Achieve Conservation Outcomes Research Articles

The influence of conservation policies and legislations on communities in Tanzania

Benefit-sharing mechanisms have been instrumental in securing the support of local communities living on the edge of protected areas, and in resolving human-wildlife conflicts. Understanding how current conservation policies influence benefit-sharing and the management of human-wildlife conflicts is vital for designing strong mechanisms to achieve both conservation and ethical community outcomes. Here we examined how benefit-sharing and human-wildlife conflicts are acknowledged and addressed within the current conservation policies (wildlife policies, legislations, regulations and strategic plans) using the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem (GSE) as a case study. The fourteen policies focusing primarily on wildlife conservation in Tanzania are analysed. We also drew on the findings of three studies conducted during 2021 and 2022 documenting community interactions with wildlife and adjacent protected areas. These studies covered the types of benefit provided by various conservation institutions to local communities, the effectiveness of benefit-sharing mechanisms, and the conservation-related losses incurred by communities. The study uncovered a wide range of benefits provided to local communities in the form of social amenities, livelihood support and employment. However, the losses and costs experienced are far greater than these benefits. Integrating these findings with policy analysis, we identified that the main limitations reducing the impacts of benefits in motivating positive conservation behaviours to be: losses of livestock and crops were more than four times the value of benefits/compensation offered to communities; a lack of details and clarity of benefit-sharing mechanisms; benefit/conservation rates that have not been indexed against inflation and; shortcomings in implementation. To achieve conservation outcomes, we recommend revising the conservation policies and legislation across the country in collaboration with local communities who experience the impacts of conservation in their day-to-day life. We also propose a coordinated approach for all conservation institutions managing wildlife to address widespread human-wildlife conflicts across the country effectively and to achieve better conservation outcomes rather than leaving that task to a single organization (i.e. Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority).

Worlds of Meaning at the Edge of Extinction: Conservation Behaviour and the Environmental Humanities

We are living in the midst of a period of mass extinction. All around us, diverse species of animals and plants are disappearing, often largely unnoticed. However, this is also a period in which, on a daily basis, new and fascinating insights into animal life are emerging as we come to appreciate more about their remarkable perceptual, cognitive, social, and emotional lives. This article explores this strange juxtaposition of loss and knowledge-making and the many challenges and possibilities that it gives rise to. It focuses on the emerging field of Conservation Behaviour in which researchers are seeking to modify or manipulate animal behaviours to achieve conservation outcomes: for example, teaching lizards not to eat toxic prey, or birds to utilise a safer migratory route. The article seeks to bring this approach to conservation into dialogue with work in environmental humanities, including the emerging paradigm of conservation humanities. The article outlines an interdisciplinary environmental humanities approach to conservation behaviour, grounded in work in multispecies studies and philosophical ethology. It then explores four broad thematic areas—agency, identity, ethics, and loss—in which the dialogue between these two fields might prove to be particularly, and mutually, enriching.

Turtles in trouble. Conservation ecology and priorities for Australian freshwater turtles

AbstractThe Australian freshwater turtle fauna is dominated by species in the family Chelidae. The extant fauna comprises a series of distinct lineages, each of considerable antiquity, relicts of a more extensive and perhaps diverse fauna that existed when wetter climes prevailed. Several phylogenetically distinctive species are restricted to single, often small, drainage basins, which presents challenges for their conservation. Specific threats include water resource development, which alters the magnitude, frequency, and timing of flows and converts lentic to lotic habitat via dams and weirs, fragmentation of habitat, sedimentation, nutrification, and a reduction in the frequency and extent of floodplain flooding. Drainage of wetlands and altered land use are of particular concern for some species that are now very restricted in range and critically endangered. The introduced European red fox is a devastatingly efficient predator of turtle nests and can have a major impact on recruitment. In the north, species such as the northern snake‐necked turtle are heavily depredated by feral pigs. Other invasive animals and aquatic weeds dramatically alter freshwater habitats, with consequential impacts on freshwater turtles. Novel pathogens such as viruses have brought at least one species to the brink of extinction. Species that routinely migrate across land are impacted by structural simplification of habitat, reduction in availability of terrestrial refugia, fencing (including conservation fencing), and in some areas, by high levels of road mortality. We report on the listing process and challenges for listing freshwater turtles under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, summarize the state of knowledge relevant to listing decisions, identify the key threatening processes impacting turtles, and identify key knowledge gaps that impede the setting of priorities. We also focus on how to best incorporate First Nations Knowledge into decisions on listing and discuss opportunities to engage Indigenous communities in on‐ground work to achieve conservation outcomes.

