Projects & Programmes

The IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group works with a range of partners to implement projects that deliver its mission. As of 1 October 2024, the group has established 16 projects under two programmes.

For the latest project news and updates, follow us on Twitter.

A summary of the Group's early work can be found in this contribution to the SSC's quarterly report for June 2021:

PROGRAMME 1: UNDERSTANDING GAPS IN DATA AND MONITORING CAPACITY
(Delivering Group objectives 2 and 3).

Factors influencing the effectiveness of biodiversity monitoring in Swiss protected areas (2024-2025)

Aim: This project sets out to answer the research question: What are the factors affecting the availability of data for conservation monitoring in Swiss protected areas? The project will focus on protected areas (PAs) that conserve nature and will look at the Swiss National Park, the 17 regional parks, and a representative selection of other PAs (such as faunal and forest reserves) to identify the types of environmental data and information managers need and how they use it, what data they obtain and how they collect it, and what data they fail to collect and why. Biological and socio-economic factors affecting data availability and use will then be identified.
Project goal: By the end of 2025, lessons will be learned on factors affecting the availability of data in protected areas in Switzerland, with recommendations made available on how to optimise data collection and use for key stakeholders.
Main partners: Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Lausanne.
Main donor: UNIL MSc studentship to Irina Casimiro.
Project implementation lead: Irina Casimiro (UNIL).
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson (project supervisor).
Progress updates

The research started in early 2024.
Preliminary interviews will be held with key stakeholders from October 2024. PA managers, as well as other actors operating in Swiss PAs, such as research agencies and NGOs, will then be surveyed to understand their data needs, uses and challenges, and the methods they employ to monitor biodiversity. Surveys will be conducted using semi-structured interviews and online survey questionnaires.

Unblocking the Flow of Biodiversity Data for Multi-Stakeholder Environmental Sustainability (2021-2023)

Aim: This multi-stakeholder collaborative project aims to bring together experts from conservation biology and business sustainability management to explore biodiversity data user needs across sectors and identify the reasons behind blockages to data flow and access. We will then use our research results to explore solutions and options for a user-friendly, open-access decision support tool to help stakeholders find the standards, guidelines, tools, methods and data they need. The project will enhance and complement global efforts by international organisations like IUCN and GEOBON to share and publicise data sources and to make existing tools and data freely available to the people who need them. This will ultimately help mainstream biodiversity data into decision-making and halt biodiversity loss.
Project goal: To assess the biodiversity data needs of international organizations, governments, civil society and business, to understand blockages to data flow and capacity development, and to produce a decision support tool to help enhance access to the methods and data necessary to facilitate monitoring and informed decision-making for conservation and sustainability.
Main partners: University of Lausanne, University of St Gallen, University of Ghana, Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute.
Main donor: Swiss Network for International Studies - SNIS.
Project implementation lead: PJ Stephenson.
Group members involved: Maria Cecilia Londono, Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu.
Progress updates

The project started in November 2021.
PJ announced the new project during his presentation to the Global Landscapes Forum Climate conference in Glasgow, 5 November 2021, and also during the specialist group's symposium at the 30th International Congress for Conservation Biology, Kigali, 15 December 2021.
The first year focused on literature reviews and on recruiting post-doctoral researchers in each partner institution.
The team then conducted in-depth analyses of data user needs and challenges in the three target countries through online surveys and stakeholder interviews.
The project team is hosting a workshop in Lausanne in September 2023 to bring together a diversity of data users and enablers to discuss preliminary results and help identify solutions to identified data blockages.
The project has so far generated 7 published papers and two updates to the Database of Global Data Sources for Biodiversity Conservation Monitoring.
The final data analyses were completed in December 2023 as the project came to an end. These results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals in early 2024. A global webinar sharing project results will also be organised in 2024.

Related links: More on the project, and links to its outputs, can be found on the project page HERE and a summary of the project (including 2 short videos) can be found on the SNIS website.

