Initiatives

Generating knowledge to improve
conservation efforts

Photo Credit: Peter Chira

Initiatives

Innovation within CMP happens through our initiatives, guided by the dedication, expertise, and collective wisdom of our members. Explore below to learn about these initiatives and browse member videos and presentations from working sessions and retreats.

CURRENT INITIATIVES

Audits

The Conservation audit tool is used to analyze strengths and weaknesses in conservation programs against the Open Standards and define what changes are needed to adapt management for better outcomes.

CAML mascot

Conservation Actions and Measures Library (CAML)

The Conservation Actions and Measures Library (CAML) is an open-source library of Miradi results chains for the most common conservation actions.

Climate Guidance

This group aims to develop guidance for integrating climate change into the Conservation Standards process.

Collaborative Learning

This overall initiative aims to distill existing knowledge and develop guiding principles around key topics by harnessing the collective knowledge and expertise of the conservation community. Current initiatives include: Conservation Standards Adoption – A Change Management Strategy, Making the Business Case, Conservation Audits, Conservation Finance, Political Risk & Uncertainty, Broader environment and development agendas, Human well-being links / integration, Population, Health, and Environment, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Conservation Standards (CS) Marketing

Marketing and promotion of CS within organizations and to broader audiences. Includes work on framing adaptive management message and training materials.

Easy Conservation Standards (Easy CS)

This initiative is one of several that seek to enhance the set of CS materials and/or present them in an accessible way and intends to create and gather existing materials to help practitioners implement the CS more easily.

Equity

This initiative grew out of the CMP May 2019 retreat. The focus is on what equity might look like in CS community. 2 major pathways – 1) Guidance, CS, bringing equity into technical conversations; 2) Ensuring more equity in CMP representation

Exits and Sustainability

This guidance is focused on how conservation organizations can become more intentional about building sustainability into projects1 and programs. It is meant to be used in tandem with the CMP Open Standards, or with the WWF PPMS (2017 version) which integrates sustainability considerations throughout the project cycle.

Failure Factors

This initiative aims to build a community of practice to test several ways to encourage teams and organizations to value failure, learn from failure and change behavior to improve conservation practice.

Guidance Review

The Guidance Review Committee was formed in early 2014 by CMP and CCNet representatives to help conservation practitioners find the most appropriate OS guidance to meet their needs.

Human Well-Being

This initiative helps address a need to better reflect human wellbeing concerns within the Conservation Standards.  Over the years, the committee has developed protocols, guidance, and examples for showing how conservation contributes to / affects human wellbeing in a Conservation Standards framework.

Miradi

This initiative works on continuing to update and improve Miradi and MiradiShare conservation planning software, which is used to diagram the Conservation Standards process.

Operationalizing the Conservation Standards

The Ops Committee aims to share experiences in managing conservation project information.  In particular, we work to identify and develop the guidance and systems improvements required to help projects go full-cycle, and to integrate conservation project information with other core business processes.

Conservation Standards Revisions

This initiative is responsible for updating the Conservation Standards on a regular basis (approx. every 5-6 years). We seek to involve a broad range of members from the Conservation Standards community, as collectively we bring a range of experience and wisdom in using the Conservation Standards.

Spatial Conservation Standards

The Spatial CS initiative is developing protocols and examples for incorporating spatial data into Conservation Standards work.

Training Tomorrow’s Leaders

This initiative is developing online and interactive courses in adaptive management tailored for early-career conservation professionals and graduate students in applied conservation programs. By targeting this audience, we hope to build adaptive management knowledge, capacity, and skills from the ground up and reinforce the principles of the CS through tomorrow’s leaders in the conservation field.

Website

This initiative launched more formally in 2013, initially to develop a joint online presence between CMP and CCNet. Based on input at the 2013 CCNet Rally, committee and CS community members decided to create a linked presence (via format of the websites and a common website on the Conservation Standards). This initiative now focuses on maintaining and updating CS and CMP external websites.

CMP Workspace

The CMP Workspace is a collaborative workspace for Conservation Measures Partnership members. It includes documents and files associated with initiatives, retreats, and other CMP business.

Photo Credit: Gregoire Dubois

Retreats and Technical Meetings

Photo Credit: Brenda Van Sleeuwen

Every other year, CMP hosts in-person members’ meetings to share experiences, challenges, and innovations and to advance new and ongoing work. Click here to learn more.

Meeting Notes and Materials

2019 (May): Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)

2017 (January): Yulee, FL (White Oak Conservation Center)

2014 (October): Washington, DC (WWF US)

2010 and 2011: Measures Summits

Photo Credit: Diane Detoeuf

2014 Bright Spots Presentations

Managing the Business of Conservation Annette Stewart (Bush Heritage Australia) Abstract: This Speed Presentation will outline how Bush Heritage Australia has achieved a step-change in efficiency and effectiveness, by using Miradi and Miradi Share to manage implementation of projects planned and adapted using the Open Standards. The Open Standards does a lot to make conservation practitioners more effective – guiding them in choosing the right targets, involving stakeholders, planning projects, and monitoring outcomes

2014 Government Showcase

USAID’s Growing Use of the Open Standards Cynthia Gill (USAID Office of Forestry and Biodiversity) Abstract: USAID has drawn heavily on the Open Standards and is applying key principles of them in program design and implementation. USAID is intensively applying the approach to a number of significant biodiversity portfolios in the field. At the same time, the Agency is looking at how to apply the approach more broadly to other development sectors and how to scale up in conservation.

Credit Photo: CONAF

Photo Credit: Rachel Neugarten

2014 Initiatives Sessions

Introducing the Mira App: Quick, Take a Picture! Laura Geiger, Lydia Gaskell (WWF) Abstract: Every conservationist has experienced this: the sudden discovery of something in the middle of nowhere. That discovery, that knowledge is part of a bigger picture that could make or break a conservation plan. The Mira App, which follows the mapping scheme of the Open Standards and the Miradi software, wants to help field workers – from advanced techies to newbies – efficiently record and monitor the threats, risks, and successes in an ecosystem for a more evidenced-based conservation planning

Measures Summits

Over the past few years, there have been advances in measuring the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation projects, programs, and organizations. There is still, however, a major gap between the rhetoric of organizations, including funders, around the desirability of measuring conservation effectiveness, versus the reality of actually adopting and implementing specific and transparent systems that allow us to improve our collective work.

Photo Credit: Rachel Neugarten

Support CMP

CMP is a partnership of conservation-oriented NGOs, government agencies, and funders that works collectively to achieve greater impact. We seek better ways to design, manage, and measure the impacts of our conservation actions so that we can learn and improve our efforts and contribute our learning to the broader evidence base.

Photo Credit: Jason Houston

Download CS

The Conservation Standards is the product of inputs, field tests, and discussions among members of the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP), which has final editorial authority over the Conservation Standards. Substantial input was also provided by members of the Conservation Coaches Network (CCNet) and other CMP partners.

Photo Credit: Felix Cybulla

Our Collaborators

Every organization, agency, project, and individual has its own preferred set of terms. There is no right answer – the most important thing is that the members of your project team and the people with whom you work have a clear and common understanding of whatever terms you choose to use.

Photo Credit: Chris Scarffe

Resource Library

A library of vetted resources designed to help teams understand and effectively use the Conservation Standards. Includes guides, case studies, journal articles, and more.

Photo Credit: Ashleigh Baker

Contact CMP

To inquire about supporting The Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) or for general inquiries, please contact us at CMPinfo@ConservationMeasures.org

Photo Credit: Felix Cybulla