Restoptr: an R package for ecological restoration planning

Ecological restoration is essential to curb the decline of biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide. Since the resources available for restoration are limited, restoration efforts must be cost‐effective to achieve conservation outcomes. Although decision support tools are available to aid in the design of protected areas, little progress has been made to provide such tools for restoration efforts. Here, we introduce therestoptrR package, a decision support tool designed to identify priority areas for ecological restoration. It uses constraint programming—an artificial intelligence technique—to identify optimal plans given ecological and socioeconomic constraints. Critically, it can identify strategic locations to enhance connectivity and reduce fragmentation across a broader landscape using complex landscape metrics. We illustrate its usage with a case study in New Caledonia. By applying this tool, we identified priority areas for restoration that could reverse forest fragmentation induced by mining activities in a specific area. We also found that relatively small investments could deliver large returns to restore connectivity. TherestoptrR package is a free and open‐source decision support tool available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (https://cran.r-project.org/package=restoptr).

Characteristics of immersive citizen science experiences that drive conservation engagement

Abstract The biodiversity crisis poses a real and present global threat to humanity. The acceleration of species and ecosystem decline coupled with climate change suggests that as it stands, nature cannot absorb the pressure humanity is placing on the planet. Bold new approaches to biodiversity conservation are needed. Promoting an engaged community is an important part of achieving conservation outcomes. Research shows that citizen science has the potential to elicit conservation engagement. However, research has not specifically explored how intensive citizen science expedition programs contribute to change. Here we use transformative learning theory as a tool to investigate how participation in citizen science programs influences conservation engagement. We analysed evaluation surveys of Earthwatch Institute citizen science participants (N = 608) and conducted in‐depth interviews (N = 11), to examine the links between citizen science experiences and engagement outcomes. We discovered that while nature‐based components of citizen science programs attract participants and create a salient environment for transformation, these are not objectively associated with engagement outcomes. Strengthened awareness was associated with learning, social interactions and cultural experiences, whereas intentions to engage in conservation action was only influenced by experiencing a sense of contribution. Rather than focusing only on learning and nature experiences, our results suggest that the elements of citizen science programs which support social change may require allowing participants to develop a sense of contribution amid an interactive social environment. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Sustainable harvest training in a common pool resource setting in the Peruvian Amazon: Limitations and opportunities

Many organizations provide sustainable resource management workshops in the Peruvian Amazon. Some teach climbing techniques to communities who harvest wild Mauritia flexuosa palm fruit because most harvest is done by cutting down adult female palms. The objectives of this study were to describe the approaches and identify the factors and conditions linked to adopting sustainable harvesting practices and explain what conditions may be necessary for achieving conservation outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 474 heads of households in 24 communities, as well as focus groups with community leadership in each community. Project managers from 15 organizations that provide workshops and two instructors that teach climbing workshops were also interviewed. Analysis relied on the design principles of common pool resources and research on enabling conditions, which predict that certain contextual factors may be required for the establishment of effective resource management. We find no evidence that training workshop participation led to long-term behavior change absent institutional changes such as the establishment of informal but enforced individual spatial property rights. However, there is strong community adoption of climbing practices in areas where these enforced property rights are coupled with provision of climbing equipment and training. Lessons learned from this project explore characteristics of successful workshops, providing insights for effective conservation. We suggest adopting a diagnostics step to evaluate existing community conditions, a formal plan for collaboration among organizations, emphasis on broader institutional reforms to alleviate conservation disincentives related to non-exclusivity, and impact evaluation to assess strategies.

