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Conservation Planning

WCS’s Conservation Planning Team leads scientific analyses to inform conservation practice and decision-making across terrestrial and marine systems at local and global scales.

We act in two broad capacities:

  1. In a strategic role to influence and advance better global conservation decision-making processes and policies.
  2. In a technical role to facilitate robust, climate-sensitive conservation interventions across WCS land and seascapes.

Our Priorities

Ecological Integrity

Ensure that we map and monitor the health of ecosystems.

Global Biodiversity Framework

Identify areas and strategies for WCS country programs to support global conservation commitments.

Climate Adaptation

Ensure that ecosystems and communities are resilient to climate change.

Conservation Prioritization

Identify areas important for the protection and restoration of biodiversity.

Species Conservation Landscapes

Support the long-term survival of diverse species.

Our Work

Ecological Integrity

Our team works to map and monitor the health of ecosystems by advancing the development, testing and application of ecological integrity metrics. We focus on identifying areas with high ecological integrity - defined as ecosystems with healthy structure, function, and composition - that serve as nature strongholds for biodiversity that also support cultural values, and buffer against climate and health crises.

Example Work:
Ecological Integrity in Climate Adaptation Policy and Practice

Photo Credit: ©Dave Hoefler/Unsplash
Photo Credit: ©Jean-Pierre Sagette

Global Biodiversity Framework

We engage with our regional and country programs to identify opportunities and conservation plans that inform the Global Biodiversity Framework’s (GBF) 30x30 commitments. Specifically, we identify new spatial priorities for conservation and restoration targets, introduce novel methodologies for climate-smart planning and support the development, testing and refinement of other GBF-relevant conservation standards such as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), Red List of Ecosystems, and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM) identification.

Example Work:
Scaling Up Area-Based Conservation to Implement the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 Target

Climate Adaptation

Our team supports the efforts of our regional and country programs to implement climate-informed protection, management and adaptation strategies throughout WCS regions and strongholds. We provide technical expertise to assess an area’s vulnerability based on the ecological and social variables threatened by climate change. Often our work leads to climate-smart planning on the ground, and capacity building within communities and governments to build more resilient land and seascapes.

Example Work:
Climate Vulnerability Assessment Afghanistan

Photo Credit: ©Erika Piñeros
Photo Credit: ©Kyle de Nobrega

Conservation Prioritization

Our team identifies priority areas important for the protection and restoration of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural importance throughout WCS geographies. The conservation priorities are determined by ecological, climactic and societal factors to ensure all viewpoints and trade-offs are considered. These prioritizations can influence how resources are allocated, how policies can be structured, and where capacity can be developed.

Example Work:
Global Mapping of Nature's Contributions to People

Species Conservation Landscapes

Our species conservation work supports the long-term survival of diverse species through the development of near real-time integrated mapping and reporting systems. We support the development of interactive tools and portals to help identify and quantify opportunities for species persistence, but also to measure the effectiveness of conservation efforts for those species.

Example Work:
Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Photo Credit: ©ANO WCS/SIKHOTE-ALIN RESERVE
WCS Conservation Planning — logo 1

Areas of Expertise

(Click each for further detail)

SPATIAL PLANNING

Mozambique Marine Spatial Planning Spatial conservation prioritization using Prioritizr, MARXAN, and Zonation

Protected Area (PA), Marine Protected Area (MPA), and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measure (OECM) spatial planning

Cameroon land use planning

Restoration opportunity and benefit analysis

Migration hierarchy and biodiversity offset planning

30x30 strategic development

REMOTE SENSING

Land Cover Mapping

Time Series Analysis (e.g. Landsat, Sentinel)

Data pre-processing (e.g., cloud masking, filtering, smoothing, composites)

Creation of spectral indices

Biomass modeling, canopy height modeling, canopy cover modeling (Jarrah Forest Integrity Assessment forthcoming)

CLIMATE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS

Integrated climate, biodiversity, ecosystem, species, livelihoods vulnerability assessments

Climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity assessments

Chile natural hazards report

Regional and global climate model projections

Integrating climate change projections into species and ecosystem risk assessments

ECOLOGICAL/ECOSYSTEM MODELING

Occupancy and abundance (N-mixture) modeling

Ecosystem intregity modeling

Climate stability and dissimilarity modeling

Ecosystem and ecoregion shift modeling

Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) assessments

Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) assessments

Ecosystem services modeling

SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING

Historical and future species range projections

Presence-only and presence-absence SDMs

Modeling occurrence probabilities and species presence

Modeling range contractions, expansions, and shifts

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Design of monitoring programs to inform conservation effectiveness

Impact evaluation

STATISTICS

Advanced ecological statistics in R (e.g., multivariate regression, model selection, inference, hypothesis testing, etc.)

