SCGIS – Conservation Prioritization using Network Flow

In this webinar, presenters will discuss Conservation Prioritization using Network Flow (CPNF). CPNF provides a way to identify the best areas that are needed to ensure continued protection for a suite of species under climate change – at a minimum cost for all species over the specified time period. The user defines the costs associated with moving across a contiguous landscape. The costs are species specific and reflect the species ability to disperse. The cost can represent total area of land needed to achieve conservation targets, but it can also represent land acquisition costs or measures of habitat integrity. CPNF solutions show the specific areas required to ensure connectivity of suitable habitat over space and time, and the analysis is constrained by assumptions of a species ability to disperse. Essential connectivity chains identified by CPNF that are not currently within conserved areas represent potential focal areas for conservation action to adapt a conservation portfolio to projected climate change. The user can search CPNF to understand which species contribute most to the solution for any defined focal area. Additionally, CPNF can also prioritize conservation sites (i.e., produce an irreplaceability index) for all possible chains rather than the optimal solution. CBI presents this webinar in partnership with the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS). To learn more about this organization, please visit https://www.scgis.org/.

Patrick Roehrdanz, Moore Center for Science, Conservation International and Derek Corcoran, Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile