Demystifying ecological connectivity for actionable spatial conservation planning

There is a disconnect between global high-level conservation goals and on-the-ground actions such as maintaining ecosystem services or persistence and local planning of protected areas.

Dynamic processes such as ecological connectivity underpin species persistence and ecosystem resilience but are difficult to represent in mathematical spatial planning problems for protected areas.

Quantitative and SMART (specific – measurable – action-oriented – realistic – time-bound) conservation objectives can provide a link between high-level conservation goals and local or regional design and implementation of functionally connected protected area networks.

With current implementation gaps of protected area commitments and increasing climate change threats, there is tremendous opportunity to use quantifiable objectives for ecological connectivity as a vehicle to future-proof protected area networks to help achieve global conservation goals.

Connectivity underpins the persistence of life; it needs to inform biodiversity conservation decisions. Yet, when prioritising conservation areas and developing actions, connectivity is not being operationalised in spatial planning. The challenge is the translation of flows associated with connectivity into conservation objectives that lead to actions. Connectivity is nebulous, it can be abstract and mean different things to different people, making it difficult to include in conservation problems. Here, we show how connectivity can be included in mathematically defining conservation planning objectives. We provide a path forward for linking connectivity to high-level conservation goals, such as increasing species’ persistence. We propose ways to design spatial management areas that gain biodiversity benefit from connectivity.