Conservation Planning Framework

Because human uses can harm ecosystems, biodiversity and human activities need to be managed together. To ensure this, good conservation planning requires:

• the consideration of ecological parameters of each ecosystem, such as the carrying capacity, resiliency, threats, and sensitivity to change
  
• sound conservation science-based decisions that are made locally and receive local support
  
• consideration of the needs of local residents, including a sustainable economy an adaptive management approach that recognizes that conservation science is constantly changing, as are local and global threats.

Unlike many organizations whose experts develop conservation plans for others, the David Suzuki Foundations assists governments and local leaders in developing plans for themselves. Our program helps build conservation planning capacity to ensure that residents have the necessary tools and best science to make conservation decisions that reflect the needs of their communities and ecosystems.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are one of our key conservation planning tools. GIS systems can help answer conservation questions such as the location of suitable habitat for grizzly bears and the location of sustainable economic opportunities for local residents.

We use a conservation GIS approach to land management in which land-use is zoned for conservation much the way cities use zoning to manage human activities. The conservation zones we use were developed by the international community change and educational institution Future Generations and adapted from the U.N. Biosphere reserve model. The zones include:

• Core zones that protect for biodiversity.
  
• Buffer zones—tracts between core areas that allow low impact use such as ecotourism and wildlife movement corridors.
  
• Traditional land use zones that preserve historic cultural practices and also provide wildlife movement corridors.
  
• Sustainable land use zones that allow environmentally-friendly human activities such as organic farming.
  
• Development zones that allow well-planned, intensive land-use practices such as mining but stipulates that no environmental damage can extend outside the zone.
  
• Intense human use zones that safeguard sustainable communities and ensure that environmental damage doesn’t extend past the zone.
  

• Conservation Planning Home
• Why is conservation planning necessary?
• Conservation planning framework
• Creating sustainable economies
• Case study: Tibet Autonomous Region, China
• Conservation Planning in Canada's Temperate Rainforest