But one resilient mountain lion did make it across. 

P-22, a male mountain lion from the Santa Monica range successfully navigated the maze of cars and found himself in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. He lived there for more than 10 years, occupying the smallest home range—roughly eight square miles— that has ever been recorded for an adult male mountain lion. Though he was able to survive, P-22 was never able to find a mate in his limited home range. 

P-22 was euthanized in December of 2022 after officials captured him and discovered injuries from a vehicle collision and other chronic conditions. The life of this tough feline became a rallying cry to raise funds for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing being built over US-101 to restore habitat connectivity. This busy road was one that P-22 had to cross on his way to Griffith Park, and it is the primary cause of genetic isolation—which has led to inbreeding— of the Santa Monica Mountains mountain lion population. 

It is highways like US-101 and other human development paired with natural features like mountain ranges that have separated populations of mountain lions in California into six distinct genetic populations. A few of these populations live in the Central Coast region, spanning the area between San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles, which provides large swaths of habitat for mountain lions and other wildlife. However, this area is becoming increasingly fragmented and isolated from other healthy and more stable populations of these cats in the Sierra Nevada. 

“Preserving and restoring connectivity in this region and reconnecting it across highways like US-101 to the Sierra Nevada is essential to prevent genetic isolation and keep regional ecosystems, like those in the Central California coast—which rely on apex predators to maintain biodiversity—from collapsing,” said Greg Costello, U.S. Connectivity Program Director with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation. 

On February 12, 2026, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to list certain population segments of mountain lions in Southern and Central California as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. The listing gives protections, among others, to the southern California Central Coast mountain lion Distinct Population Segments (DSP) due to concerns that they could become extinct in the foreseeable future due to fragmented habitat, barriers to movement, and displacement by humans.       

“As development in the area increases, it is urgent to protect threatened mountain lion populations in California to preserve biodiversity in the region and protect local ecosystems,” Costello said. “These big cats need to move to find food and mates, and dense networks of communities and roads can limit their movement, reducing gene flow.” 

California Mountain Lion Populations

CLLC is beginning work with California Department of Fish & Wildlife, California Department of Transportation, Santa Barbara County (and City), San Luis Obispo County, and other partners in California’s Central Coast region to restore connectivity and safeguard mountain lions and other wildlife. 

The Central California Coast Connectivity Project will identify wildlife movement corridors by combining advanced habitat connectivity mapping and modeling. The results will help guide county and municipal governments and land use planners in preserving these important areas, potentially creating a model for use in other parts of the state. CLLC will begin science assessments this fall with a goal of completing the data analysis to present to stakeholders in the region next fall.  

Understanding the habitat needs and movement patterns of these cats, and other wildlife, is the critical first step toward securing the future for diverse and healthy wildlife populations along the Central California Coast. 

Featured image caption: Mountain Lion P-35 captured by a camera trap. Credit: NPS photo

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When lynx, elephants, markhors, bears or elk move in search of new water or food sources, they don’t stop to show their passports at the border or pause to consider which areas are designated as protected and which are private lands. Wildlife goes where it needs to survive, and as climate change modifies landscapes and an increased human population adds pressure to ecosystems, conflict arises. 

In 2024, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation worked across five continents to reconnect fragmented landscapes and foster partnerships across borders. Three projects in particular illustrate the challenges and opportunities of preserving wildlife movement and habitat connectivity across international boundaries. This collaborative work is taking place in the Mountain Ecosystems of Koytendag in Central Asia, the Transboundary Region of Kenya and Tanzania and the landscapes of Northeastern North America. 

Conserving the Mountain Ecosystems of Koytendag

Along the shared border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan runs a tall, craggy ridgeline separating the two countries. While this southern spur of the Pamir-Alay mountain range may present a physical barrier for human travel, many animals and crucial sources of freshwater can still move freely through this landscape nestled in the heart of the Mountain Ecosystems of Koytendag (MEK). 

The MEK represent one of the most biodiverse landscapes in Central Asia. However, the region faces threats to endemic plant and animal species including agricultural expansion, overgrazing, illegal hunting and human development. Since 2020, the Center has been working in MEK as part of a project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and since 2024 by the Peace and Biodiversity Dialogue Initiative to help stakeholders in both countries come together to strengthen cooperation across two protected areas, including improving monitoring and data-sharing practices. 

“Sharing common natural resources, ecosystems, and species, this project for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reinforces how international and transboundary cooperation can enhance conservation across Central Asia,” said Aaron Laur, International Connectivity Program, Policy and Partnerships Manager with the Center.  

To combat the challenges faced by wildlife, rangers in Koytendag State Nature Reserve in Turkmenistan and Surkhan State Nature Reserve in Uzbekistan are collaborating to use Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool data gathering, or SMART monitoring, to track populations of markhor, urial sheep and lynx as well as other wildlife in the region. This data will help both countries make informed management decisions and enable them to deploy limited resources and rangers wisely across this vast landscape. For example, if a camera trap happens to capture an instance of poaching or other wildlife-human conflict, rangers will know exactly where incidents are happening and be able to better patrol and enforce management plans in the future.

“Better data and more sharing of that data allows managers to make proactive decisions based on information they may have from the other side of the border,” said the Center’s International Connectivity Program, Policy and Partnerships Specialist, Gabriel Oppler, who traveled to Uzbekistan in 2024 to facilitate a workshop focused on enhancing collaboration and connectivity planning between the two reserves. 

These monitoring efforts will also establish baseline information on migration and movement trends and population size and health that could then serve as future indicators of the effects of climate change. In addition, it will be helpful in supporting a transboundary nomination of both reserves as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. 

“A great deal of work went into building stakeholder surveys and our partners talking to people in the local community,” Laur said. “They sat with national and international experts and rangers on mountain tops for days at a time, gathering scientific information, and documenting natural, cultural, and geologic sites because that’s what goes into a World Heritage nomination.” 

World Heritage status can be valuable in helping a country, or in this case countries, be recognized for stewarding their unique heritage and can help attract more international funding. Additionally, Laur said, this designation can help spur the governments of receiving countries to prioritize and better conserve the sites. 

