The Nature Conservancy’s Contribution to the IABIN Ecosystem Thematic Network Steven R. Schill, PhD Senior Geospatial Scientist Mesoamerica & Caribbean Program The Nature Conservancy

Organizational Capacity 450 offices in 32 countries Protection of –120 million acres –5,000 miles of river –100+ marine conservation projects Global Initiatives in Forests, Freshwater, Marine, Climate Change, Invasive Species, Fire Expansion of Conservation Information Systems (CIS)

TNC’s 2015 Goal By 2015, The Nature Conservancy will work with others to ensure the effective conservation of places that represent at least 10% of every Major Habitat Type on Earth.

2006: Started in SE. Africa 9 Conservation Regions – 7 in the Americas

GLOBAL BIOGEOG REALM MHT ECOREGION LOCAL SITE DATA SCALE REGION GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OPERATING UNITS ANALYSIS Region Mexico CENTRAL AMERICA CARIBBEAN EXTERNAL Regional Unrestricted Data Clearinghouse (Panama) Each level responsible for their respective SCALE: Data gathering, Data standardization (metadata), Data upload to server Identification of regional data PARTNERS to share burden of network infrastructure and data dissemination System is DYNAMIC so that it is continually ingesting new data as it becomes available Global Coordinator Senior Geospatial Scientist OU GIS Analysts Data Manager Geospatial Scientists STAFF INFORMATION FLOW PUBLIC INTERNET (Search Nodes) DATA COLLECTION STANDARDIZATION DISSEMINATION INTERNAL Regional Complete Data Clearinghouse (Costa Rica) TNC INTRANET FIELD OFFICES Worldwide Office

Ecoregional Assessments Expert/Partner driven: Targets (Biodiversity) Threats Protected areas Conservation portfolio Strategies to abate threats

Terrestrial Marine Freshwater Habitat Mapping

Geodatabase Structure Bathymetry Climate Freshwater features Geology Imagery Infrastructure Land cover Marine Features Models Political Protected Areas Socioeconomic Soils Targets (Terrestrial, Freshwater, Marine) Terrestrial Features Topography TopoMaps Geodatabases (with FGDC metadata) Caribbean Region Lesser Antilles Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Bahamas Jamaica St. Vincent & the Grenadines Grenada Haiti

Mesoamerica/Caribbean ECOREGION ASSESSMENT STATUS ENVIRONMENTSREALMMHT ECO- REGION ERA COMPL ERA IN PROG ERA NOT STARTED TERRESTRIAL FRESHWATER MARINE TOTAL

Ecoregional Roll-Up 1. Spatial correction and inventory of ERA datasets 2. Identify the minimum attribute fields and create data model 3. Standardize targets/threats based on common taxonomy 4. Integrate and roll-up all terrestrial ERAs into one seamless region-wide product

REALMMAJOR HABITAT TYPE COUNTRYSITE NEOTROPICAL FOREST HISPANIOLA PINE FOREST DOMINICAN REPUBLIC LOWER MONTANE RAIN EXTRUSIVE FOREST FINE FILTER HABITATS and SPECIES OCCURRENCES Ecoregional Roll-Up

Raw Data: Major Habitat Type MHT Intersected with Remaining “Natural Areas” Ecoregional Roll-Up Moist Dry Mangroves/ Marine

Ecoregional Roll-Up

Ecological Roll Up

Level 1: Habitat Realm Level 2: Major Habitat Type Level 3: Ecosystems Level 4: Fine Filter Habitats Marine Shelf Reef Habitat Fore Reef Inter-tidal Reef Flat Reef Flat Shallow Terrace Shoal Shelf Structure Outer Slope Shelf Slope Seagrass Lagoonal Habitat Lagoon Terrace Nearshore Enclosed Lagoon Rocky Shore Beaches White Sand Beach Black Sand Beach Leatherback Nesting Sites Hawksbill Nesting Sites Mangroves

GEODATABASE Data Model Boundaries Assessment Units Conservation Targets Suitability Index Marxan Files Portfolio Solutions Verification Data Threat Information Relationship Class Access Queries 1.Relates spatial features to each other 2.Features defined by their qualities in context with other features 3.Features are dynamic 4.Multiple user editing

Assessing Effective Conservation

ElementsBiodiversity Viability Status Threats Status Conservation Management Status Effective Conservation Future Threat Scenarios Criteria Size Condition Landscape Context (RBI, NDVI, Metrics, Optimization Models) Scope Severity (Impact and spatial extent) Tenure, Intent (IUCN) Capacity Very High High Fair Poor Vulnerability (climate change, invasives, fire, development, accessibility, conversion to agriculture, grazing pressure, NDVI change) Assessment of Effective Conservation

Mapping the Status of Effective Conservation

Use of ERA Products and Geodatabases Support to identify data gaps ESRI partnership (software/consulting) Assistance with classification cross-walk Help with development of data standards and data sharing through external portal (free access) Capacity building (e.g. training in methods/tools) Efforts that Support ETN