Improving reintroduction planning and implementation through quantitative SWOT analysis

Recent decades have seen increasing use and importance of translocations and reintroductions as tools for species’ conservation and ecological restorations. Most such efforts face substantial logistical complexities and high costs, both biological and financial. These and other challenges have contributed to numerous failures or partial successes of reintroductions, a trend which has improved little over time. Given the negative ramifications of reintroduction failures, practitioners have adopted or developed numerous analytical and procedural methods in efforts to promote successful outcomes. However, many such methods are often ad hoc or taxon-specific, particularly regarding the evaluation and selection of reintroduction areas and sites. Despite the recognized importance of this phase of reintroduction planning, there is to date no comprehensive methodology for selecting suitable reintroduction sites. We describe in detail the application of quantitative SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for objectively evaluating candidate reintroduction areas or sites, and how results of this analysis are used for identifying the most effective and efficient management actions for promoting reintroduction success. We use examples drawn from recent reintroduction plans for three avian species in Puerto Rico (1) and Brazil (2) to illustrate specific methodologies used as well as the results obtained and their application to the reintroduction planning and implementation process. From our findings, quantitative SWOT analysis is a simple, versatile, repeatable and intuitive method for reintroduction area and site selection. The method also provides a valuable mechanism for evaluating and prioritizing management actions relative to their efficiency and effectiveness for achieving reintroduction objectives.