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.
Publications
Addoah T, Fajardo J, et al. (2026) Cocoa expansion displaces food crops into protected forests, but sustainability programmes reduce loss. Nature Communications Earth & Environment. Paper
Tomba AN, Fajardo J, et al. (2026). From rock and ice to political convenience: persistent biases in Argentina’s protected areas. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. Paper
Fajardo J, Bingham HC, Brockington D, et al. (2026) Social implications of the 30x30 global conservation target. Nature Communications 17: 4067. Paper
Tomba, AN, Fajardo J, et al. (2026) Economic priorities shape protected area placement: the role of land competition in Argentina. Biological Conservation 313: 111594. Paper
Fajardo J, Brockington D, Fitzsimons J, et al. (2025) Reflections from interdisciplinary research on the social implications of implementing 30×30, PARKS 31.2, 122:128. Paper
Garrett R, Fajardo J, et al. (2025) Policy principles for sustainable and just land systems, Royal Society Open Science 12,10: 250810. Paper
Blanco-Pastor JL, Fajardo J, Fernández de Castro AG, et al. (2025) Environmental data do not correlate with plant genetic diversity in alpine ecosystems. Ecology and Evolution 15:5: e71332. Paper
Lessmann J, Geldmann J, Fajardo J, and Marquet PA (2024) The role of funding in the performance of Latin America’s protected areas. PNAS 121:36, e2307521121. Paper
Sandbrook, C, Fajardo J, et al. (2023) Social considerations are crucial to success in implementing the 30×30 global conservation target. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7, 784–785. Paper
Fajardo J, Lessmann L, et al. (2023) The performance of protected-area expansions in representing tropical Andean species: Past Trends and Climate Change Prospects. Scientific Reports 13, 1: 966. Paper
Wang CJ, Wan JZ, Fajardo J (2021) Effects of agricultural lands on the distribution pattern of genus diversity for neotropical terrestrial vertebrates. Ecological Indicators 1;129:107900. Paper
Delso Á, Fajardo J, Muñoz J (2021) Protected area networks do not represent unseen biodiversity. Scientific Reports. 11 :12275. Paper
Fajardo J, Corcoran D, Roehrdanz PR, et al. (2020). GCM compareR: A web application to assess differences and assist in the selection of general circulation models for climate change research. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11(5), 656-663. Paper
Bondé L, Fajardo J, et al. (2020) Scenario-modelling for the sustainable management of non-timber forest products in tropical ecosystems. Biota Neotropica 5:20. Paper
Hannah L, Fajardo J, et al. (2020), 30% land conservation and climate action reduces tropical extinction risk by more than 50%. Ecography, 43: 943-953. Paper
Fajardo J, Mateo RG, Vargas P, et al. (2019) The role of abiotic mechanisms of long-distance dispersal in the American origin of the Galápagos flora. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Paper
Lessmann J, Fajardo J, Bonaccorso E, Bruner A (2019) Cost-effective protection of biodiversity in the western Amazon. Biological conservation 235, 250-259. Paper
Oleas NH, Feeley KJ, Fajardo J, et al. (2019) Muddy boots beget wisdom: A cautionary tale for species distribution models of endangered species. Diversity, 11 (10), 1-11. Paper
Fuentes-Castillo T, Fajardo J, et al. (2019) Modelling the current and future biodiversity distribution in the Chilean Mediterranean Hotspot. The role of protected areas network in a warmer future. Diversity and Distributions, 25 (12), 1897-1909. Paper
Lessmann J, Fajardo J, Muñoz J, Bonaccorso E (2016) Large expansion of oil industry in one of the most biodiverse areas of the world: biodiversity vulnerability and conservation alternatives for the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ecology and Evolution 4 (14), 4997-5012. Paper
Fajardo J, Lessmann J, Bonaccorso E, Devenish C & Muñoz J (2014) Combined use of systematic conservation planning, species distribution upervisi, and connectivity analysis reveals severe conservation gaps in a megadiverse country (Peru). PloS ONE 9: e114367. Paper
Book chapters and selected policy outputs and science
communications
Sandbrook C, Fajardo J (2026) Conserving 30% of the planet will only succeed if people are part of the plan, The Conversation. Link. Link en español
Morales D, Fajardo J, et al. (2025) Chapter on protected areas and environmental peacebuilding. In Paz Ambiental: Ecos de La Naturaleza En La Transformación Social. Instituto CAPAZ e Instituto Humbold. Link
UNEP-WCMC (2023) Mapping Nature-Based Solutions for Societal Challenges. A Product of the SPACES Coalition. UNEP-WCMC report. Link
Research projects
Advancing effective and equitable OECMs at scale in Southeast Asia
In my new postdoctoral position within the E3 “Sharing Space for Nature” project at the University of Kent, I will examine how, where, and under what conditions conserved areas (i.e., other effective area-based conservation measures or OECMs) can deliver ecological and social outcomes across multi-use landscapes and seascapes.