The secret to The Nature Conservancy’s success is science. Rigorous research guides all that we do. But what does that mean?

Everywhere the Conservancy works, in every part of the world, we start by assembling data on biodiversity, threats and ecosystem health. Then we can focus our efforts where they are needed most and can do the most good. We call it Conservation by Design.

One of our most ambitious assessment and planning efforts to date is underway in China. We are working with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection to create a mammoth conservation “blueprint” that is helping us and our partners set priorities and create large-scale action plans.

The Blueprint project encompasses a high-level Nationwide Assessment of priority conservation areas and two in-depth assessments — the Upper Yangtze River Basin and the Sichuan Province. The Blueprint consists of:

• A comprehensive set of scientific maps of the country’s important biodiversity
• Advising the government on creating action plans for priority regions
• Extensive databases for monitoring biodiversity health; information that is used to select and refine strategies to get the best results
• Information the government needs to redesign and expand China’s nature reserve system to ensure it is effectively conserving biodiversity

Download the national assessment report from the Blueprint Project.

By contributing our experience and scientific expertise to the Blueprint project, the Conservancy is helping accelerate conservation in China and direct attention to the most biologically significant and threatened lands and waters — resources that support millions of people and some of the planet’s most spectacular plants and animals.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Jerry Chen Jie/TNC (TNC staff working in the field, Shangri-La, Yunnan, China); Photo © Long Yongcheng/TNC (Naxi women in planning meeting, Lijiang county, Yunnan, China).