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Impact Evaluation Working Group

The Society for Conservation Biology’s Impact Evaluation Working Group (SCB IEWG) advances biodiversity conservation efforts across the globe by working towards the adoption of counterfactual approaches to understanding the social and ecological impacts of conservation interventions.

What are counterfactual approaches?

Counterfactuals are comparisons between groups that have received a potential benefit from a policy or program with those that have not. The goal of counterfactuals is to measure the real outcomes (both social and ecological) of conservation interventions. For example:

1. Do payments to landowners to protect forest on their land lead to reductions in deforestation when compared to areas where landowners did not receive payments?

2. Do protected areas reduce land conversion when compared to comparable unprotected areas?

3. Do social marketing campaigns reduce human pressure on rare and endanged species?

Find out more about these and other examples in our reading list!

Get Involved

Join team Counterfactual!

Follow us on Twitter @idoimpact (#teamcounterfactual)

Request to join the ImpactEval Listserv

Find out about our activities and resources

For more information about the Working Group, please contact Tanya O'Garra or Edwin Pynegar