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The Migration and Conservation Toolkit is designed to help practitioners integrate migration dynamics into conservation interventions to prevent the exacerbation of social tensions and institutional failures that threaten ecosystems. Developed using research from the Great Lakes region of Africa, the toolkit serves as a non-prescriptive roadmap for designing activities sensitive to how migration affects natural resource use and livelihoods in host communities. Specifically, in the Bale Mountains ecosystem, migration is identified as a significant driver of land conversion and the overexploitation of natural resources.

The Migration and Conservation Toolkit, developed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), offers a four-phase roadmap for practitioners to integrate migration dynamics into conservation planning. The process moves from defining scope and analyzing migration and conservation contexts to assessing ecosystem impacts and implementing targeted interventions. The toolkit emphasizes participatory research, including surveys, focus group discussions, and participatory mapping, to understand the links between migration, livelihood choices, and biodiversity loss. It highlights the need for conflict-sensitive and gender-aware approaches, particularly in critical ecosystems where population pressures can exacerbate existing environmental stresses.