Cumulative Effects Model for Prioritizing Recovery Actions (CEMPRA)
Support Transparent, Science-Based Decisions with the CEMPRA Tool
What is the CEMPRA Tool?
Many species are under significant pressure from development, resource use, and natural disturbances. Collectively, these pressures can compound and interact, leading to significant cumulative effects on species and ecosystems. The Cumulative Effects Model for Prioritizing Recovery Actions (CEMPRA) is a flexible, open-source framework and toolbox which supports transparent, repeatable, and collaborative decision-making for restoration and recovery. At its core, CEMPRA uses standardized stressor-response functions to link environmental attributes to the capacity and productivity of target species or systems, making it a powerful tool for risk assessment and recovery planning.
CEMPRA helps you:
- Prioritize actions across multiple stressors and species
- Work with limited or complex datasets
- Leverage a library of stressor-response relationships to accelerate use
- Model cumulative effects across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Our Services – Helping you use CEMPRA effectively
Whether you’re just getting started or refining your approach, we offer end-to-end or à la carte support to meet your needs:
- Custom CEMPRA applications tailored to your species, system, and project context
- Workshops and training to help your team maximize potential use cases from the tool
- Simulation modeling to quantify potential tradeoffs and explore how different actions impact your goals
- Tool extensions or add-ons to fit unique use cases such as cost-benefit analysis
- Stressor-response function development to fill knowledge gaps with robust, literature-informed relationships
Turn complexity into clarity. We help organizations understand cumulative effects using CEMPRA to prioritize recovery actions.
Why work with us?
We helped build it
ESSA and M.J. Bayly Analytics have co-led the core development of the CEMPRA tool since its inception. Partnering organizations supporting the development of the larger CEMPRA framework include Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the University of British Columbia, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Alberta Environment and Parks, and Simon Fraser University.
We’re flexible
Need a full prioritization framework? A one-off scoring module? Training for your team? We scale our support to match your goals.
We’ve made it work in the real world
We’ve supported agencies, governments, and conservation organizations in applying CEMPRA to real planning decisions across multiple ecosystems and regions.
Keywords & Themes: Cumulative effects assessment / Prioritization / Real-time tools / Open source / Web application / Integrated modeling / Restoration / Scenario modeling / Data visualization / Geospatial tools / Fisheries resources
- Guidance Document – Downloadable pdf
- Guidance Document Appendices
- Nanaimo River Chinook – Prioritizing restoration scenarios for a threatened population
- BC Watersheds – Piloting a generalizable restoration framework for multi-species planning
- Nicola Basin – Supporting recovery of endangered Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead
- Alouette River – Life-cycle modeling of salmonids to guide restoration planning
CEMPRA is an open-source R package
R Shiny interactive web application
The CEMPRA tool includes a built-in population modelling framework, which enables users to link key stressors across the landscape to population vital rates for a particular species. This tool is especially useful for species with limited data availability, as it offers a flexible approach and recommends relevant research and recovery actions for any number of geographical units that will most benefit the target species-at-risk.
- Stressor-response functions as a generalizable model for context dependence Rosenfeld et al., 2022;
- Prioritizing bull trout recovery actions using a novel cumulative effects modelling framework MacPherson et al., 2023;
- A process framework for integrating stressor-response functions into cumulative effects models Jarvis et al., 2024
- Review of Alberta Environment and Parks Cumulative Effects Assessment Joe Model ‘Joe Model’ (2019 CSAS Review)
Key Contacts
Alex Tekatch
Systems Ecologist
Brian Ma
Sr. Systems Ecologist | Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences Lead
Matthew Bayly
Decision Support System / Tool Developer
Ready to get started? We’d love to help you unlock the full potential of the CEMPRA tool in your work. Reach out to our team to learn more about how we could help you!
Please email us at [email protected] to inquire about applying the CEMPRA tool.