Global Priority Setting
Clients: US-AID EGAT/NRM. For this project I developed an ArcView-based tool for ranking and
displaying areas according to their biological value. Unlike
optimization tools such as Marxan, the tool produces rankings of
two-dimensional areas (e.g. countries, ecoregions) in map and list
form. First, the users provide attributes (e.g. species richness and
endemism) and optional weights. The tool then calculates rankings by
arithmetic combination using a Euclidean distance measure.
This tool was recently used in two global biodiversity
priority-setting exercises. In the first case, WWF-US used the tool to
explore and evaluate ecoregions based on attributes such as species
richness, endemism, and degree of protection. A 2005-2006
reorganization of their global programs was informed, in part, by the
results of this exercise. In the second example, USAID recently used
the tool for a similar exercise to rank countries by biological value.
USAID is using the results to inform budgetary allocations for
biodiversity conservation. Publication on Ecoregions:
Olson D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D.,
Powell, G.V.N, Underwood, E.C., D'amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E.,
Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts, T.H., Kura Y.,
Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P. and Kassem, K.R. 2001.
Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth. BioScience 51:11 pp. 933-938.