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. The focus of this report is on tools that can be used for assessing ex post impacts – i.e. after commencement of intervention – whilst recognising that good project design incorporates social impact assessment activities from the outset. In this report, social impacts refers to the full range of economic, social, cultural, political, environmental and psychological impacts on people whose lives are connected in some way to the ecosystem, biodiversity or place in question, including but not confined to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.