Data Gaps and Biases for Threatened Species in East Africa and the Implications for Biodiversity Conservation (2021-2022)

Aim: The aim of this research project is to conduct a case study in East Africa, a hotspot for biodiversity and for conservation projects, to answer the research question: What are the taxonomic and geographic gaps and biases in the biodiversity data available for threatened species and how are they affecting conservation action? The project will identify trends in data availability and place them in the context of recognised conservation priorities at national, regional and global levels. It will also gain an understanding of the root causes and consequences of data gaps through a survey of practitioners and policymakers and a literature review. The project will be conducted by Inès Moreno as part of her MSc.
Project goal: By early 2022, recommendations are available to fill biodiversity data gaps in East Africa and enhance conservation.
Main partners: Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Lausanne.
Main donor: UNIL studentship to Inès Moreno.
Project implementation lead: Inès Moreno (UNIL).
Group members involved: Inès Moreno, PJ Stephenson (project supervisor).
Progress updates:

The research was conducted.between February and November 2021. Inès submitted her thesis on 14 January 2022 and defended it on 2 February (see opposite).
Inès and PJ worked with UNIL collaborators to write up the work for publication: Moreno, I., Gippet, J., Fumagalli, L. & Stephenson, P.J. 2023. The biodiversity data conservationists most need in East Africa are the most difficult to access. Biodiversity and Conservation, 32: 249–273. Download the paper HERE.

A Global Audit of Biodiversity Monitoring (2017-2020)

Aim: To conduct a global audit of biodiversity monitoring to identify gaps that need filling in data and capacity worldwide. The project involves literature reviews, web searches, online surveys of stakeholders, and deep dives into selected countries and databases. Project outputs will include an open access database on species monitoring schemes, to connect data providers and decision makers.
Project goal: By end 2019, conservationists are aware of the priorities for filling gaps in data on species, their habitats and threats and for building the capacity necessary to monitor biodiversity.
Main partners: Birdlife International, IUCN, RSPB, UNEP-WCMC, University of Cambridge, Zoological Society of London.
Main donor: Cambridge Conservation Initiative Collaborative Fund.
Project implementation lead: Caroline Moussy (BirdLife International)
Group members involved: Ian Burfield, Richard Gregory, Louise McRae, PJ Stephenson.
Progress updates:

Project start-up meeting held in Cambridge with partners and collaborators in November 2017 to define project scope.
Project assistant started work January 2018.
Systematic search for monitoring schemes was conducted throughout 2018 in parallel to a web-based survey of key stakeholders. In depth assessments to identify national monitoring schemes were also conducted by partner agencies in 7 countries: Argentina, China, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and South Africa.
Project partners met on 14 January 2019 (photo below) to review the data collected and prepare the analyses.
In July 2019 Louise McRae presented the results of the audit to the ICCB in Malaysia.
A paper sharing the main results was published in Conservation Biology: Moussy, C., Burfield, I., Stephenson, P.J., Newton, A., Butchart, S.H.M., Sutherland, W., Gregory, R., McRae, L., Bubb, P., Roesler, I., Ursino, C., Wu, Y., Retief, E., Udin, J., Urazaliyev, R., Sanchez-Clavijo, L., Lartey, E. & Donald, P. 2021. A quantitative global review of species population monitoring. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13721.

Identifying Data Gaps and Monitoring Challenges in Project Portfolio Reporting (2017-20)

Aim: To review project reports and databases for species conservation programmes to identify taxonomic and geographic trends in the availability of biodiversity data (especially relating to status and threats).
Project goal: By 2019, recommendations available to conservation donors on how to improve biodiversity monitoring in their portfolios.
Main partner: IUCN Save our Species (SOS) Programme.
Project implementation leads: Alessandro Badalotti, Laura van Galen, PJ Stephenson.
Group members and volunteers involved: Alessandro Badalotti, PJ Stephenson, Lauren van Galen.
Progress updates:

IUCN SOS project reports were reviewed and analyzed.
A paper sharing the results was published in June 2021: Badalotti, A., van Galen, L., Vié, J.-C., & Stephenson, P.J. 2021. Improving the monitoring of conservation programmes: lessons from a grant-making initiative for threatened species. Oryx. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605320000538
We are looking for partners to repeat the exercise for other portfolios.