Oppler emphasized the importance of maintaining and enhancing connectivity between both reserves and the surrounding landscape and the shared interest of both countries in protecting the same wildlife populations and ecological processes. Though an international border runs through the heart of these mountains, for the local wildlife, it’s all one home range. 

Connecting the Transboundary Region of Kenya and Tanzania

In the transboundary region of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, or SOKNOT, there are protected areas on both sides of the border: the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Parks and Tsavo National Park. The challenge in this region is to define, monitor and conserve wildlife corridors across international boundaries. 

“There are a lot of wide-ranging species in the African landscape,” said Annika Keeley, Senior Conservation Scientist with the Center. “If you don’t care about connectivity between the countries, you damage populations on either side. Those countries depend on the species for tourism, and so if they want to sustain this business opportunity, they have to think about cross boundary connectivity for the species.” 

Tanzania has delineated corridors that are recognized by the government but Kenya has yet to put any corridors on the map. The plan is for the two countries to collaborate, delineate corridors for the entire region and then monitor them. 

“The goal is really to safeguard these corridors from being developed, to keep them open for wildlife movement,” Keeley said. 

Working with WWF and the Wildlife Connect Initiative, Keeley and Bakari Mtili with the Center led and facilitated a two-day workshop in Tanzania focused on the shared goal of maintaining a connected landscape. The group discussed which indicators to use when monitoring these corridors and gathered input from local experts to make sure future work built upon existing efforts. Moving forward, both countries will share census and movement data to help researchers understand how species are using the corridors. 

WWF also wants to monitor any delineated corridors to see if they are changing and use that data as an early-warning system. The human population of Tanzania is predicted to double by 2050 meaning lots of potential new development in these wildlife corridors. The new set of indicators laid out in a report from the Center will provide information on how the corridors are changing over time and inform future work. 

According to Keeley, the Center’s recommendation is to create a framework for implementing the ecological corridors in this region following guidelines produced by the Center and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For each delineated corridor, there would then be a group of local stakeholders that meets to write and execute a management plan, as well as monitor and adapt actions for the long-term stewardship of the corridor. 

Collaborating to Protect Turtle Island

Many Native American communities use the term Turtle Island to describe the North American continent. The name stems from various creation stories describing the world being formed on the back of a giant turtle. This land stretched unbroken covered in lush forests, tranquil lakes and roamed by all manner of wildlife. 

This vision is not reflected in contemporary maps, which are crisscrossed with roads, private property lines, state borders and international borders that even cut right through the middle of lakes. The concept of Turtle Island, however, is more than just an uninterrupted landmass; it represents a deep respect for and connection to nature. 

At the first-ever Northeastern North America / Turtle Island Landscape Connectivity Summit in June of 2024, this concept of connected landscapes was at the forefront of presentations, panels and discussion groups focused on transboundary conservation efforts in this region. The Summit focused on the five eastern-most Canadian provinces, seven northeastern-most US states, and Indigenous territories of the region. Attendees included tribal leaders, representatives from provincial, state and federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations, among others, who all came together to collaborate across international boundaries. 

The region in focus represents a biodiverse, ecologically-rich carbon sink of utmost importance. Deb Kmon Davidson, Chief Strategy Officer with the Center, said there is a trend in species moving north, such as sugar maples, which she says are dying off in places like Massachusetts, Connecticut and southern Vermont. The solution, according to Davidson, is to work together across borders and with managers of different lands both public and private. 

“There’s an increased recognition that this is an interwoven landscape,” Davidson said. “Each state and province is not an individual entity, there’s a collective impact.” 

At the summit, road ecology and wildlife migration issues were front and center resulting in much more sharing of information across international borders and efforts to collectively put forward proposals. In September of 2024, Canadian Premieres and American Governors signed a landmark resolution representing a commitment from those provinces and states to work collectively on ecological connectivity.  

Moving forward, the hope is that all stakeholders view conservation from an eco-regional perspective that ignores boundaries, according to Davidson.  

“There’s power in, for example, people who live within Vermont, understanding that they are part of a larger regional movement, too,” Davidson said. 

In April 2025, the coordinating committee that formed around the summit will release a Pathways document that summarizes the findings of the summit and some high-priority action items that were identified. It will be important to ensure that ecological processes and wildlife in the region are able to move and flow as they need to, unimpeded by borders they don’t recognize.  

_{Top photo: Reserve rangers and collaborators from the Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan environmental ministries and the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences discuss data entry using the SMART system – CLLC/Gabriel Oppler}

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Thirty years ago, the Disney movie the Lion King was released, telling the story of Simba, a young lion prince, who, after the murder of his father Mufasa, flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery. Other memorable characters are the warthog Pumbaa, the red-billed hornbill Zazu, the mandrill Rafiki, and the meerkat Timon—all species that play a role in the richly biodiverse ecosystems of east Africa.  

Partly because of this movie, and zoo visits, children and adults around the world are familiar with the wildlife of the iconic landscapes of east Africa. In the transboundary region of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania (or “SOKNOT”), large, protected areas we all have heard of —the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Parks, Tsavo National Park—were established back in the 1950s and 60s to ensure the persistence of the vast populations of wildebeest, zebras, and elephants. Today, wildlife is still teeming in the parks, providing the basis for a tourism industry that contributes over 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya and 17% of Tanzania.  

Migrating in response to the greening of the landscape in the wet seasons and the disappearing of water sources in the dry seasons, many of the species move on a regular basis between the protected areas, which means that by themselves the areas are not big enough to support the populations. 

In the landscapes in between the parks, people are living, farmers are growing corn and other staple foods, and pastoralists are herding cattle, goats, and sheep. These activities at low intensity allow wildlife to live relatively undisturbed and move freely through the landscape. However, pressure on the land in between the parks has been increasing as the human population grows and climate change modifies that region.  

