1 Introduction

Welcome to Discover Conservation, a new open-access peer-review journal from Springer Nature. The journal aims to offer valuable insights into the latest advancements in conservation science from around the world. Our mission is to promote sustainable management practices and equitable conservation policy programs for the long-term preservation and restoration of biological diversity and intact natural ecosystems.

In recent decades, the negative effects of unsustainable practices on the natural environment and human society have become clear, leading to identification of responsible management strategies and establishment of more ambitious conservation goals. For example, the goal of designating 30% of the globe as protected area by 2030 (known as ‘30 by 30’) became a target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022. Such goals recognise that conservation involves more than just protecting individual species or habitats; it also connects with sustainable development, environmental care, and human health. Thus, while conservation targets must aim to reduce threats to biodiversity through new tools and solutions, they must also meet people's needs through sustainable use of resources and benefit-sharing. Conservation science has become a central field as we work toward protecting ecosystems and preserving biodiversity for future generations.

Discover Conservation aims to be a resource for researchers, policy makers and the general public for recent advances in conservation science, and its uses in research development and society. As a fully open access journal, we ensure that our research is highly discoverable and instantly available globally to everyone. The journal particularly welcomes work that aims to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially Life on Land, Life below Water, Sustainable Cities and Communities; Climate Action; and Clean Water and Sanitation.

We invite you to be part of this exciting journey by submitting your research, reviews, and perspectives to Discover Conservation. Readers can look forward to regular insights into the latest advances in conservation science from around the world. Together, we can explore new conservation horizons, advance our understanding of environmental preservation, and pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future.

2 Topics

Discover Conservation welcomes work from across the huge range of topics that compose contemporary conservation science. This includes work on protected areas, whether large expanses of intact forest ecosystems or smaller nature reserves, to understand how they are best protected and managed to ensure long-term benefits are maximized. It includes work on sustaining multifunctional landscapes in which traditional human activities have played a role in maintaining or enhancing biodiversity. On restoring biodiversity and ecosystem function to ecologically impoverished regions, whether terrestrial, aquatic or marine. On incentivising conservation actions through policy programs such as payments for ecosystem services, including evaluating their effectiveness and additionality. On managing trade-offs and synergies associated with conservation actions, whether human-wildlife conflict and ensuring livelihoods on the borders of protected areas or seeking ways of balancing agricultural productivity versus biodiversity net gain and seeking climate mitigation co-benefits in developed economies. The work needed to hit our conservation targets is wide-ranging, and thus so are the topics the journal will cover.

But furthermore, new tools and methods will be needed, across issues such as improved monitoring and measurement of actions, investment strategies, benefit sharing and management approaches. Not all tools and methods will be appropriate in all locations. Understanding variations in initiatives and their effectiveness around the world is vital so that what works in one region might be applied (or avoided) in another. Thus, papers suitable for Discover Conservation will also explain advances in theory and methodology, report on novel and relevant case studies and applications, and describe new research data sets and outputs.

Below we list topics of interest grouped by section area, but emphasize that work may cut across these groupings and that the list is not exhaustive.

Conservation biology:

  • Biodiversity monitoring and assessment

  • Endangered species recovery plans

  • Ecological restoration and habitat management

  • Effects of climate change on biodiversity

Conservation technologies and methodologies:

  • Remote sensing in conservation

  • GIS applications in habitat mapping

  • Advanced tracking and telemetry

  • DNA barcoding and species identification

Socioeconomic and cultural aspects of conservation:

  • Community-based conservation

  • Conservation and indigenous rights

  • Economic valuation of ecosystems

  • Human-wildlife conflict and coexistence

Marine and freshwater conservation:

  • Coral reef protection and restoration

  • Sustainable fisheries management

  • Wetland conservation and restoration

  • Aquatic invasive species management

Landscape and ecosystem conservation:

  • Protected area management and design

  • Ecosystem-based conservation strategies

  • Urban conservation and green infrastructure

  • Landscape connectivity and wildlife corridors

Conservation policies and governance:

  • International conservation agreements and treaties

  • Conservation law and enforcement

  • Role of NGOs in conservation advocacy

  • Local and regional conservation strategies

Education and outreach in conservation:

  • Conservation awareness campaigns

  • Environmental education curricula

  • Community engagement in conservation projects

  • Role of media in shaping conservation narratives

3 EBM and section editors

Discover Conservation has established an Editorial Board, composed of a cross-section of well-known experts from various relevant domains, to guide the development of the journal, including suggestions for Topical Collections, review articles, invited articles, and editorials. Section Editors and Editorial Board Members are tasked with executing the journal’s vision and transforming its goals into thoughtful, relevant and impactful peer-reviewed published works, working with subject expert reviewers.

The colleagues listed on the website below are part of this editorial effort:

https://link.springer.com/journal/44353/editors

4 Invitation to contribute

Discover Conservation welcomes submissions of original research, brief communications, comprehensive reviews, perspectives, case studies, and data notes, which cover any aspect of conservation science. You will find further detail about these article types, including length and format, in the submission guidelines on the journal website. Additionally, the journal will feature Topical Collections on emerging and pertinent conservation science issues. If you have questions or queries about your possible submission, don’t hesitate to contact Associate Editor Rachel Hu.