Review of methods for assessing the social impacts of conservation

This report first reviews the available methods, tools and approaches that have been designed to assess and document the social impacts of conservation interventions, and second, offers guidance for practitioners on good practice for designing studies and facilitating processes for such assessments. Adherence to good practices and mainstreaming of robust and informative social impact assessments within conservation decision making are important to support progress towards better and more equitable governance. High quality, integrated social impact assessments are also a potentially crucial pathway to enhance accountability for social standards in conservation, particularly in the context of the rapid expansion of conservation initiatives that has been enshrined in the Global Biodiversity Framework targets for 2030.