WCS staff, whether they work to protect an enormous landscape in the Congo Basin or on the captive breeding of a critically endangered species in the Central Park Zoo, face one central question: What strategy, or set of strategies, is likely to have the biggest impact on the wildlife that we’re trying to conserve, especially given our limited resources (e.g., time, money, people and expertise)? A core remit of Conservation Support is to help WCS staff answer this tough question by providing useful tools, training and access to great examples.

A strategy, simply defined, is a set of actions that a conservation project implements to reduce threats, capitalize on important opportunities and thus conserve wildlife and wild lands. Examples of strategies include building the capacity of local law enforcement, educating schoolchildren about wildlife, and developing alternative livelihood options such as ecotourism.

Conservation Support develops and disseminates tools that help projects to: 1) brainstorm and prioritize strategies (e.g., threats assessments, conceptual models, Miradi software); 2) prioritize where a project will need to work (e.g., Landscape Species Analysis, conservation area network design); 3) describe in a clear and logical fashion how their strategies will result in positive changes to both the threats to biodiversity and the biodiversity itself (using results chains and Miradi); and 4) monitor through time their progress toward meeting their objectives. We help WCS staff to learn about and to use these tools by: a) publishing technical manuals for independent learners; b) running short training workshops; c) offering interactive e-learning and remote mentoring sessions; and d) providing direct technical assistance to field projects. We also provide real-world examples of how these tools have been used by others.