Monitoring and reporting on reserve management effectiveness
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting on management effectiveness for Tasmania's national parks and reserves is necessary in order to:
provide factual feedback about management performance to guide informed planning and decision-making for improving the achievement of the objectives and desired outcomes; and
provide public and parliamentary transparency and accountability for the investment of funds in management of Tasmania's national parks and reserves, including World Heritage listed sites.
The monitoring and reporting system for Tasmania's national parks and reserves
The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) has developed a state-wide management effectiveness Monitoring and Reporting System to measure and report evidence of management progress, achievements and challenges in the management of Tasmania's public national parks and reserves:
Evaluating Management Effectiveness. The Monitoring and Reporting System for Tasmania's National Parks and Reserves (Final Report 2013) (PDF 14Mb)
Key features of the system are that it is:
To understand how management of Tasmania's national parks and reserves is performing, the PWS and its stakeholders need reliable, factual information about a variety of topics known as key performance areas (KPAs). These KPAs form the framework of the Monitoring and Reporting System.
Evaluated case studies
An important component of the PWS Monitoring and Reporting System is evaluated case studies of the monitored effectiveness of significant and selected projects.
Examples of Evaluated Case Study reports include:
Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (PDF 7Mb) [outstanding achievement]
Evaluation Report: Monitoring potential impacts of climate change on natural values of the TWWHA (PDF 5Mb) [satisfactory result]
Evaluation report: Endangered Pedder galaxias fish (PDF 3Mb) [great result]
Evaluation report: Critically endangered orange-bellied parrot (PDF 4Mb) [unsatisfactory result]
Evaluation report: Back-country walking track management in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (PDF 7Mb) [mixed results]
Evaluation report: Wildcare SPRATS volunteer weed eradication project for Tasmania's southwest wilderness coastline (PDF 3Mb) [great result]
Evaluation report: Fire management in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (PDF 5Mb) [satisfactory result]
Evaluation report: Needwonnee Aboriginal Walk, Melaleuca (PDF 7Mb) [great result]
The following case studies are featured in the open-access training module for protected area practitioners: Tasmania in Action: Case Studies for Conservation Learning:
Evaluating management effectiveness for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
The first comprehensive evaluation report examining management effectiveness under the management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) was the State of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area 2004:
State of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area - an evaluation of management effectiveness Report No 1 (2004) (PDF 23Mb)
The second State of the TWWHA Report is currently in preparation.
TWWHA status and trends reporting
A series of status and trends reports on the condition of cultural and natural values in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) have been produced to assist in managing the Outstanding Universal Value* of the TWWHA. For more information and to view published reports visit NRE Tas TWWHA Status and Trend Reporting.
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* 'Outstanding Universal Value' (or OUV) is a central concept underpinning the World Heritage Convention and means ‘Cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity'. As such, the permanent protection of this heritage is of the highest importance to the international community as a whole. (UNESCO Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, World Heritage Centre AHC 23/10. 24 September 2023).
Integrating evaluation into reserve management plans
The PWS is progressively integrating statements of Key Desired Outcomes and provisions for monitoring, evaluation and reporting into new reserve management plans and significant projects. For example, see Chapter 9 'Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting' in the TWWHA Management Plan 2016.
Where possible, management is aiming to identify what would be a 'great result', a 'satisfactory or acceptable result' and an 'unsatisfactory or unacceptable result' for each identified Key Desired Outcome in a reserve management plan or selected project. This establishes an agreed framework for assessing how management is performing.
Examples of this work include Chapter 5 of the Lower Gordon River Recreation Zone Plan 2023:
Lower Gordon River Recreation Zone Plan 2023 (PDF 4Mb)
Appendix 4 of the Recreation Zone Plan for the Walls of Jerusalem National Park 2013:
Walls of Jerusalem Recreation Zone Plan 2013 (PDF 5Mb)
Appendix 1 of the Melaleuca-Cox Bight Management Statement 2014:
Melaleuca – Cox Bight Management Statement 2014 (PDF 3Mb)
Further reading
Corbett, C. and Jones, G. 2017. A tale of two endangered species. pp 5-6 in World Heritage Connect News Issue #9. Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
World Heritage Connect News Issue #9: A Tale of Two Endangered Species (PDF 2Mb)
DPIPWE 2016. Chapter 9 'Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting' pp. 184-189 In: Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan 2016. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. Hobart Tasmania.
Jones, G. 2015. What's working, what's not: The monitoring and reporting system for Tasmania's national parks and reserves In: Watson, Alan; Carver, Stephen; Krenova, Zdenka; McBride, Brooke, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Tenth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2013, 4-10 October, Salamanca, Spain. Proceedings RMRS-P-74. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 77-90.
What's working, what's not: The monitoring and reporting system for Tasmania's national parks and reserves (PDF 9Mb)
Jones, G. 2009. The adaptive management system for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Chapter 13 In: Allan and Stankey (Eds) Adaptive Environmental Management. A Practitioner's Guide. Springer and CSIRO Publishing. www.springerlink.com
The adaptive management system for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area - linking management planning with effectiveness evaluation (PDF 1Mb)
Parks and Wildlife Service 2013. Evaluating Management Effectiveness. The Monitoring and Reporting System for Tasmania's National Parks and Reserves. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. Hobart Tasmania.
Evaluating Management Effectiveness. The Monitoring and Reporting System for Tasmania's National Parks and Reserves (Final Report 2013) (PDF 14Mb)