2006 TNC Conservation Strategies ConferenceConference Agenda with Links to Proceedings
By Web Admin on 4/11/2006 | Keyword(s): Conference proceedingsPresentations and proceedings will be uploaded and linked to this agenda as they become available. Green links have at least some content, blue links are waiting for workshop leads to get their material in (or for the conference team to get it online.)
Monday April 3, 2006 |
7:30-9:00 AMRegistration & Breakfast
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9:30-11:30 AMSession 1 Plenary Welcome Creating Momentum toward the 2015 Goal Steve McCormick, President Mike Andrews, Chief Operating Officer Brad Northrup, Managing Director, Conservation Strategies Group; Nigel Purvis, Managing Director, External Affairs; Philip Tabas, General Counsel. |
11:30-2:00Networking 12:00-1:30Lunch |
2:00-3:30Session 2 Concurrent Workshops on Current Work 2.1 Making an operational link between ecoregional and project-level conservation targets Terri Schulz, ColoradoFO; Silvia Benitez, Northern Tropical AndesProgram; Tim Tear, Global Conservation Approach Team; CristinaLasch,MexicoProgram How can we ensure that ecoregional targets inform the identification of project-level focal targets, and that the status of project-level focal targets is used to inform the status of ecoregional targets and measures? This workshop will develop recommendations about good practice for making an operational link between ecoregional and project-level conservation targets and goals. Conservation planners and practitioners will work in breakout sessions to address the challenges of filling this critical gap in our conservation framework. The goal of this session is to improve our work in both ecoregional and conservation action planning. 2.2 Ensuring Sustainable Finance for Protected Area Systems Through Fiscal Policy and Good Governance Marlon Flores, External Affairs; Laurie Fenwood, Director, Reinvention Laboratory, Pacific Southwest Region, USDA Forest Service; Miguel PrialeUgaz, Director, Multi-annual Public Budgeting Department, Ministry of Economy and Finances of Peru; Fernando Leon, Financial Specialist, responsible of the National Finance Strategy of SINANPE, INRENA (Ministry of Environment of Peru). What will it take to ensure that business plans of protected area systems have a greater chance of being successfully designed and implemented? Participants will be able to evaluate and select among options for fiscal and governance reforms most needed to ensure the financial sustainability of protected area systems. Participants will discuss options for how to best engage policy- and decision-makers in the development and implementation of business plans for protected area systems. 2.3 Developing Strategies at Ecoregional and Greater Scales RafaCalderon, Gulf of Mexico Program; Fernando Secaira, Selva Maya Ecoregion, Mexico Operating Unit; MarianeKleiberg, Baja California Program, Mexico Operating Unit; Paul West, Upper Mississippi Program, Illinois Operating Unit How can we develop strategies for effective conservation at ecoregional and greater (e.g., regional, global) scale? The design of strategies at larger scales confronts multiple challenges in terms of approaches and methods. This session will explorethese challenges, analyzing different methods based on Ecoregional Assessment methods (Geography of Hope), Conservation Action Planning and/or adaptations that have been used for developing conservation strategies at large scales in terrestrial, marine and freshwater realms. Participants will examine the elements necessary to design strategies at large-scale. 2.4 Partnerships with Private Land Owners and Networks VeronicaArias, Northern Tropical Andes Program; John Cook, Eastern US Region; Carlos M Chacon, Private Lands Conservation, Mesoamerica Caribbean How can partnerships with private landowners ensure effective conservation at meaningful scales?This workshop will present two examples of partnerships with private landowners. The first case will be TNCs partnership with the Malpai Borderlands Group on the USA-Mexico border. The second case will provide a Latin-American vision on how private lands partnerships work in at different levels of association. The workshop will highlight similarities and differences between the cases, and will explore obstacles and lessons learned. 2.5 People and Priority Setting: Social Science Tools and Information for Large-Scale Conservation Portfolios PaulinaArroyo, Northern TropicalAndesProgram; Michael Mascia, WWF/US; Francisco Cuesta,EcoCiencia,Ecuador How can we improve our priority setting assessments by incorporating social science tools and information? This session will focus on how conservation practitioners can improve priority setting assessments by incorporating social science tools and information into the process. Through presentations from MadagascarandEcuadoras well as small group discussions, we will identify both institutional and methodological challenges and preliminary solutions in integrating social science information and tools into ecoregional plans and other large-scale planning exercises. Participants will generate recommendations for TNC and other organizations that develop and implement priority setting assessments. 2.6 Relating Goals and Priorities at Global, Regional, and Ecoregional Scales Jonathan Higgins and Jonathan Hoekstra, Global Conservation Approach Team; Jerry Touval,South AmericaRegion; Mark Anderson,Eastern USRegion How can our global, regional, and ecoregional goals and priorities align with, support, inform and complement each other? Participants in this session will discuss these mysteries and provide guidance to strengthen the relationship among work at different scales. 2.7 Market-based Strategies for Marine Conservation: Investing in our Coasts and Oceans Jay Udelhoven, Global Marine Initiative; Andrew Smith, Pacific Island Coastal Marine Program; Chuck Cook, California Marine Program; Bill Ginn, Global Forest Partnership The world is full of powerful economic forces. How and where can TNC use these forces in collaboration with business and agency partners for marine conservation? This session will expose TNC staff to a suite of market-based approaches and marine conservation strategies being pioneered by the Conservancy. Case studies will examine the lessons learned from innovative projects in marine habitat and fisheries conservation in the U.S.and Pacific Island Countries. Then, using inspiration from the Conservancy's expertise in forest conservation, participants will explore opportunities to initiate new projects using the power of the market for marine conservation. Link to Workspace supporting Workshop follow-up 2.8 The Millennium Development Goals and Biodiversity Conservation Roberto Troya, South America Region; RosaliaArteaga, Secretary General of the Organization of the Treaty on Amazonian Cooperation and former President of Ecuador; Nicolas Lucas, Former World Resources Institute Coordinator for the Millenium Assessment, Benson Venegas, ANAI How can we expand our impact by integrating our strategies with the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)? The MDGs are the global framework for improving human wellbeing. They drive investment of billions of dollars each year. This session will explore how TNC's mission and conservation results contribute to achieving the MDGs and how achieving the MDGs can contribute to conservation results. Participants will increase their awareness of how to expand conservation results by designing and articulating projects that conserve biodiversity to improve livelihoods; and by shaping strategic alliances to include biodiversity outcomes in sustainable livelihood projects. 