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Board of Directors Committees

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Conservation Activities Review Committee

This Conservation Activities Review Committee Charter was approved by the Governance, Nominating and Human Resources Committee and adopted by the Conservation Activities Review Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of The Nature Conservancy (the “Conservancy”) on October 21, 2006.

I. PURPOSE

The Conservation Activities Review Committee (the “Committee”) shall assist the Board in four primary areas with respect to the Conservancy’s conservation projects and activities:

1. Ensure that TNC Achieves its Key Conservation Priorities: Enable the Board to provide effective oversight of Conservancy conservation projects and activities to achieve key conservation priorities as defined by The Nature Conservancy’s mission, long-range goals, and best conservation practices;
2. Ensure that TNC has established appropriate and effective Systems, Policies and Procedures and Standards to govern its Conservation Activities: Monitor and assure that organizational systems are in place and are being implemented to ensure that TNC’s conservation projects and activities are achieving the organization’s conservation objectives, conform to the highest standards of integrity, meet the letter and spirit of the law, and, in coordination with the Board’s Finance Committee, assure that they are financially sound;
3. Provide Oversight and Risk Assessment of Transactions and Activities: Oversee conservation projects and activities being undertaken by the Conservancy to ensure that results are being achieved which advance the organization’s conservation priorities while assuring that reputational, legal, and financial risks are well managed; and work with the Audit Committee to ensure that Conservancy policies are appropriately monitored.
4. Evaluate Conservation Projects and Activities: to ensure effective review of conservation projects and activities requiring full Board approval.
5. Ensure Conservancy activities are informed by the best conservation science as determined by the Science Council.

II. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Evaluate conservation activities, strategies, and projects to insure that there is a potential for high conservation return on the investment of staff and volunteer time and financial resources;

   a. Ensure that there is a strong scientific basis for conservation projects, activities and strategies when initiated, and that, in the spirit of adaptive management, scientific assumptions are regularly reviewed and representative projects evaluated in a statistically sound way to assess the efficacy of The Nature Conservancy’s conservation efforts. The Committee will select for evaluation projects which represent a wide array of conservation strategies and approaches.

   b. Monitor and evaluate organization-based processes for conservation project and activity review to ensure that conservation projects and activities effectively achieve key conservation priorities as defined by The Nature Conservancy’s mission, long range goals and best conservation practices.

2. Provide oversight of conservation transactions and activities for:

   a. Conservation significance:

   • Contribution to the organization’s global conservation goals
   • Contribution to goals by ecoregion and habitat type
   • Other indicators

   b. Conservation results/impact:

   • At least annually, review roll-up of conservation activity by:
   • Operating Unit and/or Region
   • Project type (acquisition, government coop, conservation buyer, easement, management agreements, et al.)
   • Dollars expended; LPF debt; external funding being sought

   c. Conservation capacity:

   • Review OU and Regional capacity for conservation
   • “Credit-worthiness” – financial capacity by project and by program
   • Human capacity – conservation expertise/knowledge base, etc.

   d. Conservation innovation:

   • Review innovative conservation transactions to ensure that appropriate oversight is achieved and that the lessons learned are being institutionalized throughout the organization.

   e. Effective management of risks:

   • Committee will review and provide oversight for management-run processes to mitigate legal, financial and reputational risk.

    

3. Evaluate and provide preliminary review for projects and conservation activities requiring full Board approval:
   a. Committee will provide preliminary review of projects in excess of the relevant threshold amount for Board review prior to recommending them for approval by the Finance Committee and the full Board.
   b. Committee will review projects or activities that require Board approval because the project/activity presents a case of “first instance” or because of the potential for organizational or reputational risk.

    

4. The Committee will identify compelling examples of TNC’s conservation activity to bring to each meeting of the Board.
   a. Work with the Science Council to identify key issues for Board exploration.

 

For More Information about The Nature Conservancy’s Board of Directors:

• Common Language for Committee Charters
• The Nature Conservancy’s Board of Directors
• Board of Directors Charter of Governance Responsibilities
• Board of Directors Member Profiles
• Bylaws of The Nature Conservancy and Summary Articles of Incorporation