As most pressure on the land comes from the increasing human population, climate change makes the wildlife move more, especially to find water during droughts. Greater concentrations of livestock lead to overgrazing, grasslands are converted to row crops, hunting for subsistence leaves areas empty of mammals larger than a hedgehog, and new roads and railroads bisect habitat. Already these pressures threaten native wildlife, and Kenya’s and Tanzania’s populations are expected to double by 2050.  

Seeing these threats increasing, both countries have acted. In Kenya, researchers mapped movement pathways of several key species based on movement and presence data and a recent study conducted by The Nature Conservancy modeled corridors between Kenya’s large protected areas. In Tanzania, corridors through the areas with the lowest human impact have been delineated and, thanks to strong corridor legislation, are now being recognized by the government. Several representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments, working with the local communities, are taking steps to secure some of the corridors.  

As in any transboundary region, there are challenges, especially for protecting corridors crossing the international border. For example, different policies around natural resource management can lead to conflict, and different conservation approaches may be needed in the same corridor depending on whether or not the land is privately owned.  

As landscape use is changing and conservation actions are taken, it is of fundamental importance to know how functional the corridors are for different species, i.e. how well the animals can move through them from one protected area to another. If the landscape in the between the parks is converted to settlements and agriculture—but the corridors remain open—will there be functional connectivity for lions, cheetah, African wild dogs, elephants, zebra, and giraffe?  

It will be crucial to develop an early warning system that alerts conservation practitioners to changes in a corridor that, without intervention, may lead to loss of connectivity. For planners and decision makers, access to regularly updated spatial data on land use, human population density, and linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, and fences can be invaluable. 

Working with WWF and the Wildlife Connect Initiative, Annika Keeley and Bakari Mtili with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation led and facilitated a two-day workshop in Tanzania providing an opportunity for representatives of the governments of Kenya and Tanzania, NGOs, and university researchers to gather and shape a project that will provide next steps towards the shared goal of ensuring a connected landscape. The workshop was funded by WWF and also sponsored by the Cheetah Conservation Initiative.  

Seventy-five participants recapped past connectivity work and shared updates on current initiatives. They brainstormed ecological and social indicators for monitoring connectivity of corridors, shared knowledge of where species are moving and information on available data for validating the corridors, and gathered information on the governance, management, and monitoring necessary for successful connectivity conservation in both countries.  

To support conservation planners and practitioners, the Center will now create a freely accessible database, use species data to assess the corridors’ functionality, create a baseline for a set of connectivity indicators, and lay out the conditions necessary for successful connectivity conservation. These activities will provide crucial information for protecting the corridors for generations to come.  
 
While Simba and friends are fictional characters, the lions and other inhabitants of the SOKNOT region are facing very real threats to their survival. Building on previous connectivity studies and research on the focal species, this project will be an important step for securing connectivity for the magnificent wildlife in this world-renowned landscape.  

_{Top photo: Zebra and giraffe in northern Tanzania – Adobe Stock}

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What does wildlife know of human-made borders? Often, not much; animals generally navigate landscapes without regard for county, state, or country lines—unless impacted by factors such as hunting pressure or habitat loss. Human-made lines on a map don’t necessarily affect wildlife. But what about roads and fences—physical barriers that interrupt their paths? In the case of the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, these barriers are stark realities that threaten their long-term survival. 

The Sonoran pronghorn, a subspecies of the American pronghorn and the fastest land mammal in North America, faces numerous challenges. Known as the “desert ghost” for its elusive and skittish behavior, this species is smaller and lighter in color compared to its more common relative, uniquely adapted to thrive in the arid conditions of the Sonoran Desert. Spanning 120,000 square miles across southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora, the Sonoran Desert is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States, featuring a diverse range of flora and fauna adapted to its hot, arid climate.

Connectivity is the Key to a Full Population Rebound

The Sonoran Pronghorn was first listed as endangered in 1967, and then the Arizona population suffered a severe decline due to a drought in 2002 that wiped out 80% of collared pronghorns, reducing their numbers to just about two dozen individuals. The lack of ecological connectivity between herds—the inability of pronghorns to move freely across the landscape to find food, water, and mates—exacerbated this decline. Individual pronghorns were not able to adequately move in search of water and forage, which contributed to the severe population drop. Now, efforts to enhance connectivity and ensure populations are connected are more crucial than ever.

Restricted to the southwestern corner of Arizona and northwestern Sonora, Sonoran pronghorns exhibit nomadic behavior, moving in response to rainfall and forage availability. In the US, more attention has been paid to the challenges faced by the Arizona subpopulations, such as climate change, habitat fragmentation, and physical barriers like roads, fences, and the border wall. In Mexico, the subpopulations face additional unique challenges, including a lack of protected areas and increased pressures from hunting.

The presence of the US-Mexico border wall exacerbates these challenges, further isolating the populations on both sides of the border. The wall disrupts traditional migration routes, impedes gene flow, and increases the difficulty of managing the multiple populations. Gene flow is crucial for maintaining genetic diversity and preventing inbreeding, which can lead to reduced fitness, increased susceptibility to diseases, and other negative consequences. This physical barrier complicates efforts to ensure ecological connectivity, making a full species approach all the more critical.

Today, the remaining and reintroduced Sonoran pronghorn herds exist in isolated management units, or designated areas where wildlife populations are monitored and managed to ensure their survival and growth. In Mexico, there are two management units with approximately 600 individuals. In Arizona, three management units host around 525 individuals.

This population growth is a result of significant conservation measures driven by the Sonoran pronghorn recovery team that involves multiple individuals and agencies, including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), researchers, and various federal, state, and nonprofit organizations. Their efforts include a captive breeding program, yearly relocation of individuals to supplement herds, habitat restoration, provision of a water supply, and ongoing monitoring and management. While these investments have led to some population rebound, the Sonoran pronghorn’s recovery is imperiled if the isolated populations are not connected so that they are able to interbreed and shift their ranges in response to climate change, especially as drought events continue to worsen.