2.9 Funding Large Land Acquisition Projects: Examples of Success in a Challenging Political and Fiscal Environment Tom Cassidy, External Affairs; WillisYarberry,MontanaF0; Charles Bedford,ColoradoFO; Bill Ginn, GlobalForestPartnership How can we succeed in securing public funds for large landscape scale acquisition projects? The Conservancy continues to engage in complicated, expensive, landscape level acquisition projects. However, with declining federal budgets, the principal source of federal acquisition funds, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, is declining in importance as a source of funds. Success requires utilizing a variety of funding sources. This session will explore several case studies of successful large scale acquisition projects, including one that relies primarily upon non-federal funding. |
3:30-4:00Break |
4:00-5:30Session 3 Concurrent Workshops on Current Work 3.1 Building Constituency among US Federal and State Agencies Gary Kania, US Government Relations; Wayne Ostlie, Global Conservation Approach Team;Scott Davis,TennesseeFO;RobMarshall,ArizonaFO How can TNC collaborate with US Federal and State resource agencies to align and strengthen our respective conservation agendas? Despite a century of effort, biodiversity in the UScontinues to decline. The Conservancy and its state/federal partners have much of the information, management expertise, and methods required to stem this decline, but they have not been well aligned to effectively abate the threats to biodiversity. This session will explore two cases that have been successful in building a common conservation agenda among TNC and state/federal agencies. Using lessons gleaned from these studies and experiences from others, we will craft a proposal for engaging national-level partners in forging a common US Conservation Partnership. 3.2 EcoregionalAssessment -- Setting Ecoregional Goals Bob Unnasch, Global Conservation Approach Team; Mark Anderson,Eastern USRegion; Pat Comer, NatureServe How can we develop ecoregional goals sufficient to ensure effective conservation of all targets when data are severely limited and we are forced to utilize surrogates? As TNC expands into new geographies, its Ecoregional Assessment process must be flexible to the quality of the information available. It is imperative that we develop an understanding of the relative benefits and ramifications of setting ecoregional conservation goals based on surrogates (e.g. subsets, coarser scale targets, biophysical features, focal species) of a complete suite of conservation targets. This session will develop a collaborative experimental design to determine the degree to which surrogate goals approximate complete goals in those geographies where data are severely limited. 3.3 Social Sciences in Developing Strategies Cristina Lasch, Mexico Program; Estuardo Secaira, Guatemala Program; Alfonso Blanco, Southern Andes Program; Monica Ostria, Bolivia Representative How can we better incorporate cultural and economic values of human communities into the development of successful conservation strategies? Science at TNC is focused on biological and ecological aspects. Increasingly staff and partners around the world recognize the need to incorporate economics and social science into planning and implementation. While practitioners are trying to find appropriate ways to incorporate socioeconomic and cultural information into their work, they do so with little support, and their approaches are rarely shared. Participants will determine areas within our conservation approach where social sciences and economics could make a significant contribution, and will make recommendations on ways TNC could support their incorporation more proactively. 3.4 Regional Priority Setting and Strategic Planning Jerry Touval,South AmericaRegion; Rob Sutter,Southern USRegion; Mike Beck, Global Marine Initiative How can we establish regional priorities within a global context and use them to develop strategies at a local scale? As The Conservancy moves toward implementing the 2015 Goal, its important that all operating units and staff orient their actions toward achieving conservation outcomes at the scale the goal demands. We must understand how local conservation strategies are developed from this broad, global goal, and we also must understand the significance our daily activities within the context of the 2015 goal. This session will examine how regional and local priorities are developed from this global context, and will explore obstacles for implementing local conservation actions that have meaning at the scale of the 2015 goal. And hopefully we'll also identify some solutions to these obstacles. 3.5 The GlobalIslandPartnership: LinkingIslandConservation to the 2015 Goal Ian Dutton,AsiaPacific Region; Gerald Miles,AsiaPacific Region How can we accelerate tangible progress in promoting effective conservation and advancing sustainable livelihoods on islands around the world?The Nature Conservancy is active in conservation of islands and in promoting the Global Island Partnership. The goals of that partnership are complementary to the 2015 goal of TNC and include: (a) rapidly build a global network of public and private organizations to assist island communities with support, services and best practices for achieving island conservation and sustainable livelihoods; (b) demonstrate tangible progress in reducing island degradation and advancing sustainable livelihoods on islands around the world; (c) build or strengthen island capacity and action through island exchanges and networks to rapidly spread skills, tools, information, experiences and other resources and to increase cost-effectiveness; (d) mobilize public and private support for island conservation around the world. The partnership represents an extraordinary opportunity for TNC to work with others to achieve our goals in diverse and unique island habitats. 