Correspondence

Conservation planning is often informed by quantitative targets: these are min-imum amounts of the distribution of a species, vegetation type, or other bio-diversity feature intended for protection. Targets are set for the global reserve system, and are also used at national and local levels to plan for both on- and off-reserve conservation. Understandably, the conservation community holds a range of opinions about target-based approaches to conservation planning. One school of thought is that the approach is inadequate, inflexible, and even counterproductive in many socioecological systems. We investigate the per-ceived limitations of target-based conservation planning, and find that most have resulted from poor communication and misuse of targets, leading to mis-conceptions and misunderstandings. Here we put target-based conservation planning in context by: (1) summarizing reported limitations of the approach and differentiating between those that are real and those that are miscon-ceived; (2) identifying ways that some of the real limitations have, and can, be overcome, and (3) comparing target-based conservation planning to alter-native conservation prioritization approaches. We hope to stimulate further discussion that will guide and improve target-based conservation planning