Systematic conservation prioritization using Marxan and Zonation algorithms across six West African countries, integrating biodiversity, threat, and feasibility layers.
Explore Methodology →Anonymous Conservation Organization — West Africa Priority Mapping Initiative
Spatial prioritization across 6 West African countries to identify conservation areas maximizing biodiversity representation while minimizing land-use conflict.
Conservation resources are finite. Systematic spatial analysis identifies where protection yields the greatest biodiversity return per unit investment.
Biodiversity occurrence data is sparse and unevenly distributed across West Africa, requiring careful gap-filling and spatial interpolation.
Agricultural expansion, mining concessions, and urban development overlap with high-biodiversity areas, creating complex trade-offs.
Priority maps must be defensible to government agencies, local communities, and international donors. Transparency is essential.
Our workflow follows the systematic conservation planning framework (Margules & Pressey, 2000), adapted for West African data availability.
Species occurrence data from GBIF, IUCN Red List range maps, forest cover from Hansen GFW, and elevation from SRTM.
All layers projected to WGS84 / UTM zones, resampled to 1 km resolution, and normalized to 0-1 range for compatibility.
Species representation evaluated against existing protected areas; representation gaps identified for endemic and threatened taxa.
Spatial prioritization algorithms run with biodiversity features, cost layers, and boundary length modifiers for compact solutions.
Workshops with national forestry services, NGOs, and community representatives to validate and refine priority area boundaries.
Final priority maps, sensitivity analysis, and scenario comparisons delivered as QGIS projects, GeoPDFs, and web services.
Interactive D3.js stacked bar chart showing conservation priority scores decomposed by biodiversity value, threat level, and feasibility across six West African countries.
Figure 1: Stacked conservation priority scores by country. Higher values indicate greater urgency for protection, driven by endemic species richness, deforestation pressure, and current protection gap.
Three.js interactive terrain model of West Africa showing priority conservation areas overlaid on elevation and topographic features.
Figure 2: 3D elevation model of West African priority conservation regions. Colored rings indicate priority conservation areas; terrain color encodes elevation from coastal lowlands to Guinea Highlands.
Our systematic conservation planning approach is grounded in foundational and contemporary literature in conservation biology and spatial ecology.
Margules, C.R. & Pressey, R.L. (2000). "Systematic conservation planning." Nature, 405(6783), 243-253.
DOI: 10.1038/35012251Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B., & Kent, J. (2000). "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities." Nature, 403(6772), 853-858.
DOI: 10.1038/35002501Moilanen, A., Wilson, K.A., & Possingham, H.P. (2009). Spatial Conservation Prioritization: Quantitative Methods and Computational Tools. Oxford University Press.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199547776.001.0001