Measuring the long-term impact of a conservation funding program

A conservation funder wanted to understand the impact of the projects they'd supported. We looked back across their portfolio and a decade of projects to find out.

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500K+ ha
Protected lands in the program
50
Properties sampled for review
10+ years
Of conservation investment evaluated
01

The challenge

After more than a decade of funding conservation projects across the country, the organization wanted to understand whether their investments had actually delivered lasting outcomes. They weren't required to monitor on a regular cadence, but they wanted evidence that the lands they helped protect had maintained their conservation commitment over time.

02

The program

The agency engaged Upstream Tech to monitor on its behalf. We selected a random sample of properties from across the portfolio and reviewed each one from the time of initial protection to the present — looking for both human impacts, like new roads, infrastructure, or vegetation removal, and natural changes like shifts in hydrology or vegetation cover. The work combined expert imagery analysis, annotation, and report generation with imagery tasking and project management.

03

The outcome

We delivered a per-property report outlining observed changes, plus a portfolio-level summary across the full sample. That evidence gave the funder a clear picture of their program's long-term success rate. We proved out which properties had maintained their conservation values, where conservation outcomes had eroded, and where further attention was warranted.

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Tracking conservation outcomes with Environment and Climate Change Canada

Learn more about how we worked with Environment and Climate Change Canada to verify the long-term outcomes of a billion-dollar conservation program.

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Could this fit your work?

Tell us about your land and your team. We'll come back with a scoped proposal.

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