3.6 Building a Constituency for Conservation within the Energy Industry Karin Krchnak, Sustainable Waters Program; Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Northern TropicalAndesProgram; David Harrison, Water Management Consultant, Michael Macrander, Shell How can the Conservancy influence public and private policies to abate threats from energy projects? One-third of the population has no electricity and nearly 50% of people will face water scarcity by 2025. In pushing to deliver water and electricity, public and private entities often fail to take into account impacts on biodiversity. While pressure to develop new energy sources continues to grow, how can TNC influence these entities to integrate environmental considerations into energy planning? What lessons are emerging from TNC efforts? What challenges face TNC as it expands into new geographies where the majority of people lack water and energy? How can TNC help address these issues and meet the 2015 goal? 3.7 From Pulling Weeds to Preventing Invasions: Transforming Invasive Species Strategies to meet the 2015 Goal John Randall, Global Invasives Initiative; Mallory Dimmitt, San Miguel River Project; Jill Key, Pacific Regional Environment Programme; Faith Campbell, Eastern US Region. How can we design and carry out strategies that abate the threat of invasive species to conservation targets at scales ranging from conservation areas to habitat types? This session will examine exemplary work by TNC and partners to control and stop the spread of invaders and to prevent introduction of new invaders. The cases highlighted address different types of invaders; use a variety of approaches including land and water management, public policy and engaging industries to change business practices; and range in scale from a single conservation area to multiple countries. The session will also examine our use of networks to accelerate development of new techniques and strategies and to speed their adoption. 3.8 Building a Conservation Ethic: Getting the Public to Say "Yes" to Conservation Carol Baudler, External Affairs; Carter Smith, Texas FO; ZdenkaPiskulich, Costa Rica Program; Dave Metz, Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin; Dan Kully, Laguens, Hamburger, Kully, Klose How can we convince the public to take a positive action to create public funding for conservation? This session will demonstrate how messages are developed to motivate individuals to help create public funding for conservation. Tools and strategies will be highlighted that create a foundation for effective outreach to the public and success in the legislature and at the ballot box. This session will provide an overview of The Nature Conservancy's role in developing and building support for such efforts, describe how public funds are used to advance our conservation agenda, and provide an opportunity for participants to apply messaging techniques in a hands-on exercise critiqued by professionals. |
5:30-6:30Networking Reception
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6:30-8:30Dinner & Keynote Address Welcome Carter Smith, Director Texas Field Office Discovery of Life on Earth David M. Hillis, Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor of Natural Sciences, Section of Integrative Biology,UniversityofTexas Despite 250 years of concerted effort, biologists have identified just 1.7 million of the estimated 10-100 million species of life on Earth. In addition, the identification of many of the described species is often difficult and limited to a small number of taxonomic experts. These limitations severely hamper efforts to protect the biodiversity of the planet. I will describe efforts to change the nature of biodiversity discovery and identification, so that species can be rapidly discovered, described, and identified. These developments will result in global databases and identification tools that can be made available to anyone. These tools and databases will help create a virtual "Encyclopedia of Life" that contains constantly updated information on the global knowledge of all species. These changes will have a strong and positive effect on conservation biology over the coming century, and will allow open access and input to our global knowledge of biodiversity and its conservation. |
Tuesday April 4, 2006 |
7:00-8:00Breakfast
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8:30-10:00Session 4 Concurrent Workshops on Current Work 4.1 Coastal Ecosystem Services and Hazard Mitigation Jason Albritton, External Affairs,Bob Bendick,Southeast USRegion; Tim Boucher, Global Conservation Approach Team How can TNC link the ecosystem services provided by healthy coastal systems with the public need for effective hazard mitigation? There is evidence that healthy mangroves, coral reefs, beach and dune systems can mitigate the impact of coastal disasters such as hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, and storm surge. However, public policy tends to favor structural approaches to coastal hazards mitigation, ignoring services provided by healthy coastal systems. Often these structures disrupt coastal processes and can exacerbate risks. This session will explore how we can develop the expertise and partnerships to link coastal conservation needs with hazard protection, build awareness of ecosystem services among decision-makers, and develop the systems to respond constructively to the human and ecological damage that follows a severe storm. 4.2 Decision Modeling for Setting Priorities Betsy Neely,ColoradoFO; Pat Comer, NatureServe; John Floberg,WashingtonFO; RebeccaShaw,CaliforniaFO. How can we use decision models to make better decisions about priorities and sequencing of areas for conservation action? Conserving all conservation areas within an ecoregional network can seem daunting, particularly for one organization or agency. This workshop will explore the use of new decision modeling tools to help the Conservancy and its partners make better decisions about priorities for conservation action at various scales (e.g., ecoregion and global habitat type). Among the questions that may impact priorities are: How can we figure out what to conserve first? What key criteria should be used to determine the highest priorities? How can we factor in feasibility, opportunity, socio-economic tradeoffs? Participants will examine three cases, followed by discussion of good practice, lessons learned and recommendations. 4.3 Working across Boundaries to Conserve Wide-Ranging Species George Schuler, Deleware Basin Program; Mari-Beth Delucia, Deleware Basin Program; David Mehlman, Mesoamerica Caribbean Region How can we organize and manage conservation action at the appropriate scales required for effective conservation of wide-ranging species? Many wide-ranging species travel hundreds of miles, crossing landscapes, national borders, ecoregions, major habitat types and biogeographic realms, to complete their lives. These migrations present significant challenges for conservation. CAPs, ecoregional plans and MHT goals capture only fragments of the full picture necessary for conservation of these species. How can TNC organize and act to conserve these organisms at appropriate scales? This interactive session uses a mixture of case studies and innovative group techniques to investigate these questions and develop recommendations to advance our efforts to conserve wide-ranging species. Workspace containing workshop product and supporing ongoing Collaboration 4.4 Working with Water Managers and Governments for High-Leverage Freshwater Conservation Brian Richter, Sustainable Waters Program; Jonathan Kaledin, Eastern US Region; Amanda Wrona, Savannah River Project; Scott Davis, Tennessee FO How can we align TNC around cross-cutting water strategies? One of the greatest threats to freshwater biodiversity is alteration of the natural volume and timing of water flow through rivers and lakes. Many operating units are pursuing strategies to reduce or avoid this threat of hydrologic alteration, which impacts freshwater ecosystems in virtually every ecoregion. Because water use and dam management is controlled or regulated by government agencies, many of these strategies involve changing governmental policies or creating incentives for water users. This session will explore ways to stimulate more aggressive implementation of water strategies in the Conservancy. 