The Conservation Monitoring Effectiveness Techniques – COMET – is a collaborative learning project of the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that hosts field-proven, cost-effective monitoring methods on an openly sourced repository.

Why do we need COMET?

The conservation community has made huge advances in providing practitioners with vital guidance on a) rigorous, results-focused conservation planning, and b) evidence of what conservation actions in which contexts have proven effective. To advance further, this community needs: 1) publicly available sources of practical guidance to conservation practitioners on the most cost effective ways for gathering the information they need to assess their progress, to evaluate the effectiveness of their activities, and to adapt their actions, and 2) simple, clear guidance for conservation practitioners on how to understand and, where appropriate, integrate Indigenous and local knowledge and methods into monitoring programs. 

What COMET delivers

COMET is an open-source, curated repository of industry-standard, field-proven, site-based, cost-effective methods for monitoring trends in species populations, habitats, threats, natural resource governance, human well-being, and biocultural indicators, among others. COMET aims to enable conservation practitioners to generate the evidence they need to assess conservation progress over time. COMET also provides guidance and examples of how conservation practitioners can respectfully engage with Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous and local monitoring systems and, where appropriate, integrate those into conservation monitoring programs.

How does COMET work?

With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the COMET team has consulted with practitioners from more than 30 member organizations of the Conservation Measures Partnership, as well as other government agencies, companies, universities, NGOs, and Indigenous Peoples and local community organizations working on monitoring of conservation projects. For more detailed information on our data collection, methods, and other monitoring resources, please visit our Project Page.

COMET Gaps and Opportunities

During our data collection process, we were able to collect monitoring methods across key conservation focus areas, including:

- Biocultural

- Ecosystems type/sub-type

- Governance

- Habitat

- Human well-being

- Species

- Threats and pressures

Many gaps still exist in our repository (the details can be found in our report here). COMET is not a static repository, but is designed as a living, growing resource. Users are encouraged to upload and share their own methodologies, creating a dynamic global database built by and for conservation organizations. By enabling practitioners to contribute real-world tools and lessons learned, COMET fosters collaboration, transparency, and collective learning. If there is a monitoring method you think should be in the repository, please submit it here!

COMET is a Conservation Measures Partnership project. For any questions, please reach out to CMPinfo@conservationmeasures.org.