Workshop Attendees Strategize for the Sonoran Pronghorn’s Future

The need for increased connectivity of these isolated subpopulations is recognized and emphasized in the Sonoran pronghorn’s recovery plan. The Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC) is working with federal and state wildlife agencies to advise on strategies to improve habitat connectivity and mitigate human disturbances that impact pronghorn behavior and habitat use.

In March 2024, with support from the National Park Service and USFWS, CLLC organized the Sonoran Pronghorn Connectivity Workshop in Ajo, Arizona, at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The workshop was led by CLLC’s Conservation Science Specialist Jamie Faselt along with CLLC’s Conservation Research Advisor Dr. Paul Beier. It sought to engage rightsholders and interested parties (e.g., government organizations, NGOs, Tribal communities) in a forward-thinking project to advance the Sonoran pronghorn’s long-term recovery and eventual delisting from the Endangered Species List.

Workshop participants from diverse US- and Mexico-based engaged in meaningful discussions about pronghorn habitat areas, movement barriers, and climate impacts. They mapped known movement pathways, highlighting the need to address barriers that obstruct pronghorn movement, such as highways and fences. The workshop also underscored the importance of data sharing, constituent engagement, and international cooperation.

“Conducting multi-country connectivity planning poses unique challenges, such as differences in available data types,” explained workshop leader Faselt. However, there was widespread acknowledgment at the workshop that broadening the project scope to the Sonoran Desert Biosphere Region, including subpopulations in Sonora, is essential to address the need to reconnect the isolated populations of the pronghorn.

UNESCO Biosphere regions are designated areas with exceptional biodiversity, natural, and cultural resources and can be a great tool in managing populations of species that cross jurisdictional boundaries to survive. The biosphere designation provides a framework for communities and land managers to collaborate on preserving the unique benefits a biosphere region holds.

“Nature knows no borders, and the Sonoran pronghorn is no exception,” added Faselt. “By working together, we bolster our chances of success in saving this vital species.”

While the workshop underscored the importance of a full species approach across the Sonoran Desert Biosphere Region, data limitations and cross-border challenges required the project to begin with an Arizona-focused analysis. This first phase lays the groundwork for expanding into Mexico as additional partners and datasets are brought into the effort. 

Looking Ahead: Creating a Plan for Success – UPDATED December 2025

Building on the insights gathered during the workshop, Faselt completed an analysis that identified potential movement pathways between Sonoran pronghorn subpopulations and recommended locations where wildlife crossings would be most effective. The work drew on four main sources of information: habitat connectivity models, pronghorn movement behavior along highways, expert opinion from the workshop, and patterns of past mortalities. The connectivity models helped identify natural routes that the pronghorn are most likely to use when moving across the landscape based on habitat quality and barriers. 

The resulting recommendations outline a set of crossing structure options and a ranked list of priority locations that together would create a fully connected network for Sonoran pronghorn within Arizona. In addition to identifying where crossings are most needed, the recommendations also describe strategies for encouraging pronghorn to use these structures once built, such as placing attractants like water or forage in strategic locations and reducing nearby disturbances to help animals safely approach and learn new routes. This first phase focused on Arizona and highlights a small number of sites where targeted mitigation would have the greatest impact. 

Although the workshop brought together 15 organizations, expanding participation, especially with partners in Sonora, will be important for future binational work.  This approach could be expanded into Mexico to address the full range of the species. 

The Sonoran Pronghorn Connectivity Project demonstrates how combining scientific analysis with local knowledge and collaboration can clarify complex conservation needs. By identifying where conservation action will be most effective and by working across jurisdictions and borders, we can begin building a more connected and resilient future for the Sonoran pronghorn.  

_{Top photo: Sonoran pronghorn – USFWS. All other photos by CLLC/Jamie Faselt unless otherwise indicated.}

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In the Pantanal, threats include industrial-scale agriculture, hydroelectric power plant construction, and extreme climate-driven heat and drought that result in unprecedented, catastrophic fires.​ ​​​ 

The Gran Chaco ecosystem faces land clearing for agricultural expansion—mostly cattle and soy production—plus soil degradation and biodiversity loss.  

Habitat loss and fragmentation cause formerly abundant wildlife to disappear and may result in inbreeding, which can cause genetic deformations in remaining, isolated populations. Protecting and conserving nature in national parks, ecological reserves, Indigenous territories, and private lands is a key strategy to address habitat loss, but it needs to be complemented by actions to counteract the ongoing land fragmentation and ensure that strongholds of biodiversity remain connected. Therefore, as part of the Wildlife Connect initiative, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and WWF are collaborating with experts from Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina to identify the ecological network for jaguars in PACHA (short for Pantanal and Chaco)​; essentially, in order to effectively protect, we must connect​​​.  ​​   

The jaguar was selected as the focal species for this project because it is wide-ranging, sensitive to human-caused landscape changes, and relatively well studied. And importantly, conserving connectivity for jaguars is also likely to conserve connectivity for many other species​. ​​     ​ 

​​The entire process depends on effective communication and collaboration.​ ​​​​Relying on the knowledge of experts in jaguar biology and local ecology, the team has mapped 57 protected and conserved areas and Indigenous territories, among which connectivity should be maintained. They then identified landscape variables that influence jaguar movement and characterized their effect on how jaguars move through the landscape.  

Jaguars, for example, are known by experts to prefer strolling through trees and shrubs over moving through grassland and cropland. They avoid major roads but like water.​ ​​​​​Using this information, we created a map that shows how likely jaguars are to move through every part of the landscape, and ​then ​used this map to find the pathways, or corridors, that are the easiest routes for jaguars to take to get from one protected or conserved area to the next (see map). 

While in most cases, corridors are relatively linear, others may follow a curving river. Many of the corridors are composed of multiple strands which are alternate routes. In that case, there are different options for which ones to target for conservation action.  

Using a tool specifically designed for the task, we determined which corridors and protected areas are most important for keeping the PACHA network connected.  

We also conducted a separate analysis to measure the level of connectivity between pairs of protected or conserved areas, which allows us to track how connectivity is changing over time. 

