Co-producing decision support tools for strategic conservation of Gulf Coast Landscapes

Co-producing decision support tools for strategic conservation of Gulf Coast Landscapes

Blog Article

The U.S.Gulf of Mexico Coastal Region encompasses a diverse suite of ecological and cultural characteristics unique to North America.There are unprecedented opportunities for land conservation in the region, but challenges associated with non-complimentary ecological and socioeconomic priorities and access to scientific data can complicate acquisition Trim / Bezel / Surrounds and stewardship decisions.Thus, land conservation decisions have often been made based on willing sellers and cost of acquisition, rather than scientifically informed and stakeholder-driven conservation priorities.

The Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes (SCA) project co-produced three land conservation decision Labels support tools with over 650 conservation stakeholders in the region to help inform strategic, science-based land conservation decisions.Stakeholders were included in the design and development of all three tools from project initiation through execution.Transparent and frequent communication, full-time coordination staff, and sequential stakeholder design charrettes were vital in building trust and facilitating bidirectional information flow among stakeholders and the SCA Team.The co-production process, stakeholders involved, outputs, and final outcomes are described herein.The result was a suite of decision support tools that inform strategic land conservation decisions.