Understanding citizen scientists’ willingness to invest in, and advocate for, conservation

Citizen science (CS) can be an effective means for achieving conservation outcomes while also generating a range of benefits to participants. According to functionalist theory, similar activities may serve distinct psychological functions in different people. To understand how benefits are generated, we must, therefore, gain insight into citizen scientists' motivations. A question that has yet to be addressed, is the extent to which motivations and perceived benefits may affect participants' engagement and productivity. We surveyed participants in a diverse range of CS programmes in the South-east of England using a modification of the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI). We then linked variation in motivations and perceived benefits to participant-specific project outputs (effort and time invested) and outcomes (willingness to advocate for the cause).Citizen scientists were most motivated by personally held values and by the opportunity to engage with nature. However, the relative importance of the various motivators differed significantly between programmes. Participants most commonly reported altruistic benefits, e.g. contributing to community needs. The strongest drivers of personal investment appeared to be social motivations and the desire to learn or share knowledge. Those motivated by personally held values and by knowledge were also more likely to advocate.The modified VFI offers a nuanced understanding of citizen scientists' motivations and lays the foundation for an evidence-based approach to designing, implementing and evaluating CS. However, the study offers but a snapshot, and longitudinal studies will be crucial to capture the dynamic relationship between motivations, benefits and the factors that drive engagement and retention.

Advancing marine conservation through ecological connectivity: Building better connections for better protection

The incorporation of ecological connectivity, the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth, into protected area design and management is critical to achieving conservation outcomes. However, the understanding and implementation of ecological connectivity in marine protected areas (MPAs) lags behind that of their terrestrial counterparts. Here, we highlight the important role of ecological connectivity in the design and management of MPA networks through an introduction to marine connectivity and the challenges and benefits of incorporating it into management. The paper also provides guidance for policy and practice, including “rules of thumb” for incorporating connectivity into MPA design and management, and case studies. MPA managers have the potential to increase the effectiveness, adaptability, and resilience of the resources under their stewardship through the purposeful incorporation of ecological connectivity into MPA design and management.

The use of state‐and‐transition models in assessing management success

AbstractState‐and‐transition models (STM) are valuable tools that aid understanding and management of ecosystems. There also is potential for STMs to be used as a framework to assess whether management actions are achieving desired conservation objectives. However, few published examples exist where STMs have been used in this way. Using high‐quality empirical field data collected in endangered temperate woodlands across a 6‐year period, we explore whether a Box Gum Grassy Woodland STM employed in an Australian agri‐environment scheme can be used to assess whether management interventions are achieving an improvement in woodland Condition State. We found there was insufficient contextual information in the STM to facilitate its robust use as a framework for assessing whether management interventions were achieving conservation outcomes in Box Gum Grassy Woodlands. Weather was a key driver influencing management effectiveness, but its effects were absent from the STM, as were probabilities and time frames for transitions between Condition States. The deficiencies in the STM may preclude accurate conclusions about the effectiveness of the program. Given the influence of weather on the system, longer time frames are required to adequately assess the influence of management on key variables (e.g., native plant richness, native ground cover) underpinning the STM. This case study provides opportunities to understand the potential implications of using insufficiently contextualized STMs as frameworks for assessing whether management actions are achieving desired conservation objectives. It also provides opportunities to learn from what went wrong. To this end, based on our findings, we provide practical recommendations (applicable beyond our case study system) for improving the construction and implementation of STMs for the purposes of evaluating the success of management interventions in ecological restoration and conservation programs.

Unpacking the perceived benefits and costs of integrating gender into conservation projects: voices of conservation field practitioners

AbstractMany in the conservation sphere have noted that robust and gender-equitable stakeholder engagement is crucial in achieving conservation outcomes, ensuring project sustainability and supporting human well-being. However, despite policies, international agreements and increasing requirements of donors, gender is still often viewed as an add-on rather than as a fundamental element of effective conservation. In an effort to overcome this, Conservation International has invested in nearly 20 project sites since 2014 to support targeted gender integration into existing conservation projects. We conducted a survey with practitioners across these sites to examine the barriers to and enablers of gender integration, and practitioners’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges involved in this. Our findings demonstrate the importance of both external drivers (funding requirements) and a supportive environment (capacity building, technical and financial support) in incentivising a focus on gender. Respondents also reported a suite of benefits (e.g. increased participation, higher quality of the project) and costs (mainly financial) related to gender integration. In documenting these efforts to build gender-related capacity, and the associated benefits and challenges, we highlight the importance of gender-responsive conservation initiatives, and evaluate a method of achieving this. As conservation practitioners may be more inclined to listen to each other (given their shared objectives) rather than to gender specialists, this research can help to shift practitioner dialogue and conservation practice to be more open and responsive to gender.