Related links:

http://www.saveourspecies.org/

Taxonomic Data Bias – Assessing Expert Opinion (2017-18)

Aim: To conduct a survey of the IUCN Species Survival Commission taxonomic specialist groups to seek expert opinion to identify taxonomic and geographic trends in the availability of species data (especially relating to Red List assessments).
Project goal: By 2019, biodiversity data gaps hindering IUCN Red List assessments are mapped.
Main partners: IUCN Species Survival Commission.
Project implementation leads: PJ Stephenson, Laura van Galen.
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson.
Progress updates:

The survey was conducted in 2017 by Laura van Galen (a volunteer with the SMSG).
Results have been shared at various meetings and will help inform the Groups priority setting exercise in early 2020.
The results were discussed with SSC Chairs at the Leaders Meeting in October 2019 to plan how best to address issues identified, such as taxonomic and geographic gaps in data and capacity. The group will decide on next steps early in 2021 as part of its planning for the next quadrennium.

Related links:

https://www.iucn.org/commissions/ssc-groups

Main challenges faced by IUCN SSC specialist groups in collecting and accessing data for Red List assessments.

PROGRAMME 2: DEVELOPING TOOLS AND BUILDING CAPACITY
(Delivering Group objectives 2, 3, 4 and 5)

Developing and disseminating guidelines and tools on biodiversity monitoring (2023-2025)

Aim: To develop and disseminate guidelines and tools on biodiversity monitoring to IUCN staff and commissions, governments, NGOs and businesses to improve data use in conservation.
Objectives:

By end of 2024, relevant terms and definitions for monitoring tools and approaches are developed, disseminated and adopted by IUCN and other actors.
By end of 2024, the SMSG Database of Global Data Sources for Biodiversity Conservation Monitoring is updated and disseminated, providing an up-to-date tool for accessing the latest monitoring data.
By mid-2025, research priorities for improving species monitoring tools and approaches are identified and disseminated to relevant bodies, including key geographic and taxonomic priorities for certain tools and approaches to fill data gaps in the IUCN Red List.
By September 2025, guidance on how to choose and use appropriate monitoring tools (with a summary of the pros and cons of each) is developed and disseminated with relevant partners. The guidance will include explanations of how to contribute to Red List and Green Status assessments and how to support and use indices like the RLI. The work will include case studies to help share lessons and best practices from existing work. The guidance and case studies will be disseminated through multiple channels, including peer-reviewed papers, policy briefs, web posts and apps, and social media.

Main partners: IUCN; IUCN SSC; Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Lausanne.
Main donor: IUCN SSC internal grant.
Project implementation lead: PJ Stephenson.
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson, Aurelie Shapiro, Francesco Rovero, Anja Hutschenreiter, Cristian Perez-Granados and Katy Klymus on guidelines; Group volunteer Noa de Berg on the literature review on research priorities; PJ Stephenson on the update of the database of data sources.
Progress updates:

Online meetings were held with 64 members in 2023 to identify key issues, pros and cons with the main biodiversity monitoring methods used and to identify the type of guidance most needed.
A grant was secured from the IUCN SSC in early 2024 to part-finance the project.
Work is underway on a literature review of research priorities, development of guidelines on how to use key technologies for monitoring, and an update of the database of data sources.

