The Forest Conservation Targeting Tool: Accessible spatial prioritization for Latin America and the Dominican Republic

Abstract

This paper describes the Forest Conservation Targeting Tool (FCTT), a webtool for systematic conservation planning in countries with limited data, technical capacity, and financial resources. Compared to other computational targeting tools, FCTT’s niche is defined by four features: it is accessible, in large part because all requisite data are on-board; it is tailored for planning forest conservation investments; it uses an intuitive conservation return-on-investment conceptual framework; and it is map-based. We describe the FCTT’s functions, analytical framework, on-board data and user interface, and we present examples of recent applications. Keywords: Systematic conservation planning, Forest conservation, Targeting, Software