Stakeholder influence and relationships inform engagement strategies in marine conservation

ABSTRACT Many current marine conservation approaches do not adequately consider the diverse social elements and human aspects necessary to achieve conservation outcomes. The results of conservation research are therefore not always useful for conservation managers to apply in practice. To address this gap, this study combines qualitative methods and quantitative social network analysis to help conservation managers gain in-depth insight into social elements of marine conservation and opportunities that can help achieve conservation outcomes. Specifically, using the North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program as a case study, our analysis shows that 1) a stakeholder’s position in the turtle conservation network is not the sole or best indicator of their leadership potential to achieve conservation outcomes, 2) peripheral stakeholders are also important for trust, decision-making, and future success, 3) mixed-methods can identify additional opportunities to maintain and further build trust and influence between diverse stakeholders 4) building relationships to support conservation outcomes is accomplished by leveraging stakeholders’ roles in the conservation program. By identifying who has influence and who needs to be involved in marine conservation to achieve success, this study demonstrates the value of mixed-methods research approaches. Specifically, our findings show how social network approaches can help conservation managers and stakeholders strategically build communication and engagement strategies that can be used to achieve conservation outcomes.

Applying a jurisdictional approach to support sustainable seafood

AbstractEnsuring the security of ocean ecosystems that provide food and livelihood benefits from seafood systems requires significant investment in improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture production at scale. Seafood certification and ratings systems have established strong benchmarks for sustainability, but markets need to incentivize sustainability throughout the value chain and at relevant ecological scales in order to generate meaningful conservation impacts and support lasting on‐the‐water stewardship efforts. Here, we propose that market‐based approaches and ecosystem‐based governance initiatives can be integrated to improve the sustainability of seafood production systems using a jurisdictional approach. Jurisdictional approaches are place‐based initiatives deployed in key commodity producing regions to drive sustainability through aligned incentives among government, market, and producer actors. To explore the applicability of this approach in seafood, we first identify key mismatches in existing certification and ratings schemes that stymie the effectiveness of market‐based approaches to drive ecosystem‐scale impacts. Subsequently we identify the differentiated incentives for sustainability among producers, supply chain companies, and governments—drawing evidence from research and practice. Based on this analysis, we review the potential for jurisdictional approaches to align actors' incentives for sustainability at the scale of entire production geographies, bringing market‐based approaches and governance improvements together to achieve conservation outcomes.

Managing gardens for wildlife: Features that predict mammal presence and abundance in gardens vary seasonally

AbstractResidential gardens in urban areas offer substantial opportunities for biodiversity conservation. To realize this opportunity, a comprehensive understanding of which species prosper in gardens, which mechanisms promote their use of these green spaces and how these mechanisms can be manipulated by residents to achieve conservation outcomes, is needed. While substantial progress has been made in evaluating the mechanisms that influence the diversity, presence, and abundance of wildlife in gardens, how these mechanisms vary seasonally is largely unknown. This study investigated whether the garden features influencing the presence and/or abundance of arboreal, flying, and ground‐dwelling mammals in gardens varied seasonally using acoustic, trapping, and spotlighting surveys undertaken in four consecutive seasons (2018/19) in 52 gardens in southwestern Australia. As animal behavior and resource availability varies seasonally, we predicted that garden features influencing the presence and abundance of mammals in gardens would also vary seasonally. For arboreal and ground‐dwelling mammals, we found that some garden features (e.g., canopy cover and presence of dogs, respectively) were important in more than one season; however, none were important in all seasons with most only being influential in one. No garden features predicted the presence of flying mammals in more than one season. Our results suggest that sampling in a single or few seasons may fail to identify features influencing wildlife at times other than in the season of sampling, or alternatively, may overemphasize factors that do not operate across all seasons. Studies that consider the mechanisms on a seasonal basis will provide a more comprehensive list of features influencing the presence and abundance of animals in gardens. We suggest it is both those features that support wildlife in multiple or all seasons, and those that support critical life‐history events in a single season that could contribute to conservation if manipulated by residents appropriately.

