Can we steward land to protect nature and meet human needs?

Plan FOR your priorities and Climate Change

The Problem

We face climate change and biodiversity crises. There is an urgent need to conserve and restore natural areas that are foundational to biodiversity, human well-being, and mitigating climate change. At the same time, there is competition for land between conservation goals and the need to meet future demands for food and energy production. Reconciling these demands on land is essential for mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity.

Most countries struggle to meet targets for conservation, food production, and energy production. This leaves policymakers with a Land Squeeze: land use needs may exceed the available land. This requires strategic allocation of land uses and more sustainable land management practices.

Our Response

SPARCLE supports regional and national decision-making by visualizing land use insights that address today’s challenges and future needs. Our approach is designed to inform sustainable land-use strategies that create long-lasting benefits for both people and nature.

We deliver tailored maps and analyses that:

  • Integrate the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, agriculture, and ecosystems.

  • Are customized to the conditions and priorities of each country or region.

  • Empower decision-makers to look ahead with plans that anticipate future demands.

  • Identify pathways that balance development and conservation. We lay out the benefits and trade-offs between these competing priorities.

Explore our Resources

  • Collaborations

    Unpack how SPARCLE works with field teams and university researchers

    Learn More

  • Why Integrated Spatial Planning

    Integrated Spatial Planning brings more than just maps to conservation practitioners

    Learn Why

  • Species on the Move

    Create your own priority areas to see where animals shift with climate change and where you can protect them

    Draw it

This map illustrates what the world could look like if we plan Land Uses to meet global conservation, agriculture, and energy goals-all at once. The SPARCLE model uses an optimization model to deliver these Land Use futures, helping us to:

  1. Meet Multiple Goals: The map shows how the globe can meet 87% of projected development needs set by SSP Scenarios—primarily food, biofuel, and renewable energy—while also protecting habitat for nearly all terrestrial species. However, in most countries, achieving proper biodiversity protection would require conserving more than the commonly cited 30% land target. Our team currently works to downscale these sorts of maps for Sub-Saharan Africa and individual countries.

  2. Future-Proof: We allocate these conservation areas and areas for agricultural development to match where species will be in the future and what lands will be suitable for crops and animal agriculture. That means we can designate land today and trust its utility for decades.

Multi-Sector SCenario

Balancing Conservation, Food, and Energy needs

We want to SPARCLE with our partners.

SPARCLE scientists are ready to work directly with government and NGO Decision-makers. If you'd like to build a Land Use Planning partnership, co-design analyses, or take part in a future workshop, please contact our Project Manager, Dylan, at Dglave@conservation.org