Abstract

Forests are under constant threat of deforestation and degradation, and may be slower to adapt to climate change then other taxa. Several governmental and global initiatives are aimed at slowing down and perhaps reversing those drivers and the negative impacts of these on biodiversity and ecosystem services. To be successful, answers to several key questions are needed: (i) are we protecting the right places? (ii) are protected areas future proof? (iii) are we doing enough to monitor existing policies? and (iv) can we harness innovative schemes and/or technology to improve conservation policy? In this talk, I will cover several studies exploring these questions, mostly in South America and West Africa. Together, these highlight the potential (but also perils) of new methods to process large data, especially coming from satellites, and the need to understand human behaviour in policy impact assessments.