4.5 Collaborative Conservation Action Planning -- a Partner Engagement Strategy JoraYoung, Global Conservation Approach Team;EstuardoSecaira,GuatemalaProgram; RandyHagenstein,AlaskaFO. How can we use the Conservation Action Planning (CAP) approach as a strategy to engage partners in actions to conserve biodiversity? All but a tiny fraction of the biodiversity The Nature Conservancy cares about occurs on lands and waters that will never belong to the Conservancy. And the number of people who will need to be engaged to have any hope of restoring and securing the long term viability of these lands and waters is legion. Given these facts: influencing lands and waters and the communities that affect them is and always will be the challenge of the times. This session focuses on how some practitioners are skillfully using The Conservancy's own Conservation Action Planning (CAP/5S) process as a means to engage many different types of partners and stakeholders in articulating shared visions, establishing biodiversity based objectives and defining shared strategies that enable them to work together to realize better conservation outcomes for the places they care about. In this session you will hear two stories from colleagues using CAP as a strategy to affect outcomes and engage partners. You will also share your thoughts on how best to use this tool as a strategy and provide suggestions for improving the Conservancy's capacity to support this strategic approach to application of CAP. 4.6 Influencing policies through collaborative action to enable effective conservation of fire regimes and biodiversity AynShlisky, Ron Myers and Darren Johnson, Global Fire Initiative; Malcolm Gill,AustraliaNationalUniversityFellow;EvieWitten,CanadaProgram How can we ensure that multi-lateral, national and regional policies (e.g., land management, air quality, trade, etc) enable the conservation of intact fire regimes and abate fire-related threats to biodiversity? Across all major habitat types on earth, fire is a key process that either maintains or threatens biodiversity integrity. National and multi-lateral public policies can threaten the conservation of intact fire regimes by not considering the needs of maintaining natural fire regimes in goals, priorities or actions. Often, influencing policies to conserve intact fire regimes is a high-leverage strategy and can address multiple interacting threats. Within the context of the 2015 goal and the importance of conserving intact fire regimes to success, we will interactively document high priority policy issues and strategies for policy-related work across realms, major habitat types and ecoregions. 4.7 Tax Policy as a Conservation Strategy Philip Tabas, Legal Department; Michael Looker, Australia Program; Fernando Veiga, Atlantic Forests Program; Dave Phemister, Virginia FO How can we influence tax policy at multiple jurisdictional scales (country, state, local) to expand conservation impact by TNC and others? Tax policy is a powerful tool to accomplish policy objectives and has had enormous impact in accomplishing conservation results in many jurisdictions. This workshop will increase participants understanding of tax policy changes that have worked, as well as when and how we can secure enactment of new tax incentives to expand our conservation impact. 4.8 Cornerstones of Conservation: The Conservancy's Global Protected Areas Strategy Jeffrey Parrish, Global Conservation Approach Team; Sheldon Cohen, External Affairs; Juan Bezaury, Mexico Program; Tarsicio Granizo, South America Conservation Region; Ian Dutton, Asia Pacific Region. How can we address the key challenges TNC and its partners face in designing and managing effective and representative protected area systems in priority countries? The Convention on Biological Diversity's Programme of Work on Protected Areas presents tremendous opportunity to advance TNC's mission at a global scale. 188 countries have committed to creating comprehensive, well-managed, and representative systems of protected areas by 2012. TNC has committed substantial support to these nations through its Global Protected Areas Strategy. This session will familiarize participants with the opportunity and challenges of the Global Protected Areas Strategy, and seek creative solutions that will ensure its success. 4.9 The Farm Bill: How It Can and Is Helping and Hurting OurMission Adrienne Wojciechowski, US Government Relations;Tony Cavalieri, External Affairs; Larry Clemens,Central USRegion How can we ensure that the 2007 Farm Bill supports progress toward the 2015 Goal? Strategies for achieving the 2015 Goal must include approaches to manage the threats posed by agriculture. 46% of ourUSland base is in agricultural uses, with many of these lands making up a major component of our portfolio sites. In addition, agricultural production impacts 25% of the earth's surface while also providing food and driving economic development. This session will explore agricultural trends affecting our 2015 Goal and cases that have achieved considerable success in accomplishing conservation outcomes with USDA and the agriculture sector. The Farm Bill will be the Conservancy's top legislative priority in 2006 and our current platform and its relation to the 2015 Goal will be discussed. |
10:00-10:30Break |