Reviewing and comparing biodiversity monitoring methods, tools and approaches (2018-2025)

Aim: To produce regular reviews with relevant partners that compare monitoring methods, tools and approaches and allow practitioners to make informed decisions.
Project goal: To collaborate with diverse researchers to publish at least one review per year on monitoring methods, tools and approaches.
Group members involved to date: PJ Stephenson, Maria Cecilia Londoño-Murcia, Paulo Borges, Louw Claassens, Heidi Frisch-Nwakanma, Nicholas Ling, Arnaud Lyet, Sapphire McMullan-Fisher, Jessica Meeuwig, Ian Burfield, Danilo do Carmo Vieira Correa, Gary Geller, Irina Montenegro Paredes, Leonard Mubalama, Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, Cristian Pérez-Granados, Kini Roesler, Francsco Rovero, Marcus Rowcliffe, Linda See, Yash Sharma, John Simaika, Serge Wich, Nara Wisesa Wiwardhana, Jun Yang, Joeri Zwerts.
Progress updates:
Publications published so far that contribute to this project include:

See, L., Lyet, A., Salvatori, M., Rovero, F., Pérez-Granados, C., Wich, S. & Stephenson, P.J. in press. Monitoring rangeland wildlife with the aid of remote sensing and other technologies: a review of the options. In O.P. Dube & J.I. Molefe (eds.), Remote Sensing of Rangelands - Monitoring the Anthropocene. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Australia.
Pringle, S., Davies, Z.G., Goddard, M.A., Dallimer, M., Hart, E., Le Goff, L.E., Langdale, S.J., Abad, S.-A., Ancrenaz, M., Angeoletto, F., Auat Cheein, F., Austen, G.E., Bailey, J.J., Baldock, K.C.R., Balmer, D.E., Banks-Leite, C., Barau, A.S., Bashyal, R., Bates, A.J., Bavin, S., Beale, C.M., Bicknell, J.E., Bielby, J., Bosilj, P., Burslem, D.F.R.P., Bush, E.R., Butler, S.J., Carpenter, D., Clements, C.F., Cully, A., Davies, K.F., Deere, N.J., Dodd, M., Drinkwater, R., Driscoll, D.A., Dyrmann, M., Edwards, D.P., Farhadinia, M.R., Faruk, A., Field, R., Finaughty, D.A., Fisher, J.C., Fletcher, R.J., Foster, C.W., Fox, R., Francksen, R.M., Franco, A., Gainsbury, A.M., Giorgi, I., Griffiths, R.A., Hamaza, S., Hanheide, M., Hayward, M.W., Hedblom, M., Helgason, T., Heon, S.P., Hughes, K.A., Hunt, E.R., Ingram, D.J., Jackson-Mills, G., Jowett, K., Keitt, T.H., Kloepper, L.N., Kramer-Schadt, S., Labrosse, F., Lawson, J., Leadbeater, E., Lecomte, N., Littlewood, N.A., Marshall, H.H., Masala, G.L., Maskell, L.C., Mazzolai, B., McConnell, A., Melbourne, B.A., Miriyev, A., Nana, E.D., Nason, M.A., Ossola, A., Papworth, S., Parr, C.L., Payo-Payo, A., Perry, G., Pettorelli, N., Pillay, R., Potts, S.G., Prendergast-Miller, M.T., Qie, L., Rolley-Parnell, P., Rossiter, S.J., Rowcliffe, M., Rumble, H., Sadler, J.P., Sandom, C.J., Sanyal, A., Schrodt, F., Sethi, S.S., Shabrani, A., Siddall, R., Smith, S.C., Snep, R.P.H., Soulsbury, C.D., Stanley, M.C., Stephens, P.A., Stephenson, P.J., Struebig, M., Studley, M., Svátek, M., Tang, G., Taylor, N.K., Umbers, K.D.L., Ward, R.J., White, P.J.C., Whittingham, M.J., Wich, S., Williams, C.D., Yakubu, I.B., Yoh, N., Zaidi, S.A.R & Zwerts, J.A. 2023. Robotics and Autonomous Systems for Environmental Sustainability: Monitoring Terrestrial Biodiversity. UK-RAS White Paper, EPSRC UK-RAS Network. DX.DOI.ORG/10.31256/WP2023.4.
Stephenson, P.J., Londoño-Murcia, M.C., Borges, P.A.V., Claassens, L., Frisch-Nwakanma, H., Ling, N., McMullan-Fisher, S., Meeuwig, J.J., Unter, K.M.M., Walls, J.L., Burfield, I.J., Correa, D.C.V., Geller, G.N., Montenegro Paredes, I., Mubalama, L.K., Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y., Roesler, I., Rovero, F., Sharma, Y.P., Wisesa Wiwardhana, N., Yang, J. & Fumagalli, L. 2022. Measuring the impact of conservation: the growing importance of monitoring fauna, flora and funga. Diversity, 14(10): 824. DOI: 10.3390/d14100824
Zwerts, J.A., Stephenson, P.J., Maisels, F., Rowcliffe, J.M., Astaras, C., Jansen, P.A., van der Waarde, J., Sterck, E.H.M., Verweij, P.A., Bruce, T., Brittain, S. & van Kuijk, M. 2021. Methods for wildlife monitoring in tropical forests: Comparing human observation, camera traps and passive acoustic sensors. Conservation Science & Practice, 3: e568. DOI: 10.1111/csp2.568
Stephenson, P.J. 2020. Technological advances in biodiversity monitoring: applicability, opportunities and challenges. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 45: 36-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2020.08.005
Stephenson, P.J., Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y. & Simaika, J.P. 2020. The use of traditional and modern tools for monitoring wetlands biodiversity in Africa: challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8: 61. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2020.00061
Stephenson, P.J. 2019. Integrating remote sensing into wildlife monitoring for conservation. Environmental Conservation, 46: 181-183. DOI: 10.1017/S0376892919000092.

