Benetech and CMP Release Miradi 3.0

New Release of Conservation Software Improves Biodiversity Planning and Analysis of Impact on Human Welfare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Ann Harrison
415-637-5262
ann.h@benetech.org

April 7, 2010, Palo Alto, CA – Benetech^® and the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) have released Miradi 3.0, an enhanced and expanded version of the user-friendly software that allows nature conservation practitioners to design, manage, monitor, and learn from their projects.

Miradi 3.0 incorporates a new work planning interface that allows users to forecast expenses and create project budgets to more effectively meet their conservation goals. The new release also helps environmental planners evaluate the impact of their conservation measures on the welfare of human communities inside and around their project areas.

Miradi is already used by over 2000 conservation practitioners in more than 100 countries to plan and implement their work. The Miradi software helps conservation teams develop conceptual models for their projects, rank threats to targeted species and assess the effectiveness of their strategies. Miradi 3.0 guides users through a series of step-by-step interview wizards based on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, a framework for implementing common concepts and terminology in conservation project design, management, and monitoring.

Miradi 3.0 is a joint venture between Benetech and CMP, a consortium of global conservation organizations committed to improving the practice of conservation. Built with input from users around the world, Miradi 3.0 allows practitioners to export project data to donor reports and supports the creation of a future central repository of shared conservation data.

Miradi is now being used by conservation planners from Sweden and Norway to develop management plans for the Swedish Kosterhavet Marine National Park and the Ytre Hvaler National Park in Norway which share the same marine area. According to Anita Tullrot, a marine biologist and assistant director of the Kosterhavet Marine National Park, Miradi supported the inclusion of planning input from local fishermen, local inhabitants, tourism advocates, conservation scientists and local, county and national officials.

Tullrot says Miradi helped her share this information with planners from the neighboring Ytre Hvaler national park in Norway, developing a set of common goals and objectives to protect biodiversity in both parks. “Thanks to Miradi we are working very closely together,” says Tullrot. “I will continue to use Miradi in managing Kosterhavet because Miradi is very structured and gives us a good overview of the project.”

"I am impressed by how easy Miradi is to work with," says Aase Richter, a conservation planner for the Ytre Hvaler National Park. "It provides a systematic way of working that leads you through all the important elements in the process and helps ensure that you don’t loose track of the details."

Miradi is a Swahili word meaning "project" or "goal." For more information about Miradi 3.0 and case studies of Miradi users, please visit http://www.miradi.org.

About CMP and Benetech

Members of the CMP consortium focus on creating more effective methods for designing, managing and assessing field-based conservation projects. CMP Core Members include: the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Collaborating Members include: the Cambridge Conservation Forum, Conservation International (CI), Enterprise Works Worldwide, Foundations of Success, IUCN, RARE Center, and the World Commission on Protected Areas. Benetech is a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit organization that develops sustainable technology to solving pressing needs in the conservation, human rights and disabled communities.

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