Conservation of biodiversity  is about planning for the long-term management of important living features of the environment by setting targets and marshalling resources to meet them.

Features are habitats and species selected for conservation and/or enhancement according to their national and local significance.

An action plan is produced for year on year mangement of the features.

The plan describes the state or condition of each feature.

Is it favourable or declining?

If it is favourable, the objective is to maintain it so.

If it is declining, the objective is to bring it to a favourable condition.

In both cases the objective is to target a measurable attribute of the feature’s condition, such as numbers of individuals.

Features are managed to meet the target condition by controlling factors.

A factor is anything that helps or hinders meeting the objective.

Factors are controlled with projects.

A project is a scheme of work scheduled as a series of events to occur with appropriate resources.

Projects describe the inputs to the management plan.

After an event, a report is made saying what was actually done and problems encountered.

The report describes the practical output of the plan.

Success in reaching the objective is recorded by monitoring the features.

This is done by measuring an attribute of each feature to see how far its condition is from the target state of the objective.

This monitoring measurement is the performance indicator or outcome of the plan.

Records are kept of the inputs, outputs and outcomes.

Managers learn from any problems encountered during the year-on-year management cycle to make the plan more effective.

A plan with its integrated projects and records is called a conservation management system (CMS).