Towards a nature-positive, actionable and measurable framework for voluntary biodiversity credits (2024-2025)

Aim: This project brings together experts from conservation biology and business management to answer the question: What enabling factors are necessary to ensure measurable and sustainable nature-positive impacts from Voluntary Biodiversity Credits (VBCs)? VBCs have been recognized as a key funding tool in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and represent an innovative source of funding in national biodiversity strategies and progressive environmental policies, but will only be able to work if it is clear how credits are defined, measured and monitored.
Project goal: By mid-2025, to deliver a draft framework designed to support businesses and other stakeholders in monitoring and evaluating VBCs. This will include a straightforward corporate guide to VBCs and relevant policy briefs, ensuring practical utility for companies navigating this evolving landscape. It is hoped lessons learned will be of broader use to the business community in monitoring biodiversity.
Main partners: University of Lausanne, IMD - International Institute for Management Development, Biodiversity Credit Alliance.
Main donor: Enterprise for Society Centre - E4S
Project implementation lead: PJ Stephenson.
Progress updates

The project started in early 2024 and runs until July 2025.
The UNIL and IMD teams have conducted a literature review and interviewed a suite of actors in the VBC market to compile a summary of issues.
In mid 2024, PJ Stephenson and his IMD counterpart, Adrian Dellecker, were appointed as co-chairs of the Biodiversity Credit Alliance Metrics ad Measurement Working Group ; the group is surveying the views of VBC actors as a precursor to developing guidance on monitoring and metrics.

Related links:

Project summary on S4S donor website.

Comparing species monitoring methods: a case study in South Africa (2023-2024)
Aim: To compare the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of two methods commonly used to monitor large mammals: transect walks and camera trapping. The project is being conducted by Clara Fraschini as part of her MSc.
Research questions: What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of using camera traps to monitor large mammal presence in a protected area compared with human transect observations? Which method is more cost effective (in terms of financial expenditure and labour time)? How do the findings in the study site compare for studies using the same techniques in other sites and habitats?
Main partners: Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Lausanne.
Main donor: UNIL studentship to Clara Fraschini.
Project implementation lead: Clara Fraschini (UNIL).
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson (project supervisor).
Progress updates

The field work was undertaken in South Africa in July-August 2023.
Clara successfully defended her thesis in March 2024.
She is now using her results to develop a paper for a peer-reviewed journal.