10:30-12:00Session 5 Concurrent Workshops on Current Work 5.1 EcoregionalAssessment -- keeping it dynamic and vital Oscar Maldonado, Global Conservation Approach Team; Marie-Claire Paiz,Southern MexicoProgram, Mark Anderson,Eastern USRegion How can we ensure that ecoregional assessments are dynamic and iterative? Ecoregional Assessment is a powerful tool for identifying priority places to focus our work. Two transition points are critical to achieving the full value of Ecoregional Assessment and are not well-developed in practice. The first is between setting priorities and taking action, and the second is between one and a subsequent iteration of an Ecoregional Assessment. This session is designed to examine these critical transitions and ways they can be navigated successfully by conservation practitioners. 5.2 Measuring threats to biodiversity at global, ecoregional and project scales Jamison Ervin, Global Conservation Approach Team; Rob Sutter, Southern US Region; Jonathan Hoekstra, Global Conservation Approach Team; Chris Pague, Colorado FO This session will focus on the application of threat assessments to improve conservation effectiveness at project, ecoregional and global scales. Presenters will motivate discussion by highlighting some of the cutting-edge approaches being applied by TNC as well as some of the practical challenges we have yet to overcome in assessing threats. Participants will identify the top 2-3 applications for threat information, and prioritize a list of critical challenges (both technical and institutional) and potential solutions for bringing the necessary measures to bear beneficially. 5.3 Market-Based Strategies forForestConservation William Ginn, Global Forest Initiative; Nigel Purvis, External Affairs; Greg Fishbein, Business Consulting Group; Wendy Millet, California Forest Initiative How can we use market-based conservation strategies to expand our ability to protect forests worldwide? Using market forces to improve forest management, including payments for ecosystem services, certification of forest products, and investor oriented incentives to do the right thing, present an opportunity to significantly extend the impact of our traditional land conservation activities. These strategies may allow us to tap into new sources of capital and leverage customer driven market forces for conservation impact. This workshop will present several case studies of how we are approaching these strategies on the ground and provide resource materials for practitioners. 5.4 The new and improved Conservation by Design Brad Northrup, Conservation Strategies Group; Cathy Macdonald,OregonFO How can TNC increase the effectiveness of Conservation by Design: A Framework for Mission Success as its touchstone for action and its hallmark in the conservation world? The Executive Team of TNC has sponsored development of a fully revised, 10th anniversary edition of Conservation by Design that creates a new vision in alignment with the mission and 2015 Goal, and updates the conservation approach, measures of organizational performance, organizational values, and strategic themes to reflect our current thinking. Participants will examine the most significant changes being proposed, and will provide feedback on challenges to and opportunities for ensuring that the revised CbD effectively aligns TNC's work with a common vision, goal, and approach to conservation, and clearly articulates its niche in the conservation world. 5.5 Building a Constituency for Conservation with Indigenous Peoples Wendy Mills,South AmericaRegion; ElouiseCobell,MontanaTrustee and Executive Director, Native American Community Development Corporation; Karen Luz, World Bank How can the Conservancy build work effectively with Indigenous Peoples? What fundamental principles should guide the Conservancy's work with Indigenous Peoples? Around the world, indigenous peoples exercise a vital connection to lands and waters that harbor some of the world's greatest repositories of biodiversity, and that figure prominently in the 2015 Goal. Our work with indigenous peoples to maintain biodiversity and intact ecosystems is complex and requires special measures to ensure that they are not disadvantaged, but rather are able to meet their own needs and objectives from their collaborations with TNC. This session will bring together the Conservancy's most experienced practitioners in working with Indigenous Peoples to help inform the development of institution-wide principles of conduct designed to raise organizational awareness, baseline literacy and performance standards across the organization. 5.6 Building Effective Coalitions PilarBarrera,ColombiaCountry Representative; Ing. Carlos Salinas Montes, National Parks Authority, Peru; Eduardo Durand, Peru Country Representative; Tony Grundhauser, Canada-USA Partnership Program How can we build and maintain effective conservation coalitions to accelerate progress toward the 2015 Goal? The scope of the 2015 Goal requires us to work more effectively with others. Working in coalition has proven an effective strategy to leverage our limited capacity for large scale impact. But working with a variety of stakeholders on a common vision be extremely challenging. This session will draw on lessons learned from two successful coalitions in CanadaandPeru, to discuss how we can form and maintain coalitions for large scale conservation results. Participants will share experiences to strengthen our understanding of how TNC can expand conservation results by being a more collaborative partner. 5.7 Instituting a Robust Conservation Measures Program Tim Tear, and Dan Salzer, Global Conservation Approach Team How can we establish a credible conservation measures program in TNC to track progress and improve conservation effectiveness over time at multiple spatial scales? This session will present the current status and vision for establishing a robust conservation measures program in TNC, and solicit feedback essential to shape efforts in the coming years. Participants will hear brief presentations that will define 1) elements of a robust conservation measures program within TNC, and 2) what that means for ecoregions and conservation projects. Participants will discuss challenges and opportunities and will how best to focus TNC's efforts to institute a measures program. 5.8 High Leverage Policy Strategies Randy Curtis and Nigel Purvis, External Affairs; BrianMcPeek, ColoradoFO; Maggie Coon, WashingtonFO; Monica Ostria, Southern TropicalAndesProgram. How can TNC become more effective in influencing policy while ensuring our efforts produce effective conservation on the ground? This workshop will assist OU Directors, Conservation Planners, Practitioners and Policy/GR staff determine when, why, and how TNC should be involved in policy activities and also will share ideas on how to strengthen TNC's organizational support for policy work. |
12:00-2:30Networking 12:30-2:00Lunch |
2:30-5:30Session 6 -- Plenary Connections by Design -- structured networking organized by five habitat types In an energetic environment bustling with 600 of your colleagues you will share know-how and gain insights and connections that can help you resolve practical challenges you confront in contributing to progress toward the 2015 Goal. In this session you will engage in a series of conversations about the specific challenges that concern you most, relative to conserving particular habitat types. |
5:30- Networking & Dinner on Your Own -- An Evening onAustin Austinbills itself the Live Music Capital of the World.Sixth Streetand the Warehouse District, home to more restaurants and music venues than you'd care to count, is within walking distance of the conference center. Many of the restaurants have private rooms that can accommodate team meetings. During the conference staff of Austin's Visitors and Convention Bureau will be on hand to help with reservations for spontaneously planned huddles. |
