Tuesday, July 7, 2026

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Room BM.1.26

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Details

Effective conservation depends on knowing what works, what doesn’t, and why. As demand grows for causal evidence to guide conservation decisions, so too does the need to improve attribution and transparency in impact evaluation. Doing so will ensure that evidence contributes to effective conservation policy, practice, and scaling (1). Rapid advances in data, methods, and technologies are transforming what is possible in conservation evaluation (2,3). Novel data streams, such as acoustic monitoring, remote sensing and citizen science, are providing richer information about ecological and social outcomes. Analytical innovations, including artificial intelligence, and new causal inference approaches, are increasing our ability to attribute outcomes to specific interventions. Together, these developments offer the opportunity to generate more credible and actionable evidence. However, as conservation embraces these innovations, it must also confront both persistent and emerging challenges. Long-standing issues - such as accurately identifying confounders (4,5) - remain pressing. Meanwhile, the integration of novel data and analytical tools introduces new questions around equitable access, and overreliance on automation. Ensuring that local and Indigenous knowledge informs evaluation design is also vital for contextual relevance and inclusivity. Equally important, clearer reporting of methods, decisions, and assumptions is essential to enhance transparency and reproducibility. In light of these opportunites and challenges, the SCB-Impact Evaluation Working Group proposes to host a symposium that will present insights and stimulate discussion on three key areas: (1) Improving attribution in conservation impact evaluations (2) Opportunities and/or limitations of novel data sources, analytical methods, and technologies for causal inference, 2) Strengthening transparency, reproducibility, and interpretability of results, including innovative reporting frameworks and steps toward greater standardisation. By bringing together diverse expertise, this symposium will explore how to harness innovation to deliver robust, transparent, and actionable evidence to support efforts to halt biodiversity decline.

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Speakers and Presentation Titles

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Organiser