Clara Fraschini setting a camera trap in Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

A leopard caught on a camera trap in Mawana Game Reserve.

Improving capacity for protected area management in Ghana (2019-2024)

Aim: To enhance the conservation of forest, savanna and estuarine ecosystems in Ghana by improving capacity for evidence-based protected area management. We will develop and test species monitoring tools that meet local and global policy makers’ needs and train protected area managers and NGO staff, as well as developing university field courses for Ghanaian students.
Project goal: By December 2024, multi-taxa monitoring systems using the latest tools and technology are tracking the status of, and threats to, biodiversity in at least four protected forest and wetland sites in Ghana, creating the enabling conditions for evidence-based management and enhanced conservation impact.
Lead: Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research (formerly Centre for African Wetlands), University of Ghana.
Main partners: Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, local communities.
Main donor: Audemars-Watkins Foundation.
Project implementation lead: Kofi Amponsah-Mensah (CBCR).
Group members involved: Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, Kofi Amponsah-Mensah, Francesco Rovero, Pedro Cardoso, PJ Stephenson.
Progress updates:

Project start-up meeting held in Accra 30 January 2019. Partners from Ghanaian government agencies, NGOs & the University of Ghana discussed priorities for establishing biodiversity monitoring in the first two project sites (Shai Hills Resource Reserve and Songor Lagoon Ramsar site).
In Shai Hills, in September 2019 a camera-trapping system was set up to monitor vertebrates, and in October a scheme to monitor invertebrates such as spiders was also developed. Since then biodiversity data of use to reserve managers has been collected and analyzed.
For Songor, the project conducted a training workshop for the PA staff on water-bird identification, monitoring and habitat quality monitoring, and has been supporting regular waterbird censuses.
Project results were presented at the International Congress for Conservation Biology in December 2021.
In December 2021 the donor committed funding for a second phase which will expand the work to additional protected areas and additional monitoring methods.
The project is currently building capacity for monitoring in Songor Lagoon Ramsar Site, Shai Hills Resource Reserve, Ankasa/Nini Suhien Conservation Area, and Digya National Park.

Related links:

http://www.ug.edu.gh/africanwetlands/
A film of the camera trapping work in Shai Hills is available HERE.

Summer school participants developing a conservation project monitoring plan in 2023 Photos © PJ Stephenson

Biodiversity Monitoring and Reporting Frameworks for Business (2017-2021)

Aim: Many businesses strive for a net positive impact on the environment, but are struggling to find ways to plan and monitor their efforts. This project started by developing a proposed monitoring and reporting framework for the energy company Enel. It then moved on to work with Alcoa, Boskalis and Nespresso to develop recommendations on biodiversity strategies for each company and use the lessons in developing generic IUCN Guidelines for Planning and Monitoring Corporate Biodiversity Performance.
Project goal: By end 2021, at least three companies have biodiversity monitoring frameworks in place, providing data for environmental decision-making.
Main partners: IUCN Global Business & Biodiversity Programme, Alcoa, Boskalis, Enel, Fauna & Flora International, Nespresso, University of Oxford.
Main donors: Alcoa, Boskalis, Enel and Nespresso (to IUCN)
Project implementation leads: PJ Stephenson, Giulia Carbone (IUCN)
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson, Matt Walpole

Building Capacity for Monitoring Among Young Conservation Professionals (From 2022)

Aim: To provide young conservation professionals with opportunities to learn about biodiversity monitoring and develop skills in data collection, analysis and use.
Main partners: IUCN & University of Lausanne.
Progress updates:

In September 2022, PJ Stephenson taught 5 modules of the IUCN/UNIL Summer School on Transdisciplinary Nature Conservation attended by 12 young professionals from around the world.
The course included lectures on a diversity of monitoring issues, and practical sessions on camera trapping and developing a conservation project monitoring plan.
A repeat of the summer school course was held in June 2024 and attended by 14 students.

Related links:

The participants in 2022 produced a blog post of their experience which can be found HERE.

