Many attempts to scale conservation actions have failed to deliver their intended benefits, caused unintended harm or later been abandoned, hampering efforts to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. Here we encourage those calling for scaling to pause and reflect on past scaling efforts, which offer valuable lessons: the total impact of an action depends on both its effectiveness and scalability; effectiveness can change depending on scale for multiple reasons; feedback processes can change socio-ecological conditions influencing future adoption; and the drive to scale can incentivize bad practices that undermine long-term outcomes. Cutting across these themes is the recognition that monitoring scaling can enhance evidence-informed adaptive management, reporting and research. We draw on evidence and concepts from disparate fields, explore new linkages between often isolated concepts and suggest strategies for practitioners, policymakers and researchers. Reflecting on these five lessons may help in the scaling of effective conservation actions in responsible ways to meet the triple goals of reversing biodiversity loss, combating climate change and supporting human wellbeing.

许多扩大保护行动规模的尝试未能实现其预期的好处，造成了意想不到的伤害或后来被放弃，阻碍了扭转生物多样性丧失曲线的努力。在这里，我们鼓励那些呼吁扩展的人停下来，反思过去的扩展工作，这些工作提供了宝贵的经验教训：一项行动的总体影响取决于其有效性和可扩展性;由于多种原因，有效性可能会根据规模而变化;反馈过程可以改变影响未来收养的社会生态条件;而扩大规模的驱动力会激励破坏长期结果的不良做法。贯穿这些主题的是认识到监测扩展可以加强循证的适应性管理、报告和研究。我们借鉴来自不同领域的证据和概念，探索通常孤立的概念之间的新联系，并为从业者、政策制定者和研究人员提出策略。反思这五个经验教训可能有助于以负责任的方式扩大有效的保护行动，以实现扭转生物多样性丧失、应对气候变化和支持人类福祉的三重目标。