FOR MANAGING BIODIVERSITY AND SPECIAL PLACESwww.software4conservation.com

Established in 1993.

A group of organisations working together to develop and promote best practice in nature conservation and countryside management.

We believe that good planning is the key to good management. Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Planning is the intellectual or ‘thinking’ component of conservation management.

The CMS Consortium

We produce and develop computer software tools and management planning guidelines.

We provide training, including formal courses, seminars and workshops.

Our main contribution is the CMS management planning software.

The CMS Consortium

- designed to meet the requirements of Natura 2000 for the management & planning of SACs & SPAs

- designed to facilitate the Convention on Biological Diversity ecosystem approach.

Connectivity:

The future success of the Natura 2000 Network depends not only on a coherent and linked network of nature areas, but also on the relationship between people and nature.

Natuurmonumenten, Connectivity in process: examples from the field, 2005.

A GUIDE TO MANAGEMENT PLANNING

Mike Alexander

THE KEY AREAS OF A MANAGEMENT PLAN

• Why are we here? (Policy)

• What have we got? (Description)

• What are the important features? (Assessment)

• What do we want? (Objectives)

• What must we do? (Action plan)

IMPORTANT:We must monitor so that we know that we are achieving our objectives and that management is appropriate.

1. OBJECTIVE FOR EACH FEATURE

5. REVIEW OREVALUATION

2. IDENTIFY ORCONFIRM

MANAGEMENT

4. MONITORTHE FEATURE

3. IMPLEMENTMANAGEMENT

ADJUST MANAGEMENT

An ADAPTIVE Management System

Manage Monitor

RationaleReview

Objective

Manage Monitor

RationaleReview

Objective

Manage Monitor

RationaleReview

Objective

Management planning should be a continuous cyclical, iterative and developmental process.

This adaptive approach enables conservation managers to:

• Learn through experience (learning to manage by managing to learn.)

• Take account of, and respond to, the varying factors that affect the features

• Continually develop or refine management processes

• Demonstrate whether or not management is appropriate

FEATURE / OBJECTIVE

FEATURES• A feature is some

aspect of the site which can be described as a distinct entity.

• For many sites, for example NATURA and Ramsar, the important nature conservation features will have formal or legal recognition.

Nature conservation features can be populations, communities or habitats.

LONG TERM CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES SHOULD BE:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-based

FEATURE/ OBJECTIVE

FACTORFACTOR

FACTORFACTOR

FACTORS Factors are anything which have, are or could change a feature.

Factors can be both positive and negative.

Factors can be anthropogenic or natural.

Factors can operate both on and off site.

FACTORS• The conservation management of features

is mainly about controlling factors or dealing with the impact of a factor, and in particular the consequence of human intervention, past, present and future.

• Our ability to achieve conservation objectives will always be constrained by our ability to control factors.

A quality or property of the site fabric, for example, water quality / levels.

FACTORS

ATTRIBUTEATTRIBUTE

ATTRIBUTEATTRIBUTE

ATTRIBUTEATTRIBUTE

ATTRIBUTE

ATTRIBUTE

An attribute is a characteristic of a feature that can be

monitored to provide evidence about the

condition of the feature

• Attributes should be informative about something other than themselves.

• Attributes should be indicators of the general condition of a feature.

• Attributes must be measurable • Attributes should, whenever possible, be

indicators of the future rather than the past

• Attributes should be economical surrogates. (cheap alternatives)

ATTRIBUTESFOR

SPECIES

Size of population

DistributionExtent

Survival rates

Age structure

Productivity

ATTRIBUTESFOR

HABITATS

Size

ExtentDistribution

Species composition

Spp indicative

of required condition

Spp indicative of change

Feature/objective

FACTOR FACTOR

FACTOR FACTOR

THE KEY AREAS OF A MANAGEMENT PLAN• Why are we here? (Policy)

• What have we got? (Description)

• What are the important features? (Assessment)

• What are the significant factors? (Influences)

• What do we want? (Objectives)

• What must we do? (Action plan)

IMPORTANT:We must monitor so that we know that we are achieving our objectives and that management is appropriate.

ACTION PLAN

RATIONALE• The management rationale is concerned

with identifying and describing, in outline, the management considered necessary to maintain the site features in (or restore them to) Favourable Conservation Status (FCS).

• The implications of the current status of the

feature are considered.

• The influence, actual and potential, of the factors on the feature is discussed.

Time-based• How far ahead should we plan?

• Long term

• Long term is in the mind of the beholder; it is as far ahead as anyone can envisage.

• An objectives reflect our values, knowledge and aspirations at the time that it is written

• Objectives have a review period

MONITORING ?• SURVEY?

• SURVEILLANCE?

• RESEARCH?

Surveillance undertaken to ensure that formulated standards (objectives) are being maintained

MONITORING

FAVOURABLE CONSERVATION STATUS (FCS)

For a habitat feature to be considered to be at FCS, ALL of the following must be true:

• The area of the habitat must be stable in the long term, or increasing,

• its quality (including in terms of ecological structure and function) must be maintained

• any typical species must also be at FCS, as defined on the next slide,

• the factors that affect the habitat, including its typical species, must be under control.

For a species feature to be considered to be at FCS, ALL of the following must be true:

• The size of the population must be maintained or increased

• the population must be sustainable in the long term

• the range of the population must not be contracting

• sufficient habitat must exist to support the population in the long term

Categories which describe the ‘status’ of a feature:

• Favourable–maintained.• Favourable–recovered.• Favourable–unknown.• Recovering.• Unfavourable-declining.• Unfavourable–unknown.• Partially destroyed. • Destroyed.

CMSi supports planning to evaluation

CMSi supports planning to evaluation

www.software4conservation.com