Southwest Australia Ecoregion Initiative

SWAEI Logo CFOC Logo Australian Perspective SWAEI Boundary Comparing data outputs Marxan output examples

SWAEI was a Finalist for the "Environment and Sustainability WA Spatial Excellence Awards 2010"

Read more about our involvement in the WASEA awards here.

SWAEI is the Southwest Australia Ecoregion Initiative, a consortium of agencies and organizations who we are also working with on a much larger Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) project.

Throughout 2009 and 2010, Gaia Resources provided a range of support for the SWAEI SCP project. Initially in 2009, were were involved in sourcing a huge range of datasets and refining and cleaning them to be fit for purpose. Over the course of this project, approximately 250GB of data was sourced, or just under 70,000 files. The compilation of metadata, licence agreements and process notes for this project were a significant overhead, but a vital one.

The second part of the project involved undertaking Marxan analyses. We have built up our resources and expertise in Marxan, using tools like Zonae Cogito and a range of associated data processing tools, to be able to run these analyses quickly and reliably. The SWAEI analyses had over 260,000 planning units, and over 850 conservation features, meaning considerable runtime had to be allocated to perform the analyses required. This process of redefining and reviewing data and outputs has been continued throughout 2010.

Throughout the project, Gaia Resources provided support for the SWAEI team in the form of maps, reports, presentations and a range of other products. Piers was also part of the working group for the conservation planning team.