Wednesday April 5, 2006 |
7:00-8:00Breakfast
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8:30-10:00Session 7 Concurrent Workshops on Current Work 7.1 The Context of Conservation: Assessing and Enhancing Enabling Conditions for Conservation Success TarsicioGranizo and Roberto Troya, External Affairs, SACR; Paul Hardy, External Affairs, Nestor Sanchez, Dominican Republic program; Javier Pacheco, FundacionRaiz, Medellin, Colombia. How can we use social, economic, and political information to make better decisions about where to work Deciding where to invest resources is rarely an easy task. Biological considerations and opportunity have been the main factors in choosing where to implement conservation strategies or start new programs. Limited resources require TNC to understand social, political, economic and legal conditions so that smart choices can be made about where to invest and what strategies to use. Through four case studies, this session will help participants understand how some key geographies have been chosen and why Enabling Conditions Analysis could be a tool to inform selection of new geographies. 7.2 Into Africa Sanjayan, Science Office This year, after a 50 year wait, we will be working in a new realm. The Afro-tropics is unparalleled in the diversity of mammals, intact predator-prey systems, vast migrations, and some well represented habitats it contains. It is also rich in human history and, in some places unfortunately, human misery. Working here will not be easy yet the potential rewards are great. Right now we have the opportunity to design our work in Africato best accomplish our goals and take advantage of all that we have learned from our approach elsewhere. This session will provide an overview of our work in Africa, how existing programs and staff may be involved, and encourage participants to help refine our emergent strategies. 7.3 Strengthening conservation and sharing good practice through peer review Jason Spensley, Global Conservation Approach Team; Susan Anderson,Northwest MexicoProgram;JackHurd,WashingtonFO; and EriceDelvin,WashingtonFO. How can we use peer-review to strengthen projects and share good practice?Peer-review is increasingly valued by organizations as a powerful tool for knowledge transfer. Participants will examine experience of conservation practitioners using peer review approaches (e.g. peer-reviews and assists and conservation audits) to improve the effectiveness of conservation projects. This session will also discuss how peer reviews can be used to share good practice with other organizations and/or future projects. Participants will help develop recommendations for more extensive and creative use of peer review within TNC programs. 7.4 Influencing Land-use Planning to Expand our Conservation Impact Candace Stoughton,GeorgiaFO; Greg Gamble,ArizonaFO How can biodiversity conservation be integrated into local land use planning in areas where urban growth is (or soon will be) the dominant threat? Suburban sprawl is a threat to many TNC priority conservation areas and as the USpopulation grows many additional landscapes will face similar pressure. TNC is turning to new strategies and partners to protect both terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity under such conditions. In the Etowah basin north of Atlanta, science based stormwater runoff limits being adopted by local governments will protect fish that are extremely sensitive to hydrologic alteration resulting from development. InArizona, in addition to a ballot initiative to create conservation incentives, TNC is working with the Corps of Engineers to steer mitigation toward TNC conservation areas. 7.5 Measuring the conservation management status component of effective conservation Jamison Ervin, Global Conservation Approach Team; ChrisPague,ColoradoFO; Angela Martin, Parks in Peril Program What challenges do we face in the widespread implementation of protected area management effectiveness assessments, and what strategies can we take to overcome these challenges? This session will provide an overview of how TNC plans to incorporate measures of the conservation management status of biodiversity into a measure of effective conservation. Two examples from within TNC will be explored, along with an overview of other approaches used by partners. The session will focus on identifying challenges and obstacles in the widespread adoption and implementation of protected area management effectiveness assessments, and will generate practical ideas for overcoming these obstacles. 7.6 Conserving places in the face of climate change- strategies for adaptation Bill Stanley and Jeff DeBlieu, Global Climate Change Initiative; Tim Tear, Global Conservation Approach Team What can you do about climate change in your project? Every week there seems to be a new finding about global climate change. Questions have quickly shifted from "if or how likely" to "how much and how soon?" There has been little guidance for practitioners on how best to incorporate the latest science into their work conserving places. This session will address this need, focusing on the emerging field of "adaptation strategies." We will introduce, and illustrate through cases, a draft template for explicitly incorporating the risk of climate change into conservation. And we will engage in a lively discussion about practical ways to implement this approach. Anyone interested in figuring out what to do about global climate change at your site should attend this session. 7.7 Ecosystem services - Incorporating them into our conservation work Renee Mullen, Science Office; Heather Tallis,UniversityofWashington; RebeccaShaw,CaliforniaFO; Bob Bendick,Southeast USRegion How can we best incorporate ecosystem services into our approach defining priorities, implementing strategies, measuring success?Ecosystem services, such as clean water, food production, nutrient recycling are a way, however imperfect, of linking biodiversity conservation with human well-being and the sustainability of natural resources. This session endeavors to enlighten with examples of the importance of ecosystem services and their role in the recent Millennium Assessment, case studies which illustrate the use of ecosystem services in conservation planning and conservation action, and a chance to bring your own questions/issues/challenges and successes to the table. Workspace containing presentations and supporting ongoing collaboration. Record of Discussion 7.8 TNC'sPartnership Approach: Scoping and Selection of Partners Betsy McGean, Asia Pacific Region; NiraCarvalho, Atlantic Forest Program, Mark Gerrits, Southern Andes Program; Robb Johnson, Massachusetts FO How can TNC increase its conservation impact through better partner selection and management? This workshop will explore a new and systematic relationship management approach to partnerships, developed by TNC practitioners based on years of experience. It presents a straightforward, 6-step methodology for professionalizing our partnership work, starting with techniques for searching or scoping, as well as dialogues to inform selection, before any formal agreements or work plans are drafted. We will examine two cases from Braziland theUS, highlighting what has worked for partner relationships, and conservation outcomes, and what elements of our approaches have seemed to help or hinder. 