About Actions

Introduction

A conservation action or intervention is anything you might do to manage, protect, enhance or restore wildlife or ecosystems. Actions include types of habitat or species management, methods of species or site protection, methods of controlling invasive species, species reintroduction, captive breeding, legislation, and education programmes.

Comprehensive lists of actions are produced in partnership with the relevant advisory board (see methods 'Identifying actions') for each species group or habitat. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Conservation Actions Classification Scheme provides an overview of possible types of actions.

For each action, we have summarised documented evidence about its effectiveness (see here for details of study inclusion).

Action pages contain brief (150-200 word) descriptions of each study that we found testing the action (context, action(s) taken and their consequences). Each page also has a set of key messages that provide a descriptive index to the studies summarised. Using links within key messages, you can look at the summaries describing each study to get more detail and assess the quality of the evidence and how relevant it is to your situation. Study locations can also be viewed on the map provided.

The documented evidence summarised for each action has also been assessed by a panel of experts to determine how effective the action is. For more details see What Works in Conservation.

Where we found no documented evidence, we have been unable to assess whether or not an action is effective or has any harmful impacts.

Search for actions

Simply search for your species, habitat type 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 studies that test whether each action is effective (or not). Search using the search box at the top of each page or using the Advanced search.

What Works 2021 cover

What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

More about What Works in Conservation

Download free PDF or purchase
The Conservation Evidence Journal

The Conservation Evidence Journal

An online, free to publish in, open-access journal publishing results from research and projects that test the effectiveness of conservation actions.

Read the latest volume: Volume 21

Go to the CE Journal

Discover more on our blog

Our blog contains the latest news and updates from the Conservation Evidence team, the Conservation Evidence Journal, and our global partners in evidence-based conservation.


Who uses Conservation Evidence?

Meet some of the evidence champions

Endangered Landscape ProgrammeRed List Champion - Arc Kent Wildlife Trust The Rufford Foundation Save the Frogs - Ghana Mauritian Wildlife Supporting Conservation Leaders
Sustainability Dashboard National Biodiversity Network Frog Life The international journey of Conservation - Oryx Cool Farm Alliance UNEP AWFA Bat Conservation InternationalPeople trust for endangered species Vincet Wildlife Trust