AMP Toolbox
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia has over 30 years of experience with the implementation of spatial management measures and their monitoring and evaluation. Jon Day (2008) has summarised some practical lessons from this experience:
Specify clear objectives and realistic indicators against which effectiveness can be measured—from the beginning of the management process;
Start with a modest monitoring programme. It is better to start with a relatively modest programme for a few key performance indicators and expand the programme as guided by experience. Priority should be given to monitoring programmes that provide information about:
The extent to which key objectives are being achieved (or failing to be achieved);
The condition of the most significant conservation values (especially those considered to be at risk; and
How important, complex or controversial management issues can be resolved;
Determine who is best able/suited to undertake monitoring. For example, should the programme be conducted internally or externally? Where possible, it is also advisable to have resource managers and users who are regularly on the water to assist with monitoring;
Consider opportunities for participatory monitoring and evaluation programmes. Wherever possible, encourage stakeholder participation or local input in the overall evaluation process. In these cases, training is required to ensure that monitoring data are accurate and meaningful;
Consider the need for monitoring a wider context than only within the marine management area. There is often a need to measure indicators both within a marine management area and outside the area to determine relative changes (e.g., to establish whether detected changes are due to management actions or other factors, or to determine whether the objectives of a managed area are being achieved in comparison with adjacent areas that are similarly managed);and
The findings and recommendations of evaluation should be regularly reported and presented in a manner that is understandable to stakeholders and usable by managers and other decision makers.