps.
  • Ranking priority areas in the Northern Andes. Priority areas were ranked through an involved process that included assessing each area's importance for biodiversity, importance for ecological processes and intactness.
  • Prioritization Matrix in Northern High Plains. Priorities were determined from an index based on the biodiversity value of portfolio conservation areas, and the urgency of threats to the biodiversity of these areas.
  • Have a story to share on this topic? Download a template and submit a case study for review.

Develop Financial Plan

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  • A Financial Modeling, Implementation and Tracking Tool for the Terai Arc Landscape. This comprehensive financial model was initially developed as part of the Implementation Plan for the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) in Nepal. The model: provides information on the targets (goals) and the financial resources required to implement the plan and secure funding over time; incorporates the cash and in-kind contributions of 14 partners and donors and depicts gaps; prioritizes activities across the landscape, which will help partners and donors focus their investment in critical activities to maximize conservation and sustainable livelihoods outputs; and provides a tracking mechanism for monitoring spending and activities by each of the 14 partners.
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