# Presentation: 034869

## Conservation Planning in the Caribbean Using GIS-Based Modeling

- Steven R. Schill, Ph.D.
- Annette Huggins, Ph.D.
- Caribbean Ecoregional Plan
- The Nature Conservancy

## 	The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

**	****The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.**

**Notes:**
Portions of the assessment, or earlier versions of the assessment have been used for site conservation planning efforts in

As well as in Bocas del Polochic in Guatemala, Tariquia in Bolivia, and El Chaco in Paraguay.

## Conservation By Design

**Conservation By Design**

## Total land area:

**Total land area:**
- c. 240,000 km2
**Number of islands:** 115 + c. 3400 rocky islets and cays.
**Altitude:** -40 m (Lago de Enriquillo) to 3087 m (Pico Duarte)
**Population** (1991): 35,000,000
**Endemics:**
- Plants:  12000 species (58%)
- Mammals: 164 (30%)
- Birds: 668 (22%)
**Factors threatening biodiversity:**
- Volcanoes
- Hurricanes
- Mining and quarrying
- Air and water pollution
- Fire
- Agricultural development
- Tourism
- Invasive Species

## Addressing Multiple Scales

**Island Nation**
- Scale of island biogeographic processes
- Many threats and opportunities at national scale
- High Leverage

**Site**
- Site-scale threat abatement and conservation tactics
- Easier to demonstrate tangible & lasting outcomes

**Basin**
- Scale of marine systems and some threats
- Basin-wide conservation opportunities (policy, funding, international treaties)
- Potential for greatest leverage

- “Regional Analysis”
*Marine Systems*
*Lesser Antilles*
*Basin-wide threats*

- “Deep Analysis”
*Greater Antilles*
*(Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico)*

- MEASURES

**Notes:**
Caribbean is a world center for endemism and species richness

Birthplace of Conservation Science:  Theory of Island Biogeography

Both Hyper-Connected (Marine) and Hyper-Isolated (Terrestrial)

Conservation must match BOTH spatial scales (i.e. Island and Basin-wide)

Site scale actions should be consistent with the overall vision

## Deliverables

- Implement the latest GIS tools in conservation modeling for
- Ecological habitat selection      - socio-economic threat assessment
- connectivity and corridor analysis    - MARXAN portfolio selection
- Assemble the most comprehensive Caribbean-wide GIS database ever compiled and host it on a central FTP server in standardized directory structure
- Maintain GIS metadata standards and communication for effective dissemination
- Develop strong working relationships with local partners to promote conservation (i.e. training, local support, etc.)

## FTP Data Directory

*Bathymetry*
*Biological*
*Climate*
*Connectivity*
*Demography*
*DRG*
*Geology*
*Hydrology*
*Imagery*

*Infrastructure*
*Land_cover*
*Marxan*
*Political*
*Protected_Areas*
*Socio-Economic*
*Soils*
*Targets*
*Topography*

## GIS FTP Site

*ftp://ftp.tnc.org*
- Username: *cerp*
- Password: *cerppassword*
- 140 GB of space

## Population density

- Agricultural activity
- Urban development
- Fishing activity
- Land-based pollution
- Marine-based pollution
- Tourism
- Hydrologic flow accumulation
- Sedimentation

## Slide 10

## Slide 11

## Slide 12

## Slide 13

## Slide 14

## Slide 15

## Target currently represented at 37.89% of goal

## Modeling of Regional Terrestrial Habitats

- Major Habitat Types

- GeoCover LC

- Combined Product

##    Where does Leeward Island Moist Forest Occur?

-    Where does Leeward Island Moist Forest Occur?

##    How much of Leeward Island Moist Forest is Protected?

## Is property worth purchase?

- 880 hectares: Would contribute 10% towards protected status

- Total hectares that exists: 26,616
- Target goal for Protection: 8,757
- Current protected status would go from 37.89% to 47.9%
- (3,318 protected hectares to 4,198 hectares)

## Slide 21

## The MARXAN algorithm:Objective Function

- The MARXAN algorithm:*Objective Function*

**Or in plain language,**
**Total Portfolio Cost**** = **
**(cost of selected sites) + **
**	****(penalty cost for not meeting conservation goals) + **
**	****	****(cost of spatial distribution of the selected sites).**

**The algorithm attempts to minimize the total cost of a portfolio:**

## Slide 23

## Top Threatened Beaches

## Slide 25

## Questions?

*Email: sschill@tnc.org*