We produce insights that transform the way the world thinks about, values and manages biodiversity. By bringing together producers of knowledge with consumers of knowledge, we enable research leading to use-inspired solutions.
Because biodiversity is all-encompassing, many of our projects address topics in public health, business practices and economic development, policy and governance, climate change and adaptation, food systems, social and behavioral change, public values, water management, as well as urban, marine and Sonoran biodiversity, among other topics.
We study ourselves to improve the efficacy and application of our actionable science model, serving as a scalable model that other organizations can tailor and implement around the world.
We approach research through the following three main focal areas from which initiatives derive, often overlapping one another (for example, the development and implementation of a sustainable fisheries decision-making tool involves all three):
Evidence, metrics and monitoring
Generating empirical support for measuring impact and evaluating outcomes, training and capacity building for what evidence is and how to use it.
Decision science and data tools
Creating tools to support evidence-based decisions, working with decision-makers on defining needs for knowledge and decision-making structures (e.g. engaging with businesses) and research into how to translate knowledge into action.
Stakeholder engagement
Connecting students and faculty with strategic partners, decision-makers and practitioners.
Current projects
Actionable Science, Boundary Organizing and Co-production of Biodiversity Outcomes
Our goal through this project is to gain a better understanding of the determinants of actionable science in conservation. While there has been exponential growth in conservation research, much of this science fails to be translated into practice and policy. Numerous solutions have been proposed to bridge this knowledge-action gap, yet it persists.
Amazon Indigenous Peoples
This project is part of an initiative titled “Language for Sustainability: Sustaining biodiversity and biocultures,” sponsored by the Global Consortium for Sustainability Outcomes.
Bayer
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is working with Bayer to develop a decision-making tool to enable them to estimate the range of potential operational, reputational, legal and regulatory risks associated with compliance with the U. S. Endangered Species Act.
Big Data and Biodiversity
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is partnering with the ASU Biodiversity Knowledge Integration Center to integrate big data in biodiversity decision-making.
Biodiversity Assessment
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is involved with a variety of activities and opportunities designed to advance the mutual biodiversity goals of the Center and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Collaborative Governance
Arizona State University researchers working on this Center for Biodiversity Outcomes sponsored project collaborate with Future Earth’s Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society to collect and analyze data from local stakeholders on the collaborative governance process for stewardship and use of ecosystems.
Conservation Solutions Lab
The Conservation Solutions Lab employs an evidence-driven interdisciplinary approach to bring knowledge of what works to conservation and development practitioners to advance effective and equitable engagement of communities in conservation programs. CSL is a collaborative initiative led by a unique partnership between the Arizona State University Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and Chemonics International.
Corporate Decision-Making Tool for Water Use
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and Earth Genome have developed a decision-support tool called the Green Infrastructure Support Tool. GIST has been designed to assist corporate decision-making about sustainable water use.
Decision Tool for Biodiversity Conservation Assessment
This recently established relationship between funding and biodiversity outcomes offers a new opportunity to develop a predictive tool for understanding the impacts of alternative investment strategies for biodiversity losses in the future.
Diversity and Inclusion in the Pipeline into Higher Education in Conservation
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is developing programs that provide basic literacy in the environment and ecological sustainability, with a particular focus on engaging underserved youth.
Electric Power Research Institute
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is developing a decision-making tool to enable the Electric Power Research Institute to estimate the range of potential operational, reputational, legal and regulatory risks associated with compliance with the U. S. Endangered Species Act.
Fisheries Supply Management
This project seeks to organize a community of practice, comprised of human rights and fisheries experts and practitioners, to catalyze the systematic integration of social responsibility into seafood supply chains.
Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes partnered with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES, an independent intergovernmental body established in 2012 by the United Nations’ over 130 member States. Its goal is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services, for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
Health Implications of Consuming Fish from Phoenix Area Stock Ponds
Arizona State University faculty and student researchers and citizen scientists took part in a study investigating the health implications of eating fish from stock ponds around the Phoenix metropolitan area. According to the research, fish from these sources contained contaminants such as pesticides, arsenic, aluminum, mercury and other chemicals exceeding levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Impact of Microplastics on Human Health and the Environment
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes project leads are working to address the threat to marine and freshwater species and to human health, posed by the ingestion of microplastics and associated contaminants.
Mainstreaming Biodiversity in the Business Sector
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is working with several partners to bring together biodiversity data from multiple sources and create new methods to integrate the data into corporate decision-making.
Monitoring Indicators
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes has participated in a number of workshops aimed at improving the development and use of monitoring indicators for businesses interested in biodiversity.
Natural Capital Protocol for Biodiversity
Business impacts and depends on biodiversity, either directly through its operations or indirectly through supply chains. Measuring and valuing these impacts and dependencies can help to understand and uncover some potentially unseen business risks and opportunities. The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is leading a project to develop a biodiversity supplement for the Natural Capital Protocol.
Natural Capital Protocol for the Oceans
The Natural Capital Protocol for the Oceans will be a framework to help businesses answer questions such as: How does your business depend upon ocean resources? How is this ocean natural capital changing and what risks and opportunities does this present? Which resources, information or expertise do you need?
Plastic Pollution Emissions Working Group
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is a member of the Plastic Pollution Emissions Working Group. PlasticPEG, who is supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, is developing a global model that will estimate the efficacy of varying marine plastic pollution intervention strategies.
Structured Decision-making and the Endangered Species Act
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is collaborating with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to facilitate a structured decision-making process to address the resource challenges involved in the protection and recovery of endangered species.
Tackling Rhino Poaching in South Africa
In summer 2017, a group from ASU traveled to South Africa to launch the development of a visualization and data technology project to prevent poaching in game reserves. In addition to visiting project co-partner the University of Johannesburg, they traveled to Kruger National Park and adjacent private reserves.
The Role Natural Capital Plays in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Arizona State University researchers working on this Center for Biodiversity Outcomes sponsored project collaborate with Conservation International to advance research on the contribution of natural capital to global conservation development objectives and ways to mainstream these contributions in policy and practice.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes has partnered with the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a tool to compare different funding allocation strategies for actions to recover endangered species. This tool is called the Endangered Species Recovery Explorer. This work was motivated, in part, by recognition from USFWS of past critiques of its recovery allocation process.
Whales and Ecotourism in Panama
The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is working with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to assess the physiological impacts that whale watching may be having on humpback whales and the socio-economic impacts of the industry on the local community in Panama.
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