What is Integrated Conservation and Development?

Establishing protected areas and conservation projects should help solve, not increase, problems for the less fortunate. Integrated conservation and development projects are based on the belief that to be effective, conservation efforts should deliver benefits to local people. As a supporting partner within the BirdLife network, Nature Canada has been working with partners in the Americas since 1999 on integrated conservation and development (ICD) projects.

Successful conservation activities in low-income countries require a balance between conservation objectives and local needs—social and economic. And to be sustainable, economic and political development must conserve natural resources, including wildlife and wild lands.

ICD projects traditionally focus on developing countries because the majority of the world's threatened biodiversity occurs in the developing world, as shown by the map below (red indicates the highest numbers of threatened species). These biodiversity hotspots also coincide with areas containing the highest levels of poverty.

Nature Canada participates in ICD projects in Paraguayand the Caribbean; previous projects were also done in Panama and Mexico and Paraguay. This work is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).