Students surveying birds and camera trapping mammals in 2024. (Photos PJ Stephenson)

© Jerome Duramy
Dr PJ Stephenson of the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group (right), working with Dr Guy Parker of Fauna & Flora International's business team, to assess biodiversity monitoring needs of an Enel power plant in Chile.

Progress updates:

In 2017, missions to Enel sites provided company-specific recommendations on improving planning, monitoring and reporting frameworks at site, national and corporate levels; these were presented to the company in 2018.
In 2018, we also worked with project partners to explore a) how best to roll out and scale up the work to include other companies, and b) how to define key corporate biodiversity indicators. This included a partners workshop on 7 September hosted by Oxford University, UK. This led to a paper on biodiversity indicator development for business performance management (Addison et al., 2020).
From 2019 to 2021, PJ Stephenson and Giulia Carbone of the IUCN Global Business & Biodiversity Programme worked with Nespresso and its partners to assess the company's current work relating to coffee certification and biodiversity. Missions to Brazil and Costa Rica in October and December 2019 respectively allowed us to visit farms and Nespresso partners. A report on recommended biodiversity goals and indicators for Nespresso was published in May 2021.
Between 2019 and 2021 we worked with the mining company Alcoa and the marine services company Boskalis to assess the relevance of the guidelines for other sectors and to provide bespoke guidance on biodiversity planning and monitoring. Reports and recommendations were submitted to both companies.
Taking account of lessons learned with Alcoa, Boskalis, Enel and Nespresso, draft IUCN Guidelines were released in August 2020 for public consultation. A revised version was then subjected to a formal IUCN peer review process in December 2020.
The final version of the Guidelines was published on 15 March 2021: Stephenson, P.J. & Carbone, G. 2021. Guidelines for Planning and Monitoring Corporate Biodiversity Performance. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2021.05.en.
The Guidelines were launched as part of the We Value Nature conference on 15 March 2021. Other communications on the publication include: Stephenson, P.J. & Carbone, G. 2021. New guidelines allow companies to plan and monitor biodiversity performance at the corporate level. Oryx, 55(4): 491-492.

Related links:

News item on the release of the corporate biodiversity guidelines on IUCN website.
News item on IUCN and Enel partnership on IUCN website.

© PJ Stephenson
Giulia Carbone of IUCN (right), co-author of the corporate biodiversity guidelines, discussing sustainable coffee production in Brazil with Guilherme Amado of Nespresso.

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Developing and Testing IUCN Green List Standards (2017-2021)

Aim: To enhance the value of IUCN "Green List" standards in monitoring biodiversity.
Project goal: By end 2021, the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas and the IUCN Green Status of Species enhance biodiversity monitoring and the use of data for conservation planning and decision-making.
Main partners: IUCN Global Protected Areas Programme, IUCN Species Conservation Success Task Force, and many others.
Donors include: BIOPAMA, National Geographic Society, Wildlife Insights.
Project implementation lead: Molly Grace (Oxford University).
Group members involved: Molly Grace, Tom Brooks, Louw Claassens, Barney Long, Marc Hockings, PJ Stephenson, Richard Young, with advice and input from Ariadne Angulo, Ian Burfield and others.

Progress updates:
Green Status of Species

Several Species Monitoring SG members were co-authors on a paper defining the IUCN Green List framework Quantifying species recovery and conservation success to develop an IUCN Green List of Species (Akçakaya et al 2018) and continue to participate in the IUCN Species Conservation Success Task Force as it develops the standard. A more recent paper involving the same authors explores how to assess indigenous species ranges, a key step in the Green Listing process (Stephenson et al., 2019).