The next step in the project will be for the team to determine the most important corridors for conservation action in the spring of 2024. This process will take into account the connectivity value and other ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by corridors, the costs of land acquisition or protection, the magnitude and immediacy of threats to corridors from development,​ and​​​ the degree of local support for conservation. Thus, mapping the ecological network is only one piece of a more comprehensive conservation effort to maintain long-term connectivity for jaguars and many other species in the richly biodiverse PACHA landscape. 

Update 4/30/24: In a second phase of the project, we are determining the most important corridors for conservation action, taking into account several factors: the connectivity value and other ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by corridors; the costs of land acquisition or protection; the magnitude and immediacy of threats to corridors from development; and the degree of local support for conservation.

During an April 2024 workshop in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which was organized and hosted by Rafael Antelo with WWF-Bolivia, we guided 23 participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, representing various organizations and government bodies, in the identification of prioritization criteria related to corridor values, threat, and opportunities. Examples of these criteria include the biological importance of the corridor as well as the protected areas on both ends, documented jaguar movements, the density of existing and planned roads, the risk of conversion of intact habitat in the corridor to agriculture, the capacity of the civil society for conservation, and existing conservation plans.

The Center for Large Landscape Conservation will now score corridors based on these criteria and identify the top 10 corridors for conservation action in the entire Pantanal-Chaco region as well as in each of the 4 countries. Thus, the project outcomes can guide conservation efforts in the Pantanal-Chaco landscape, ensuring effective allocation of resources to preserve ecological connectivity and biodiversity in the future.

* Wildlife Connect is a joint initiative of WWF, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, the IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group, and the Convention on Migratory Species.

The post ​​​​Planning for Jaguar Habitat Connectivity in the Large Pantanal-Chaco Landscape of South America​ appeared first on Center for Large Landscape Conservation.

In December 2022, representatives from the Center for Large Landscape Conservation were present in Montreal, Canada when 188 countries made an historic commitment adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). As a main outcome of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties, the GBF is now the most significant agreement to date for bolstering global cooperation to conserve and restore nature. Since then, the Center has been engaging in discussions and planning across its networks of experts and institutions to best coordinate actions to support lasting conservation gains on the ground. With the importance of connectivity and landscape- and seascape-scale approaches emphasized in the GBF, it is clear that the Center has a significant role to play in its implementation.*

Achieving large-scale conservation requires joint efforts among the scientific community, resource managers, local communities, policymakers, businesses, and other stakeholders. In alignment with international policy mandates and commitments, the Center therefore continues to increase its global leadership role in maintaining, enhancing, and restoring ecological connectivity of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems within and across boundaries.

Now, with its sights set on supporting the GBF’s commitment to “broad-based action to bring about a transformation in our societies’ relationship with biodiversity by 2030,” the Center will focus its efforts across all sectors. With an emphasis on the fundamental contributions that ecological connectivity makes to healthy functioning ecosystems and species, and its benefit to people, the Center’s strategies are:

• • Increase understanding and development of ecological connectivity science, policy, and practice by supporting the alignment of national biodiversity action plans, execution of projects, measurement of progress, and reporting on implementation toward improving the status and trends for structural, functional, and migratory connectivity. Examples of this work includes the dissemination of the IUCN Guidelines for conserving connectivity through ecological networks and corridors, inclusion of the Protected Areas Network metric (ProNet) as a complementary indicator in the GBF monitoring framework, and information for identifying opportunities and funding projects through the Global Environment Facility.

• • Provide educational opportunities and advisory, technical, and capacity-building expertise on how best to approach connectivity standards, frameworks, incentives, and planning for the durable design, governance, and management of ecological networks and corridors such as the Corridor and Connectivity Training and Capacity Building Initiative. This also includes a specialized focus on mainstreaming biodiversity and connectivity safeguards to avoid and mitigate the impacts of linear transport infrastructure (LTI) such as roads, railways, canals, powerlines, and pipelines. Examples are the A.P.E. Project aimed at addressing threats of rapidly expanding roads, rails, and power lines in three key great ape and gibbon habitats in Africa and Asia, the FOCUS-BRI Project assessing 12 countries for potential impacts and capabilities to safeguard LTI as part of national and international investments, and the USAID-funded project Asia’s Linear Infrastructure safeguarding Nature (ALIGN).

• • Continue engagement in international fora to further advance connectivity policies and implementation, including at leading institutions like the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and United Nations General Assembly (UN/GA). Examples include contributing toward and monitoring implementation of related international policies, participating in development of a global partnership to support achievement of Target 3 of the GBF, serving on an expert working group under the Convention on Migratory Species for addressing impacts of linear infrastructure development.

• • Lead, mobilize resources for, and deploy international networks of practitioners, policymakers, scientists, and institutions to ensure best practices, consistent approaches, replication, and scaling-up of connectivity conservation through research, original science, knowledge transfer, and collaboration including ongoing and new projects. Examples include the IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group and its working groups, the project Connectivity, Capacity, and Cats, the Infrastructure and Nature Coalition, and the Wildlife Connect Initiative.

*Related goals and targets of the framework include:

• Goal A: Connectivity as a fundamental requirement for the functionality of ecosystems;
• Target 1: Connectivity is a key criterion for achieving “participatory, integrated and biodiversity inclusive spatial planning,” especially for determining which areas to establish as protected and conserved areas, where to delineate ecological corridors and networks, and/or as areas of priority for restoration.
• Targets 2: Connectivity is part of maximizing the benefits and outcomes of restoration for entire landscapes and seascapes;
• Target 3: “Well-connected” protected and conserved areas (aka Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)) to achieve 30×30 objectives of land, freshwater, and marine areas being effectively protected, conserved, and managed;
• Target 12: Connectivity for increasing benefits from “green and blue spaces” in urban/densely populated areas; and
• Target 14: Connectivity contributing toward “the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies, strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting within and across all levels of government and across all sectors…”

_{Photos, top to bottom: Fitz Roy River, Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, Argentina – Mary Collins; Herd of caribou near the Denali Highway, Alaska – Adobe Stock; Two elephants In Mondulkiri, Cambodia – Adobe Stock; Coral reef, Solomon Islands – Adobe Stock.}

The post Our International Connectivity Conservation Action Plan for 2030 appeared first on Center for Large Landscape Conservation.

