Javier Fajardo
Researcher in Environmental Conservation at DICE (University of Kent).
I am a conservation scientist studying how area-based conservation can protect biodiversity while advancing equity. My research focuses on conservation planning, conservation effectiveness, and data justice in biodiversity policy.
Research
My work asks how conservation, particularly global biodiversity commitments to expand protected and conserved areas, can become effective and equitable conservation in practice. I examine how planning choices, the data that are available or missing, and the ways affected people and places are represented shape conservation outcomes across different ecological and social contexts.
Selected publications
- Fajardo, J. et al. (2026) Social implications of the 30×30 global conservation target. Nature Communications.
- Fajardo, J. et al. (2025) Reflections from interdisciplinary research on the social implications of implementing 30×30. PARKS
- Sandbrook, C., … Fajardo, J. et al. (2023) Social considerations are crucial to success in implementing the 30×30 global conservation target. Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Lessmann, J., Geldmann, J., Fajardo, J. et al. (2024) The role of funding in the performance of Latin America’s protected areas. PNAS.
- Fajardo, J. et al. (2023) The performance of protected-area expansions in representing tropical Andean species: past trends and climate change prospects. Scientific Reports.