Can PA Governance Improve PA Outcomes: A Review of the Debates

Governance in the management of biodiversity conservation serves to provide people, particularly vulnerable human societies with opportunities for livelihood, recreation and renewal, water, food, clear air, the genetic potential of wild species, cultural values and visitor opportunities to nature sites. The paper explores protected area governance processes and structures, particularly; the link between improved governance and improved PA outputs. The main components of protected area (PA) governance (including legitimacy and voice, direction, performance, fairness and accountability) in respect to linking PA governance and improved PA outcomes were examined. The paper explores the content analysis methodology to examine the link between PA governance and PA outcomes from the perspective of management effectiveness. Content analysis is a useful tool for exploring issues such as PA governance and outcomes from the perspective of the qualitative content analysis to interpret the symbolic construction of meanings. The content analysis applied both quantitatively and qualitatively approaches to systematically analyze written, verbal or visual documentation to provide a better understanding of issues relating to PA governance and how it relates to PA outcomes. Content analysis was used to develop frames from the extant literature. The results were used to make inferences about the key issues and conclusions raised in the literature under broad frameworks developed from the categorization of the content in the extant literature. The paper identified that the application of effective PA governance is critical to achieving conservation outcomes. Good PA governance that complements PA outcomes works best when factors including the coherence of rules and decision-making processes, proper networks are built, and decentralization works and is fully backed by relevant institutional reforms. Good PA governance that complements PA outcomes works best when factors including the coherence of rules and decision-making processes, proper networks are built, and decentralization works and is fully backed by relevant institutional reforms.

Social-psychological correlates of personal-sphere and diffusion behavior for wildscape gardening

Achieving conservation outcomes requires concerted engagement from many people across diverse societies. However, many conservation practitioners struggle to engage new audiences. Research suggests one effective strategy to reach nonengaged individuals is to encourage interested conservation actors to share information, provide resources and assistance, and organize local events to recruit others; we call these “diffusion behaviors.” Previous studies suggest few conservation actors who engage in personal-sphere PEB also engage in diffusion PEB, potentially because these behaviors have unique barriers which have yet to be identified. We investigated if there are different psychosocial drivers of diffusion and personal-sphere PEB by surveying residents in Colorado, USA about their personal-sphere wildscape behaviors (e.g. planting native plants) and diffusion wildscape behaviors (e.g. helping a friend plant native plants). Including diffusion-specific psychosocial variables led to better predictions of both personal-sphere and diffusion PEB. Diffusion-specific self-efficacy, social and environmental response efficacy, and reputational concerns about perceived competence were significant predictors of diffusion behavior. Diffusion-specific environmental response efficacy and injunctive norms enforced through sanctioning significantly predicted personal-sphere behavior. Personal-sphere self-efficacy and dynamic norm beliefs predicted both behavior types. Our findings suggest that research should consider personal-sphere and diffusion PEB as distinct domains and should investigate the power of diffusion-specific perceptions. Conservation outreach programs seeking to encourage diffusion of PEB may benefit from designing programming to try to change these perceptions.

Transdisciplinary science for improved conservation outcomes

SummaryMajor advances in biology and ecology have sharpened our understanding of what the goals of biodiversity conservation might be, but less progress has been made on how to achieve conservation in the complex, multi-sectoral world of human affairs. The failure to deliver conservation outcomes is especially severe in the rapidly changing landscapes of tropical low-income countries. We describe five techniques we have used to complement and strengthen long-term attempts to achieve conservation outcomes in the landscapes and seascapes of such regions; these are complex social-ecological systems shaped by interactions between biological, ecological and physical features mediated by the actions of people. Conservation outcomes occur as a result of human decisions and the governance arrangements that guide change. However, much conservation science in these countries is not rooted in a deep understanding of how these social-ecological systems work and what really determines the behaviour of the people whose decisions shape the future of landscapes. We describe five scientific practices that we have found to be effective in building relationships with actors in landscapes and influencing their behaviour in ways that reconcile conservation and development. We have used open-ended inductive enquiry, theories of change, simulation models, network analysis and multi-criteria analysis. These techniques are all widely known and well tested, but seldom figure in externally funded conservation projects. We have used these techniques to complement and strengthen existing interventions of international conservation agencies. These five techniques have proven effective in achieving deeper understanding of context, engagement with all stakeholders, negotiation of shared goals and continuous learning and adaptation.

A gendered ecosystem services approach to identify novel and locally-relevant strategies for jointly improving food security, nutrition, and conservation in the Barotse Floodplain

ABSTRACT Multiple lines of evidence call for the use of locally-relevant strategies to guide and support sustainable agricultural intensification while improving development and conservation outcomes. The goal of this study was to identify the ecosystem services from natural and agricultural systems to achieve this aim in the Barotse Floodplain of Zambia. Our methodology utilized a gender-sensitive ecosystem services approach, whereby local knowledge from women and men was harnessed to understand which services and their sources are important. In addition, we identified the various constraints and options people encounter for developing sustainable and nutritious agriculture while achieving conservation outcomes. The results of our study indicate that the floodplain provides a broad range of ecosystem services, which are important for securing local livelihoods and wellbeing. The forests in the uplands and the grasslands in the plains are the primary sources of the 17 provisioning and regulating ecosystem services assessed. Nonetheless, both are often converted to agriculture due to their high soil fertility. We identified opportunities and challenges for sustainable agricultural intensification and development in areas with lower conservation concerns. We discussed the constraints and limitations for promoting sustainable and inclusive agriculture in those areas.