Life seems to be coming full circle for Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Annika Keeley. She currently resides in her sleepy German hometown of 6,000, working remotely for the Center for Large Landscape Conservation while visiting her parents—her typical habitat is that of Davis, California, just west of Sacramento. But it is her homeland countryside that spurred Annika’s love for nature and, more specifically, the science behind it.

Upon joining a biology club in the eighth grade, Annika spent hours outside learning bird songs, identifying local butterfly species, and roaming around at midnight with a bat detector. She and her clubmates even conducted a study to determine the prey items of local barn owls by dissecting owl pellets and identifying the skulls contained within. Annika’s childhood exchange with nature and science sounds idyllic—the exact type of field-based, implicit learning that so many children crave and few receive. 

“My interest in studying the natural environment came from here,” muses Annika.

Today the drive to investigate and unpeel the ecological matrix is at the crux of her work. As a child watching the natural processes unfold – how the landscape and wildlife interacted—Annika discovered her interest in connectivity science, narrowing in on a future career dedicated to measuring these systems and understanding how to best support the ecosystem’s interactions. Defined as the study of species movements and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth, ecological connectivity science underpins the focal vision and mission at the Center. 

After earning a bachelor’s degree in zoology and botany in Canada, she traveled to the states to further her academic qualifications and has been here ever since. She went on to procure a master’s degree in wildlife biology and a Ph.D. in forest science, grounding her vocation with a broad knowledge base and a finely-tuned expertise. Not to mention that the father of connectivity conservation science, Dr. Paul Beier, was her advisor. 

Annika’s vast scientific reach affects the lives of many tangibly, unbeknownst to them, as the world begins to grapple with how to mitigate biodiversity loss, build resilience, and save nature in the face of climate change and growing human development. Before working at the Center, she was a bat biologist in Austin, Texas, developing a statewide bat conservation plan in coordination with agency biologists. She conducted systematic reviews for California’s 4th Climate Change Assessment, analyzing methods used to integrate connectivity and climate science and studying barriers and opportunities related to corridor planning and practice. As the senior environmental scientist on the Delta Stewardship Council, she led the ecosystem component of the Sacramento-San Joaquin, California, climate change vulnerability assessment. 

In the past year, she has presented at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Conference in 2022. The list of notable works goes on, as does Annika’s wealth of publications, like this one on connectivity conservation planning.

So, what’s next on the docket? Annika continues to work at the Center as the director of our Connectivity Science program, expanding our science leadership and building upon our long history of being leaders in connectivity conservation. The measuring and monitoring of connectivity take precedence in her projects as countries get ready to implement corridors and other nature-positive initiatives.

“The need for information, the desire for science-based decisions…I hear it all the time. The ask for it is there. My team and I can help provide it,” states Annika. 

To encapsulate her is to know her favorite ice-breaker question: “What is your favorite animal adaptation?” How many individuals struggle to answer because there are too many to choose from in their mind’s Rolodex? If you were wondering about her answer…

“The ability of bats, and even some birds, to reduce their body temperature to conserve energy, otherwise known as torpor,” reveals Dr. Keeley. 

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NEWS RELEASE

Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Convention on Migratory Species, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas’ Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group, WWF

Sharm El-Sheikh, 18 November: WWF, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas’ Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group today launched a new initiative to conserve nature’s connections: Wildlife Connect.

The initiative aims to secure ecological connectivity, defined by the Convention on Migratory Species as the “unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth.” From great migrations of wildlife across landscapes and continents to river flows from mountain to sea, nature’s circulatory system of connections is essential for a healthy planet. Yet they are rapidly disappearing, destabilizing ecosystems and the essential benefits they provide for us all.

The Wildlife Connect initiative was launched at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [VIDEO below], as connecting lands, inland waters and seas is critical to avert some of the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Focusing on ecological corridors and networks as nature-based solutions to climate change contributes greatly to climate mitigation and adaptation measures, while providing enormous benefit to nature.

Speaking during the launch event, Amy Fraenkel, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Migratory Species, said, “Ecological Connectivity is not only vital for migratory species, it also plays a key role in climate change adaptation and ensures the resilience of species and entire ecosystems.”

Governments at the event announced their own efforts to tackle this challenge, such as Canada’s new CAN$60 million program on ecological corridors, Bhutan’s creation of a protected network of corridors across the whole country, and the French government’s new international coalition on biological corridors in Africa.  

Experts at the event revealed that as little as 9% of Earth’s terrestrial habitats may at present be adequately connected. That habitat destruction and fragmentation remain the primary threats to biodiversity. And that if unprecedented action is not taken, loss of ecological connectivity will lead to disruption of ecological processes, our ability to adapt to climate change, and may lead to another pandemic. 

“The challenge of our time will be building ecologically connected networks of protected and conserved areas that allow wildlife to move to complete their life cycles and adapt to climate change,” said Margaret Kinnaird, Leader Wildlife Practice, WWF International. “And it’s not just about wildlife – ecological connectivity contributes to carbon sequestration by maintaining ecosystem services such as pollination, seed and nutrient dispersal and the clean water on which we all depend. The UNFCCC has a hugely important role to play in ensuring we protect, maintain and restore ecological connectivity as one of many solutions to mitigating and adapting to climate change.”

“Fragmentation is one of the biggest threats to the planet and connectivity conservation links people, places, and species to better harmonize work to save the atmosphere and biosphere,” said Gary Tabor, President and Founder, Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), and Chair, IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (CCSG). “Connectivity conservation is an available and practical tool that protects biodiversity and the climate.”

“We know what we need to do to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and deliver a nature positive future. We must protect the natural spaces left on the planet, and restore as much as we can of what we have destroyed. But we also need to ensure the necessary connectivity for wildlife and ecosystems to adapt, particularly in response to climate change impacts which are making habitats unsuitable or increasing competition for resources,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International. “It is vital for species to be able to move pole-wards, to higher altitudes, or simply across suitable habitats. Preserving and restoring connectivity between landscapes will be crucial to maintain both ecosystem and biodiversity health, with all the climate, economic and human wellbeing benefits this brings.” 

