About
Conservation Evidence is a free, authoritative information resource designed to support decisions about how to maintain and restore global biodiversity. We summarise evidence from the scientific literature about the effects of conservation interventions such as methods of habitat or species management. We also publish new evidence in our online journal Conservation Evidence.
Our ongoing review process extracts evidence continually from important conservation journals (such as Conservation Biology, Biological Conservation, Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Oryx) and from systematic reviews published by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence. We also trawl more specialist journals and unpublished literature to focus on particular species groups or habitats. At present we are working through the back contents of 25 major journals and developing synopses of evidence on reptile conservation, amphibian conservation, forest conservation, enhancing natural pest control, sustainable aquaculture and European farmland.
The idea is to give conservationists easy access to the latest and most relevant knowledge to support their conservation policy or management decisions. Simply search for your species, habitat or issue of interest. Our site will present you with a list of possible actions you could take, along with a plain English summary of the available evidence for whether each one is effective (or not).
We do not make recommendations. This is because it is difficult to give evidence-based conservation advice that is appropriate for every context. Instead, we provide evidence to be interpreted by conservationists who understand their own site and national or regional situation.
Conservation Evidence is based at the University of Cambridge, UK, with collaborators and advisers in all continents of the world. The project was conceived and is led by Professor William J. Sutherland.
Conservation Evidence has received funding from the British Ecological Society, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and Arcadia.