Measures
Measures Matter!
Key Points to
Introduce This Step
• Measures Matter!
– Often seen as last step or too challenging, so
neglected
– Provide transparency and accountability
– Enable adapting and learning
• Strategy Effectiveness vs. Status
– Adaptive Management vs. Early Warning
Key Points to
Introduce This Step
• Measures are embedded in your CAP
– Look to your objectives, KEA’s and threats
• Well developed objectives will lead to good
indicators
• The measure of our effectiveness ultimately
will be seen as a change in threat ranks and
enhanced viability
Key Points to
Introduce This Step
• Evaluating our progress doesn’t always need
to be complicated or costly
• The complexity of our monitoring methods
should depend upon the complexity,
uncertainty and risk of our strategies
• Monitoring data must be analyzed and results
used to inform next iteration
Critical Questions
• Has at least one indicator and monitoring
protocol been identified for each threat
abatement and restoration objective?
• Do the indicators provide any link to the
actions taken?
• Can the monitoring plan be feasibly
implemented?
Common Issues &
Recommendations
What is the appropriate level of investment between
taking action, assessing status, measuring
effectiveness?
– No easy answers. Consider:
• Presence of known, serious threats
• Level of understanding of targets, threats, and
their linkage
• Degree of certainty in effectiveness
• Risks of action – ecological, economic,
reputational, etc.
• Available resources
Common Issues &
Recommendations
Often changes in biodiversity health and threat
status can lag well behind the time we take action.
– Developing a “theory of change” (i.e. results
chain model) can help us to find measures that
will help us to evaluate whether things are likely
to be going in the right direction
– Setting up smaller experimental trials may help
us get an indication of how the larger system will
perform in advance of full investment in a
restoration strategy
Common Issues &
Recommendations
Completing the adaptive management cycle
– Establish explicit mechanism for analyzing
monitoring data, communicating results, and
adapting and learning
– Keep it as simple as possible
– Introduce teams to the CAP self assessment
tools for at least a first pass
– Even a once a year – After Action Review can
be helpful
Helpful Hints…
•
Status vs. effectiveness
Common
Issues
& where
Recommendations
– Consider the
targets
you will definitely
be taking action and establish effectiveness
measures for these first.
•
Effectiveness: Target vs. threat monitoring
– As first cut, monitor indicators that directly
reflect objectives
Helpful Hints…
Clearly stated objectives spell out
priority measures needs
Project: Cookson Hills
Objective:
• Secure legal protection on 18,000 acres by
2015
Indicator:
• Acres in legal protection (addresses critical
threat)
Helpful Hints….
Follow the trail from targets to objectives Molokai Example
Target: Montane wet forest, south slope mesic forest
Threat: Wildfires
Objective: By 2009, reduce the amount of burned native ecological
system to zero.
Indicators:
Methods:
•
Acres of native ecological system
burned.
•
Map location and extent of
wildfire
•
Number of hours between
reporting and containment of fire
event.
•
Notice and record events and
times.
Helpful Hints….
• Develop a first cut at your objectives and
Common
Issueswith
& the
Recommendations
brainstorm
indicators
whole team.
• Refining indicators and developing monitoring
protocol is a specific area of expertise that differs
with different systems and life forms. Get the
experts involved in the nitty-gritty of monitoring
protocol design.
• Often tons of information is already collected by
government and university partners – always
consider these sources before investing in new
data collection.
Helpful Hints…
Common
Issues
& Recommendations
Results
chain
models
– Help us to determine what indicators are
likely to tell us the most about whether our
strategic actions are or are not having an
impact
–Help us to understand important
benchmarks along the way towards
success (“interim objectives”)