Esri Conservation Program

The Esri Conservation Program (ECP) is a non-profit grant program set up by Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute) of Redlands, CA. The company makes the ArcGIS (ArcInfo) suite of GIS software.



ECP began informal operations in 1989. The first grants were made to the Sierra Club Ancient Forest task force and the Wilderness Society. The following year the program grew to 10 grants, including to groups in Zambia, India, Costa Rica and England.

The program was formally launched in 1991 as the Esri Conservation Users Special Interest Group. It was renamed the following year and adopted as a formal Esri program. In 1997, Esri helped found the Society for Conservation Geographic Information Systems, which aims to assist conservationists worldwide in using GIS through communication, networking, scholarships, and training. Esri continues to support the society's growth and development.

According to the ECP web site: ECP has helped to create and develop spatial analysis, computer mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) capability among thousands of non-profit organizations and individual projects of all sizes and types worldwide. Esri founder and president Jack Dangermond adds further on the web site: In 1989 we started the Esri Conservation Program to help change the way nonprofit organizations carried out their missions of nature conservation and social change. This vision involved providing GIS software, data, and training, as well as helping to coordinate multiorganizational efforts...In a small way our contributions provide a bridge between technology, science, and social responsibility.

Objectives
According to the ESRI Conservation Program Statement, "The overall goal of the ECP is to support conservation groups in acquiring, learning, and using GIS tools and methods. ECP has a particular focus on appropriate levels of technology for locally sustainable programs. Its goal is not to throw out one-off donations into a vacuum with no forethought, but to build permanent, locally based support structures that provide ongoing evolutionary growth in GIS skills."

The program aims to identify and support people who are actively working on conservation programs at the local level, rather than inventing technical solutions. Its objective is to, "Put GIS training, support, and tools into the hands of locally based conservation groups worldwide (and) form partnerships with international and globally based conservation organizations for GIS technical assistance, global database design, development, and distribution."



Supported Projects
Among the projects and organizations ECP supported during its early years are:

World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, England. WCMC is a joint project of the World Wildlife Fund, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and is the world's largest repository of conservation data. WCMC is the compiler and publisher of the Red Data Books, the principal authority on endangered species and their current status.

The Tropical Rain Forest Atlas. A multinational, multiyear effort in collaboration with UNEP and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). A database of computerized maps of tropical forests is also being prepared in association with this atlas.

A computerized world Biodiversity Map Library. ECP provided consultations, advice, and review on the Map Library Project in which ESRI's top database design experts donated their time to review and contribute to the database design proposals comprising the map library.

Antarctica Database. WCMC conducted a joint venture with Esri to publish the Antarctica Digital Database, a two-year compilation program by WCMC, the British Antarctica Survey, Scott Polar Research Center, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. GIS Database of Wetlands.

Sierra Biodiversity Institute, which used a GIS and satellite data to map out remaining ancient forest stands in the California Sierra. This is a locally based program that has been successful in changing National Forest Service policy through the use of local knowledge presented as maps developed on ARC/INFO.

The Wilderness Society, which is carrying out ancient forest mapping in Washington, Oregon, and northern California. It also lobbies extensively in Washington, D.C., for protection of wilderness areas and critical ecosystems throughout the USA.

The Ecumenical Center for Documentation and Information (CEDI), which has been involved in defending the rights of the indigenous peoples of Brazil. They use a GIS to map out native lands in Amazonia in order to protect them from incursion and to help the native Amazonians manage these lands.

The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) which is developing a GIS model linking microclimate and biodiversity as a tool for identifying critical habitats and predicting the potential effects of global warming.

The program has provided varying levels of aid to 'thousands' of groups worldwide.

Recent Programs
Among recent programs supported by ECP is the Web Mapping for Conservation Program. It involves building of collaborative maps and sharing applications online by a small group of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and web development firms that focus on NGOs. Another is the Conservation Template Project, which is a research project to support effective conservation GIS work in an online environment. According to the ECP web site, its aim is to: 1. Extend GIS capabilities to conservationists who don't own GIS software. 2. Define valid online equivalents of typical desktop Conservation GIS workflows. 3. Develop and coordinate useful tools and standards that support online conservation GIS work. 4. Minimize impact on existing conservation web developers by focusing only on very basic online tools that are already publicly available.

The Esri Local Schools and Youth Program combines the expertise of the Esri Education Program with the grants and citizen science support of the ECP. Schools in many parts of the world suffer from resource shortage, poor access to technology, and declining support for geography education. The program facilitates technology grants to schools, helps set up after-school programs such as GIS clubs, and helps support geography and technology education in local schools.

The program usually selects schools in areas where Esri offices are located. Recent examples include donations of computers, a lecture about census mapping to elementary school students, and assisting in the creation of a GIS-enabled curriculum for 9th grade students at a Redlands, CA, high school.