AUTOMATION AND BIG DATA

Large database management

Task automation in R and Google Earth Engine (Javascript)

High performance and cloud computing (e.g., Amazon Web Services, supercomputing clusters)

Automated data retrieval

DATA VISUALIZATION

Custom Google Earth Engine apps

Online interactive maps

RShiny Apps

Publication quality figures, maps, charts, and tables

TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING

Marine Spacial Planning

Climate adaptation

Formal and informal science education

Development of training materials

Conservation Standards (adaptive management, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation)

COMMUNICATIONS

Website design including user experience and information architecture

Marketing and branding

Stakeholder engagement (including materials needed for stakeholder communication)

ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

Training, facilitation, and experience in applying the Conservation Standards

FUNDRAISING

Proposal development (writing, presentations, budget development, etc.)

Meet the Team

Dr. Rachel Neugarten

Executive Director, Conservation Planning

Dr. Kendall Jones

Director of Ecosystems & Planning

Dr. Gautam Surya

Conservation Planning Specialist

Dr. Paul Elsen

Director of Conservation Planning

Dr. Samantha Strindberg

Wildlife Statistician and Conservation Scientist

Selected Recent Publications

Neugarten, R., Rodewald, A., Eklund, J., & O’Garra, T. (2025). An introduction to impact evaluation for conservation. Conservation Science and Practice, 7(11), e70169. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70169

Neugarten, R. A., Davis, C. L., Duran, G., & Rodewald, A. D. (2025). Co-benefits of nature for birds, people, and climate in the United States. Ecosystem Services, 73, 101733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101733

Plumptre, A. J.,… Neugarten, R.A. ,... Woodley, S. (2025). Changes in Key Biodiversity Area networks following national comprehensive assessments. Conservation Biology, e70151. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70151

Carroll, K. A., Pidgeon, A. M., Elsen, P., Farwell, L., & Radeloff, V. C. (2025). Biodiversity Metric Selection and Their Applications for Spatial Conservation Planning. Diversity and Distributions, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13952

Menon, T., Elsen, P. R., & Srinivasan, U. (2025). Using a large citizen science dataset to uncover diverse patterns of elevational migration in Himalayan birds. Royal Society Open Science, 12(5), 242260. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.242260

Austin, K. G., Elsen, P. R., Coronado, E. N. H., DeGemmis, A., Gallego-Sala, A. V., Harris, L., Kretser, H. E., Melton, J. R., Murdiyarso, D., Sasmito, S. D., Swails, E., Wijaya, A., Winton, R. S., & Zarin, D. (2025). Mismatch Between Global Importance of Peatlands and the Extent of Their Protection. Conservation Letters, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13080

Surya, G. and V. Rathbone (2025). MaMaBay Climate Vulnerability Assessment. Antananarivo, Madagascar: Wildlife Conservation Society. https://doi.org/10.19121/2025.Report.52272

Jang, N., S. Tablada, M. Vasquez, G. Surya, V. Rathbone, K. Jones and P. Elsen (2025). Climate Risk Profile: Belize. Winnipeg, Canada: International Institute for Sustainable Development, Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wide Fund for Nature. https://doi.org/10.19121/2025.Report.51664

Surya, G., & Neugarten, R. A. (2024). Influences of nature on agriculture. In T. M. Brooks & J. Siikamäki (Eds.), Agriculture and conservation. IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://doi.org/10.2305/AMHX3737

Elsen, P. R., Surya, G. S., Faryabi, S. P., Ruane, A. C., Phillips, M., & De Mel, M. (2024). Downscaled and Bias-Adjusted Climate Projections for Afghanistan. Wildlife Conservation Society. https://doi.org/10.19121/2024.Report.50418

Theobald, D. M., Jacob, A. L., Elsen, P. R., Beever, E. A., Ehlers, L., & Hilty, J. (2024). Evaluating ecosystem protection and fragmentation of the world’s major mountain regions. Conservation Biology, 38(3), e14240. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14240

Keith, D. A., Ghoraba, S. M. M., Kaly, E., Jones, K. R., Oosthuizen, A., Obura, D., Costa, H. M., Daniels, F., Duarte, E., Grantham, H., Gudka, M., Norman, J., Shannon, L. J., Skowno, A., & Ferrer-Paris, J. R. (2024). Contributions of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems to risk-based design and management of protected and conserved areas in Africa. Conservation Biology, e14169. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14169

McClanahan, T. R., Darling, E. S., Beger, M., Fox, H. E., Grantham, H. S., Jupiter, S. D., Logan, C. A., Mcleod, E., McManus, L. C., Oddenyo, R. M., Surya, G. S., Wenger, Amelia. S., Zinke, J., & Maina, J. M. (2024). Diversification of refugia types needed to secure the future of coral reefs subject to climate change. Conservation Biology, 38(1), e14108. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14108