While the ambition of the initiative is global, Wildlife Connect will coalesce around four demonstration landscapes, one each in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The landscapes will be laboratories of innovation, where partners will come together to engage, co-create and pilot novel solutions to the most intractable problems that are severing connectivity. The initiative will contribute to bending the curve of biodiversity loss, as well as securing the ecosystem services that we all depend on.

With the launch of the initiative, WWF, CLLC and IUCN WCPA-CCSG are urging world leaders to at least double public finance for adaptation and consider focusing on adaptation in ecological corridors and networks. By taking account of risks and benefits for ecological connectivity, decisions on climate finance and climate action can enhance mitigation and adaptation outcomes through strengthened ecosystem resilience, while maximizing biodiversity co-benefits. 

###

Note to Editors:

Governments at the launch event of Wildlife Connect were represented by Inter alia:

• Ronan Dantec, Senator of Loire Atlantique, France & President of Climate Change
• Catherine Stewart, Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change
• Sonam Dagay, Ministry of Agriculture & Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan

Other recent government commitments on connectivity include:

• The launch by the Tanzanian government of the Wildlife Corridors Assessment, Prioritization and Action Plan to restore, protect and strengthen the conservation of wildlife corridors across the country. 
• The US government commitment of US$9.5 million to restore habitat connectivity for aquatic species around the US. 

For further information:

• Wildlife Connect website and briefing
• Explainer: Why connectivity matters to people and wildlife
• WWF Manifesto for UNFCCC CoP27

Contact Details: 

Marco Lambertini, Director General WWF International and Rafael Antelo, Wildlife Connect Leader are on the ground at Sharm El-Sheikh and available for interviews. Please get in touch with Rafael Antelo (WhatsApp +591 77339633) for more details. 

Center for Large Landscape Conservation: Christine Gianas Weinheimer, christine@largelandscapes.org

About WWF 

WWF is an independent conservation organization, with over 30 million followers and a global network active in nearly 100 countries. Our mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Visit panda.org/news for the latest news and media resources; follow us on Twitter @WWF_media

About the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC)

CLLC protects life on Earth by promoting ecological connectivity to support healthy wildlife habitats and safeguard nature’s resilience to climate change. Learn more at: largelandscapes.org 

About the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas’ Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (IUCN WCPA-CCSG)

IUCN WCPA–CCSG’s goal is to facilitate global collaboration and action of individuals, communities, and institutions to maintain, enhance, and restore ecological connectivity across intact and fragmented terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Find out more about IUCN WCPA CCSG here.

About the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)

An environmental treaty of the United Nations, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. This unique treaty brings governments and wildlife experts together to address the conservation needs of terrestrial, aquatic, and avian migratory species and their habitats around the world. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1979, its membership has grown steadily to include 133 Parties from Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Find out more about CMS here:  www.cms.int

Photo, top: Aerial view of the Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) migration. Up to 1.5 million wildebeest move through the Mara/Serengeti ecosystem each year. This is one of the world’s last great animal migrations. Masai Mara National Reserve. Kenya. ©Martin Harvey/WWF

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In an era where climate change, habitat loss, poaching and other human impacts put many species at risk, there is a need to understand where animals go and what they need to thrive. A new NASA-funded project—Room to Roam: Y2Y Wildlife Movements (Room2Roam)—aims to accelerate data analysis and coordination to improve wildlife management efforts across borders. The ambitious effort includes a regional network of partners in a major migration corridor of western North America.

The Yellowstone-to-Yukon (Y2Y) region extends more than 3,400 kilometers from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Arctic Circle in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Coordinated conservation work in this region has led to increases in protected land and public support for maintaining migration corridors in the region.

“Connecting spaces and species, diverse communities and peoples, and people to nature are key components of Y2Y’s work across the entire region—and borders. This unique partnership will also help us better understand the needs of important species, from grizzly bears to caribou and more. This research is critical to advance large-scale conservation, interconnected landscapes and wildlife corridors at the scale nature needs,” says Dr. Jodi Hilty, president and chief scientist of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Remote sensing devices like cameras and animal tracking tags are behind the latest approaches that scientists and wildlife managers use to manage and conserve wildlife populations. Tools developed by Room2Roam will offer opportunities to strengthen work in the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region, and to repeat the region’s successes in the world’s other iconic migration corridors.

Room2Roam brings shared data analysis tools to the Yellowstone-to-Yukon partner network using Movebank, a global platform for animal tracking hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. “Agencies and conservation groups worldwide use Movebank to securely store and share wildlife monitoring data,” says Sarah Davidson, the data curator for Movebank and coordinator of the Room2Roam project. A new interactive analysis platform, MoveApps, builds on Movebank to allow these groups to design and share. “These workflows can provide automated analysis for managers that spend much of their time out in the field, near-real-time alerts to identify and respond to potential threats, and connections to information about the conditions experienced by wildlife, like weather and land use,” adds Davidson

“In interviews with dozens of wildlife managers in North America, we found that most managers rely on contractors or graduate students to analyze animal tracking data, with results and management implications often not available until years after they were collected,” describes Movebank program manager Ashley Lohr. Delays between the time data are collected and when they lead to management decisions can mean the difference between identifying impacts in time to intervene—or after it’s too late to respond.

Further, sharing data and results can be a challenge, slowing opportunities to analyze data and work together across boundaries that are not recognized by wildlife. “Agency wildlife managers have told us that using Movebank has made it easier to share and integrate data with other agencies, including for animals that cross multiple provinces and states,” explains Davidson.

“We work with multiple partners, including First Nations and Renewable Resources Councils, to manage Yukon caribou populations, and communication of results is key to maintaining those relationships. It is helpful to have tools that allow us to analyze and visualize caribou locations on the landscape in near-real time. As wildlife managers, it is key for us to provide timely advice and feedback on questions from communities and others regarding caribou conservation,” says Kelsey Russell, caribou biologist with the Government of Yukon in Canada.

