Ecuador, as a signatory member of the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), committed itself to meeting the goals of the Program of Work on Protected Areas. This program includes the establishment and consolidation of an interconnected network of representative marine protected areas that adequately preserve the biological diversity of marine ecosystems, as well as offering special protection to areas of special value or a highly threatened state. Gap analysis, the identification of priority areas for conservation of coastal marine biodiversity based on ecological criteria, constitutes an important tool for adhering to this conservation goal.

Nazca has completed to projects of the conservation gap analysis type. The first focused on the Guayaquil eco-region as an initiative of Tropical Pacific Planning, and the second set its sights on the Ecuadorian continental plateau.