7.9 Strategies to Mitigate Ecological Impacts of Infrastructure Development Jason Albritton, External Affairs; GeorgeHanily,PanamaProgram; Gabby Call, TennesseeFO; Nancy Smith, ColoradoFO How can TNC engage with regulatory and infrastructure agencies and other relevant partners to mitigate threats caused by infrastructure development? In a study across North American ecoregions, infrastructure development was identified as a critical threat at 62% of portfolio sites second only to invasive species. In the U.S., infrastructure agencies annually spend hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate the environmental impact of infrastructure projects. Drawing on three case studies from central America and the U.S, this session will identify high-leverage strategies to mitigate the threat of infrastructure development through sharing of conservation data and engagement with governments to direct mitigation revenues to priority conservation landscapes. |
10:00-10:30Break |
10:30-12:00Session 8 -- Concurrent Workshops on Emerging Strategies 8.1 Emerging High-Leverage Strategies for Conserving Freshwater Habitats Brian Richter, Sustainable Waters Program,Aurelio Ramos Northern TropicalAndesProgram What structural or functional changes could be made within TNC to accelerate implementation of global freshwater strategies? What roles can state and country programs play in implementing these global strategies? The Freshwater Habitat Goal Setting Team will present a strategy to research and develop solutions to the top global threats to freshwater biodiversity, to test and refine those solutions in demonstration projects, advance their adoption worldwide, and use what is learned through the demonstration projects to drive policy initiatives. Participants will discuss implications of this strategy and provide guidance to the Habitat Goal Setting Team concerning its refinement and implementation. 8.2 Emerging High Level Strategies for Conserving Coasts and Oceans DavidWeekes,WashingtonFO, Lynne Hale, Global Marine Initiative; Scott Smith, External Affairs What high level strategies should the conservancy engage in to achieve the 2015 goal in the marine environment?The Marine Habitat Goal Setting Team will present its preliminary work on threats and high-leverage strategies for achieving 2015 conservation outcomes in bays, estuaries and nearshore waters and continental shelf MHTs. Participants will discuss the findings and provide guidance to the Team concerning their further development and refinement. 8.3 Expanding our Impact in New Geographies Andrew Soles, Business Consulting Group; Michelle Beeman, Canada Program; Jorge Cardona, Guatemala Program; Sanjayan, Africa Program How can we most effectively select and enter new geographies (ecoregions, countries, multi-country) to expand our impact? This session will capture the experience of Conservancy colleagues involved in starting up new programs in new geographies inAfrica,Central America, andNorth America. Common issues will be identified. Participants will discuss their own new geographic opportunities, solicit input to challenges they face and suggest additional issues that our decision methods should address. 8.4 Using our Connection to Place to Advance Practical Climate Change Policies Cathleen Kelly and Bill Stanley, Global Climate Change Initiative; Mark MacCleod, Senior Policy Advisor, Environmental Defense How can we develop and communicate compelling information about the impact of climate change on TNC priority areas to mobilize enactment of policies and actions at multiple levels to minimize the threat of climate change to biodiversity? Participants will gain a concrete understanding of how TNC can use its places, expertise and relationships to advance practical climate change policies at the state, regional, national and international levels. Participants will develop recommendations on a process for OUs, with support from GCCI and XA, to evaluate climate change impacts to TNC places and communicate these impacts to policy makers and key stakeholders. 8.5 Invasive Species: What can state and country programs realistically do to abate this killer threat? John Randall, Global Invasive Species Initiative;DoriaGordon,FloridaField Office How can state and country program leaders identify and implement strategies to adequately abate invasive species threats on the scale necessary to achieve the 2015 goal? If invasive species are or may be a serious threat to your state or country program's conservation goals, but you are not sure what your program can or should do about it, this session is for you. We will give examples of and discuss strategies that TNC state and country programs and partners can afford to adopt to prevent invasions and established invaders with potential to irreversibly damage their conservation targets. We will open up the discussion to learn more about what help you need to identify and select the highest priority strategies. We will also ask how those needs may differ between programs in the USand in other countries, in small programs versus large, etc. We will incorporate lessons learned during this session in the design of the Global Invasive Species Program's new project to help state and country programs develop invasive species strategic plans. Important insights gained may be incorporated into the written guidelines, models and templates for strategic plans that we will produce as part of this project. 8.6 Expanding our Conservation Impact by Creating Markets for Ecosystem Services William Ginn, GlobalForestPartnership; Nick Dilks, Sustainable Land Company; Jared Hardner, Biodiversity Neutral Initiative Although much of TNC's work focuses on the scientific underpinning and the policy framework around ecosystem services, in the end it will require development of markets for ecosystem services strategies to be useful for conservation. This workshop will bring together private and public investors to discuss with us what it will take to develop markets for these services, and to explore roles the Conservancy can play in accelerating their development. 8.7Keystone Strategies to Abate Multiple Interacting Threats AynShlisky, Global Fire Initiative How can we identify keystone strategies that achieve the biggest bang-for-the-buck given multiple interacting threats? Across all major habitat types on earth, multiple threats act to degrade biodiversity integrity. Multiple threats often interact at a place such that abatement of one threat in isolation may not achieve desired biodiversity outcomes. Conversely, single strategies may serve to abate multiple threats, or achieve the majority of desired outcomes with less investment than implementation of isolated threat abatement strategies. This workshop will explore how we might achieve bigger biodiversity bang-for-the-buck by selecting keystone strategies that abate multiple interacting threats or achieve the majority of desired biodiversity outcomes. It will introduce modeling tools being developed by TNC, the US Forest Service, US Department of the Interior and other partners as a part of the LANDFIRE project. A case study will investigate opportunities to develop keystone strategies where fire interacts with climate change or invasive species. |