Between June and August 2019 group Chair PJ Stephenson worked with SSC taxonomic experts to conduct IUCN Green List of Species assessments for 15 species (3 mammals, 3 birds, 3 amphibians, 2 fish, 2 insects and 2 trees) to test the tool and see how it could be used by a donor such as National Geographic to monitor project progress. Lessons learned will be used to improve the Green List of Species Standard and will be published in peer-reviewed journals.
In November 2019 several group members (PJ, Barney, Richard) participated in a meeting of the IUCN Species Conservation Success Task Force in Oxford, UK, to continue to adapt the Green List of Species standard, based on lessons learned to date. The standard was then shared as part of an online consultation at https://oxford.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/online-consultation-iucn-green-status. This included changing the tools name from Green List of Species to Green Status of Species.
The IUCN Green Status of Species Standard was approved by IUCN Council on 1 December 2020 and was published in 2021; it can be downloaded at: portals.iucn.org/library/node/49511

Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas

Marc Hockings has been a key player in the development of the Standard.
During the global workshop "Achieving Fair and Effective Protected Areas", convened by IUCN and JRC in June 2019 and supported by the EU-ACP funded BIOPAMA Programme, PJ Stephenson ran five one-hour sessions with participants to look specifically at monitoring. The sessions were designed to gain insights into the main challenges facing biodiversity monitoring in protected and conserved areas in participants’ countries, and some of the potential solutions and opportunities available to address them. The aim was to provide information from practitioners and managers that could inform the development of relevant guidelines and tools for monitoring conservation outcomes in protected areas, especially in the context of the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas Standard.
In December 2020, PJ provided input into monitoring sections of the Green list standard.

Related links:

An Inventory of Global Data Sources for Conservation Monitoring (2019-2022)

Aim: To identify and make publicly available a list of the main global databases of use in monitoring biodiversity.
Project goal: By December 2020, a database of global data sources of potential use in conservation monitoring is published and freely available, and updated regularly.
Main partner: Re:wild (formerly Global Wildlife Conservation).
Donors: Re:wild; Swiss Network for International Studies.
Project implementation lead: PJ Stephenson.
Group members and volunteers involved: PJ Stephenson, Carrie Stengel, Angela Ruiz de Paz.
Progress updates:

PJ worked with Carrie Stengel at GWC (now Re:wild) to conduct an inventory of global data sources, which was then published in a peer-reviewed journal: Stephenson, P.J. & Stengel, C. 2020. An inventory of biodiversity data sources for conservation monitoring. PLoS ONE, 15(12): e0242923.
The database was published on the Group's website on the Data Sources page where it will be maintained and regularly updated.
Updates have been launched regularly: Version 2.0 in 2022 and Version 3.0 in 2023. The database now includes 178 global data sources. Version 4.0 is expected in December 2024,
In 2023 an online data portal was developed to make the database more user friendly. This will also be revamped at the end of 2024.
An explanation of the Version 2.0 update is presented in the following paper, freely available online::
Stephenson, P.J., & Ruiz de Paz, A. 2022. New database enhances the accessibility of global biodiversity information for conservation monitoring. Oryx, 56(3): 329-330. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605322000205

Testing a New Tool to Facilitate Stakeholder Conversations (2018)

Aim: For any environmental management and monitoring systems to work, stakeholders need to be implicated from the outset. The Forest and Development Group at ETH Zürich developed a method to enhance the mutual understanding of key environmental issues. The method, called MineSet, uses role-playing to facilitate open discussions and develop consensus among diverse stakeholders. We facilitated a one-day workshop at IUCN HQ in September 2018 to test this method and evaluate its relevance and any adaptations needed before we apply it to protected areas.
Main partners: ETH Zürich (ForDev), IUCN Science & Economic Knowledge Unit, IUCN global programmes.
Project implementation lead: Claude Garica (ETH Zürich)
Group members involved: PJ Stephenson, Tom Brooks
Progress updates:

A workshop on 25 September 2018 in IUCN HQ, Gland, Switzerland, allowed IUCN staff to test MineSet.
The specialist group and ETH-Zürich developed a project concept with the IUCN Global Protected Areas Programme to test the method with marine protected areas in the Western Indian Ocean but this work was not funded.

Related links:

Paper: Games as tools to address conservation conflicts