Neugarten, R. A., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Sharp, R. P., Schuster, R., Strimas-Mackey, M., Roehrdanz, P. R., Mulligan, M., van Soesbergen, A., Hole, D., Kennedy, C. M., Oakleaf, J. R., Johnson, J. A., Kiesecker, J., Polasky, S., Hanson, J. O., & Rodewald, A. D. (2024). Mapping the planet’s critical areas for biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. Nature Communications, 15(1), 261. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43832-9

Neugarten, R. A., Rasolofoson, R. A., Barrett, C. B., Vieilledent, G., & Rodewald, A. D. (2024). The effect of a political crisis on performance of community forests and protected areas in Madagascar. Nature Communications, 15(1), 2963. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47318-0

Sayre, R., Frye, C., Breyer, S., Roehrdanz, P. R., Elsen, P. R., Butler, K., Brown, C., Cress, J., Karagulle, D., Martin, M., Sangermano, F., Smyth, R. L., Sohl, T. L., Wolff, N. H., Wright, D. J., & Wu, Z. (2024). Potential 2050 Distributions of World Terrestrial Ecosystems from Projections of Changes in World Climate Regions and Global Land Cover. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03370

Victurine, R., Anstee, S., Jones, K. R., Rainey, H., DeGemmis, A., & Crowley, H. (2024). Nature Positive mining: Guidance for a critical transition. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 3(12), e0000142. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000142

Bayarbaatar, B., Strindberg, S., Ariunbaatar, B. et al. & Olson, K. (2024). An assessment of the global population size of Mongolian gazelles. Oryx 58(6),1-10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605323001515

Elsen, P. R., Oakes, L. E., Cross, M. S., DeGemmis, A., Watson, J. E. M., Cooke, H. A., Darling, E. S., Jones, K. R., Kretser, H. E., Mendez, M., Surya, G., Tully, E., & Grantham, H. S. (2023). Priorities for embedding ecological integrity in climate adaptation policy and practice. One Earth, 6(6), 632–644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.05.014

Elsen, P. R., Faryabi, S. P., Surya, G., & Grantham, H. S. (2023). Climate change vulnerability assessment for the Panj-Amu River Basin. Wildlife Conservation Society. https://doi.org/10.19121/2023.Report.45305

Rayden, T., Jones, K. R., Austin, K., & Radachowsky, J. (2023). Improving climate and biodiversity outcomes through restoration of forest integrity. Conservation Biology, 37(6), e14163. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14163

Elsen, P. R., Saxon, E. C., Simmons, B. A., Ward, M., Williams, B. A., Grantham, H. S., Kark, S., Levin, N., Perez-Hammerle, K.-V., Reside, A. E., & Watson, J. E. M. (2022). Accelerated shifts in terrestrial life zones under rapid climate change. Global Change Biology, 28(3), 918–935. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15962

Jones, K. R., von Hase, A., Costa, H. M., Rainey, H., Sidat, N., Jobson, B., White, T. B., & Grantham, H. S. (2022). Spatial analysis to inform the mitigation hierarchy. Conservation Science and Practice, 4(6), e12686. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12686

Laguardia, A., Gobush, K. S., Bourgeois, S., Strindberg, S., Abitsi, G., Ebout, F., Fay, J. M., Gopalaswamy, A. M., Maisels, F., Ogden, R., White, L. J. T., & Stokes E. J. (2021). Assessing the feasibility of density estimation methodologies for African forest elephant at large spatial scales. Global Ecology and Conservation 27, e01550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01550

Wall, J., Wittemeyer, G., Klinkenberg, B., LeMaye, V., Blake, S., Strindberg, S., Henley, M., Vollrath, F., Maisels, F., Ferwerda, J.,& Douglas-Hamilton, I. (2021). Human footprint and protected areas shape elephant range across Africa, Current Biology 31 (11), 2437-2445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.042

In the Media

An Overlooked Opportunity for Forest Restoration

To date, our restoration focus has overlooked more than half of the world’s existing forests that haven’t been cleared, but have been modified by logging or other human activities, write WCS's Kemen Austin, Tim Rayden and Kendall Jones for PBS Nature.

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How to build renewables without threatening biodiversity? Carefully

“Renewable energy is absolutely critical for climate goals,” WCS's Rachel Neugarten told Grist. “However, if it’s located in the wrong places it could have negative impacts.”

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Protect Half The Planet, Get Nearly All Of Nature’s Rewards

Research indicates that strategically safeguarding just under half of Earth’s land could maintain nearly all of nature’s contribu­tions to people.

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Mapping the Planet’s Critical Areas

Identifying areas where conservation and sustainable management can provide 90 percent of nature’s contributions to people and meet biodiversity goals.

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