Opportunities for improving conservation early warning and alert systems

AbstractConservation early warning and alert systems (CEAS) provide tremendous opportunities to inform strategic and effective environmental responses. However, these systems are not systematically evaluated based on how they are contributing to conservation outcomes. We survey the current state of systems enabled by satellite monitoring to support tropical forest management and highlight their recent proliferation and the sparse evaluations of these systems in terms of user adoption and application for improving conservation decisions. To guide practitioners, funders and policymakers to choose the appropriate tool for the application, we distinguish two types of CEAS, Rapid Response and Targeted Response, characterized by the user application and the timeframe for decision‐making. These tools are distinct from monitoring tools used for policy and planning which require routine, high‐accuracy and quantifiable estimates of land cover change. We see a need for more systematic evaluations quantifying their environmental and socioeconomic benefits and improved indicators measuring progress toward achieving conservation outcomes. To inform system developers, we summarize best practices for increasing system adoption and use gleaned from seasoned applications of early warning and alert systems for conservation and humanitarian applications. Engaging diverse stakeholders, building permanent capacity, increasing accessibility and interpretability of the information, and communicating the information value to decision‐makers help root these systems into decision‐making processes. Incorporating local knowledge and on‐the‐ground monitoring information from stakeholders can improve alert accuracy while respectfully honoring local knowledge and garnering stakeholder trust in the systems. Strengthening cross‐institutional networks, building political support, and allocating adequate resources empower decision‐makers to act upon the information. Addressing today’s urgent conservation challenges requires linking accessible, trusted and effective CEAS to empowered people taking conservation actions.

Underprotected Marine Protected Areas in a Global Biodiversity Hotspot

Summary Ocean health is critical for human well-being but is threatened by multiple stressors. Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to protect 10% of their waters by 2020. The scientific evidence supporting the use of marine protected areas (MPAs) to conserve biodiversity stems primarily from knowledge on fully protected areas, but most of what is being established is partially protected. Here, we assess the protection levels of the 1,062 Mediterranean MPAs. While 6.01% of the Mediterranean is covered by protection, 95% of this area shows no difference between the regulations imposed inside the MPAs compared with those outside. Full and high levels of protection, the most effective for biodiversity conservation, represent only 0.23% of the basin and are unevenly distributed across political boundaries and eco-regions. Our current efforts are insufficient at managing human uses of nature at sea, and protection levels should be increased to deliver tangible benefits for biodiversity conservation.

Reconciling Tourism Development and Conservation Outcomes Through Marine Spatial Planning for a Saudi Giga-Project in the Red Sea (The Red Sea Project, Vision 2030)

.The Red Sea Project (TRSP) is a development that extends over 28,000 km2 along the shores of the Red Sea that will progress to become a sustainable luxury tourism destination on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The destination incorporates the Al Wajh lagoon, a pristine 2,081 km2 area that includes 92 islands with valuable habitats (coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves) and species of global conservation importance. The Red Sea Development Company, responsible for the execution of TRSP, has committed to achieve a net-positive impact on biodiversity while developing the site for sustainable tourism. This requires reaching conservation outcomes superior to those of a “business as usual” scenario for an undeveloped site. After careful optimization of the development plans to explore every opportunity to avoid impacts, we applied Marine Spatial Planning to optimize the conservation of the Al Wajh lagoon in the presence of development. We subsequently tested five conservation scenarios (excluding and including development) using Marxan, a suite of tools designed to identify priority areas for protection on the basis of prescribed conservation objectives. We succeeded in creating a three-layer conservation zoning achieving conservation outcomes as those possible in the “business as usual” scenario. Subsequently, we designed additional actions to remove existing pressures and generate net positive conservation outcomes. The results demonstrate that careful design and planning could potentially allow coastal development to enhance, rather than jeopardize, conservation.