The Science of Strategic Conservation

Billions have been spent on land conservation but too little attention had been paid to how cost-effective these investments have been. With budgets increasingly constrained, conservationists must learn to fully harness their funds to protect critical resources. Messer and Allen are pioneers in making conservation selection more successful, cost-effective, scientific, and transparent. This book introduces powerful mathematical tools available for project selection, using real-life examples and a practical step-by-step approach. Readers can readily apply these methods to their own work, accomplishing more with less by combining the individual benefits of structured decision-making, mathematical programming, and an understanding of market forces and human behavior. The authors highlight tools from conservation science, mathematics, land use planning and behavioral economics, showing how they can be combined to help protect key environmental resources. This is an invaluable volume for all students, professionals and stakeholders associated with conservation programs.

Kent D. Messer is the Unidel H. Cosgrove Chair at the University of Delaware, and co-director of the National Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research. His work applies economics and behavioral science to problems at the nexus of environmental and agricultural challenges.

William L. Allen, III manages strategic conservation planning services including green infrastructure plans, data-driven decision support, and tactical conservation guidance as part of The Conservation Fund. Will serves as co-editor-in-chief and managing editor of the Journal of Conservation Planning and was a co-founder of the Society for Conservation GIS.