Room2Roam is supported by the NASA Ecological Forecasting Program, which uses the agency’s work in space to predict and respond to changes on Earth. “To understand how animals behave and respond to environmental conditions, researchers often rely on space-based data products, like satellite imagery,” explains Davidson. “And because the locations of tracked animals can be transmitted by satellite, space-based technology offers a key method for monitoring animal movements, especially over long distances.”

The project was launched at a June 2022 workshop in Whitehorse, Yukon, where representatives of seven agencies and conservation groups in the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region met with project developers led by Dr. Gil Bohrer, professor of ecological engineering at the Ohio State University.

There they shared stories of their wildlife conservation programs, priorities for analyzing animal tracking data, and hands-on sessions working with their own data on MoveApps.

The stories of those working in the region revealed many shared needs to make better use of animal tracking data through automated analysis. “For example,” explains Dr. Bohrer, “We all want to understand how animals are impacted by roads, identify when and where caribou calve and birds stop along migration, and whether these behaviors are changing over time. Groups also need interactive maps to show communities what we are learning.” With Room2Roam, “Wildlife managers will have the combined expertise of our statisticians and modelers, and the data resources of NASA, available with a few button clicks.”

“An important part of increasing landscape connectivity is reducing the harmful effects of roads on wildlife,” says Dr. Annika Keeley, Senior Conservation Scientist at the Center for Large Landscape Conservation. “We hope to create a tool that will create a video animation of a set of—for example—elk movement data, that will show when, where, and how frequently individual elk are crossing a highway. We will then be able to show decisionmakers the hotspots where multiple animals tend to cross the road, and help propose solutions.”

The project will continue through 2025, and the team plans to extend participation to more groups working in the region.

For more about the Room2Roam project, see https://ceg.osu.edu/Y2Y_Room2Roam. Founding partners of the Room2Roam project include

• Center for Large Landscape Conservation
• Department of Environment, Government of Yukon
• Government of the Northwest Territories
• HawkWatch International
• Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
• North Carolina State University
• The Ohio State University
• Teton Raptor Center
• University of Minnesota
• Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

A version of this article also appears on the website of the Ohio State University College of Engineering.

^{Photo, top: A herd of caribou – Adobe Stock}

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All around the world, ecosystem fragmentation caused by human activity continues to disrupt habitats, threatening biodiversity and impeding climate change adaptation. While Protected Areas are the foundation of nature conservation by preserving ecosystems, retaining ecological connectivity is essential and more so in a time of climate change. In response, more and more projects are seeking to better conserve ecological connectivity, i.e. the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth—including critical linkages between natural areas—that can support wildlife movement, gene flow, free flowing rivers, and other natural processes essential to healthy landscapes.

Both the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program (ASL) and the Global Wildlife Program (GWP), funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by the World Bank, support national efforts by participating in projects to improve landscape connectivity in their regions, and responding to their needs for guidance, tools, and best practices to ensure efficient and successful results.

On-the-ground efforts to improve connectivity and establish or maintain corridors take many forms. For example, an ASL national project in the Colombian Amazon is working with communities and institutions to promote low-carbon development and forest connectivity to enhance resilience of people and wildlife to climate change. Another ASL project in Ecuador is improving ecological connectivity by establishing two ecological corridors and associated management mechanisms to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and surrounding ecosystems over the long-term.

In Botswana, a GWP project is promoting integrated landscape approaches for improving drylands ecosystem resilience, and reducing human-wildlife conflict through recognition and management of ecological corridors for migratory animals such as elephants. And a GWP project in Indonesia is strengthening management of multi-use landscapes for community livelihoods and the conservation of globally threatened species, including designing ecological corridors between existing protected and conserved areas for the daily and seasonal movements of individual and groups of species.

Starting in April 2022, ASL and GWP commissioned a series of workshops to promote the exchange of knowledge among their national projects and the use of the latest knowledge about connectivity and corridors. Dr. Annika Keeley from the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC) and Diego Juffe Bignoli, Biodiversity Conservation Expert, brought their expertise to lead the sessions. The “Corridor and Connectivity Training and Capacity Building Initiative” workshop series brings together project teams from 40+ countries to understand successful interventions and share common challenges on planning for and managing corridors. With this training the ASL and GWP take an ambitious approach to bringing stakeholders from three continents together to accelerate local and regional solutions for conserving biodiversity, preserving landscapes, and achieving inclusive development.

An introductory meeting was held virtually on April 28, to kick off the workshop series. With nearly 100 participants representing many of the 47 national projects, the group was introduced to key concepts in connectivity conservation. This workshop included an interactive, brainstorming session where GWP and ASL national projects met their peers and shared their challenges and experiences. 

The training and capacity building activity included a two-day workshop held during the summer of 2022 under the title “Planning for Connectivity Conservation.” Approximately 60 participants came together with speakers from the Center’s staff and members of the IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group. With hands-on training and featured presentations by ASL and GWP project teams from Bhutan, Botswana, Colombia, and Ecuador, the workshop covered priority topics such as corridor planning experiences, spatial planning for mapping current and potential movement corridors, and governance for connectivity. Conservation scientist Dr. Amrita Neelakantan, a consultant with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, and Lucy Waruingi, executive director of the African Conservation Center, shared their experience from India and Africa on governance in connectivity. They provided valuable insights into the importance of inclusive stakeholder engagement to ensure effective and enduring connectivity conservation.

After this key event focused on planning, the team prepared two more events on managing and monitoring connectivity and participation in connectivity conservation. Read the Guidance Note that resulted from the workshops: Lessons learned in planning and implementing corridors and connectivity conservation. It is now available in English and Spanish!

More Information:

Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program

Global Wildlife Program

View the recording of the Planning for Corridors and Connectivity workshop

Photo, top: Tropical ecosystems are losing their connectivity values as they are transformed by land clearing to make way for oil plantations. Photo credit: Rodrigo Botero/FCDS.

A version of this article also appears on the website of The World Bank.

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