12:00-2:30Networking 12:30-2:00Lunch TexasBallrooms I-VII |
2:30-4:00Session 9 -- Concurrent Workshops on Emerging Strategies 9.1 Emerging High-Leverage Strategies for Conserving Freshwater Habitats Brian Richter, Sustainable Waters Program,Aurelio Ramos Northern TropicalAndesProgram What structural or functional changes could be made within TNC to accelerate implementation of global freshwater strategies? What roles can state and country programs play in implementing these global strategies? The Freshwater Habitat Goal Setting Team will present a strategy to research and develop solutions to the top global threats to freshwater biodiversity, to test and refine those solutions in demonstration projects, advance their adoption worldwide, and use what is learned through the demonstration projects to drive policy initiatives. Participants will discuss implications of this strategy and provide guidance to the Habitat Goal Setting Team concerning its refinement and implementation. 9.2 Emerging High Level Strategies for Conserving Coasts and Oceans DavidWeekes,WashingtonFO, Lynne Hale, Global Marine Initiative; Scott Smith, External Affairs What high level strategies should the conservancy engage in to achieve the 2015 goal in the marine environment?The Marine Habitat Goal Setting Team will present its preliminary work on threats and high-leverage strategies for achieving 2015 conservation outcomes in bays, estuaries and nearshore waters and continental shelf MHTs. Participants will discuss the findings and provide guidance to the Team concerning their further development and refinement. 9.3 Expanding our Impact in New Geographies Andrew Soles, Business Consulting Group; Michelle Beeman, Canada Program; Jorge Cardona, Guatemala Program; Sanjayan, Africa Program How can we most effectively select and enter new geographies (ecoregions, countries, multi-country) to expand our impact? This session will capture the experience of Conservancy colleagues involved in starting up new programs in new geographies inAfrica,Central America, andNorth America. Common issues will be identified. Participants will discuss their own new geographic opportunities, solicit input to challenges they face and suggest additional issues that our decision methods should address. 9.4 Using our Connection to Place to Advance Practical Climate Change Policies Cathleen Kelly and Bill Stanley, Global Climate Change Initiative; Mark MacCleod, Senior Policy Advisor, Environmental Defense How can we develop and communicate compelling information about the impact of climate change on TNC priority areas to mobilize enactment of policies and actions at multiple levels to minimize the threat of climate change to biodiversity? Participants will gain a concrete understanding of how TNC can use its places, expertise and relationships to advance practical climate change policies at the state, regional, national and international levels. Participants will develop recommendations on a process for OUs, with support from GCCI and XA, to evaluate climate change impacts to TNC places and communicate these impacts to policy makers and key stakeholders. 9.5 Invasive Species: What can state and country programs realistically do to abate this killer threat? John Randall, Global Invasive Species Initiative;DoriaGordon,FloridaField Office How can state and country program leaders identify and implement strategies to adequately abate invasive species threats on the scale necessary to achieve the 2015 goal? If invasive species are or may be a serious threat to your state or country program's conservation goals, but you are not sure what your program can or should do about it, this session is for you. We will give examples of and discuss strategies that TNC state and country programs and partners can afford to adopt to prevent invasions and established invaders with potential to irreversibly damage their conservation targets. We will open up the discussion to learn more about what help you need to identify and select the highest priority strategies. We will also ask how those needs may differ between programs in the USand in other countries, in small programs versus large, etc. We will incorporate lessons learned during this session in the design of the Global Invasive Species Program's new project to help state and country programs develop invasive species strategic plans. Important insights gained may be incorporated into the written guidelines, models and templates for strategic plans that we will produce as part of this project. 9.6 Expanding our Conservation Impact by Creating Markets for Ecosystem Services William Ginn, GlobalForestPartnership; Nick Dilks, Sustainable Land Company; Jared Hardner, Biodiversity Neutral Initiative Although much of TNC's work focuses on the scientific underpinning and the policy framework around ecosystem services, in the end it will require development of markets for ecosystem services strategies to be useful for conservation. This workshop will bring together private and public investors to discuss with us what it will take to develop markets for these services, and to explore roles the Conservancy can play in accelerating their development. 9.7Keystone Strategies to Abate Multiple Interacting Threats AynShlisky, Global Fire Initiative How can we identify keystone strategies that achieve the biggest bang-for-the-buck given multiple interacting threats? Across all major habitat types on earth, multiple threats act to degrade biodiversity integrity. Multiple threats often interact at a place such that abatement of one threat in isolation may not achieve desired biodiversity outcomes. Conversely, single strategies may serve to abate multiple threats, or achieve the majority of desired outcomes with less investment than implementation of isolated threat abatement strategies. This workshop will explore how we might achieve bigger biodiversity bang-for-the-buck by selecting keystone strategies that abate multiple interacting threats or achieve the majority of desired biodiversity outcomes. It will introduce modeling tools being developed by TNC, the US Forest Service, US Department of the Interior and other partners as a part of the LANDFIRE project. A case study will investigate opportunities to develop keystone strategies where fire interacts with climate change or invasive species. |
4:00-4:30Break |
4:30-5:15Session 10 Closing Plenary |
5:15-6:30Happy Hour with Live Music
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