Adaptability: As important in conservation organizations as it is in species

This chapter asks how organizations that society relies on to deliver biodiversity conservation perform in the face of rapid and unpredictable change. While much has been written about how species and ecosystems respond to environmental change, the same attention has not been given to how the human institutions charged with conserving species and ecosystems cope with change. The chapter examines nonprofit organizations active in conservation and how these organizations plan for and respond to changing economic conditions. On the one hand, empirical analyses show that conservation nonprofits are impacted less by major economic swings than might be feared. But on the other, the analyses also suggest conservation organizations could do much more to take a proactive approach to planning for and coping with change. The chapter concludes by reviewing what a more proactive approach to planning for changing conditions by conservation organizations would look like.