420 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
A familiar narrative throughout practitioner responses (data not presented)
was that the level of authority of the individual practitioner or organisation, and
the strength of relationships with decision makers, were key in being able to
inf luence outcomes relating to program resourcing and support, and
management decisions and actions. Often processes (such as integration with
management, or program evaluation) and decisions (e.g. species selection or
management actions) were inf luenced by external factors such as political or
developer interests, and funding priorities. Processes and decisions were not
always grounded on sound arguments or those in the best interest of species
conservation (e.g. perceived lack of priority, competing objectives and
industry constraints).
Purpose of threatened species monitoring
All monitoring practitioners agreed that threatened species monitoring is
important to organisations for reasons specific to the species (e.g. improving
conservation status). Reasons include improving knowledge on threatened species
and understanding impacts of management and threat abatement. Organisations
also carry out monitoring for reasons extrinsic to the species, such as being able to
meet legislative and or agency requirements, engaging with people (especially
local community and Indigenous people), and for cultural significance or
importance of the species to local communities. A common thread repeated
among practitioners (data not presented) was that, whereas practitioners recognise
the benefits of monitoring for their target species, those outside the space (e.g.
broader community, institutions) do not necessarily share this view or focus.
Senior decision makers may have different organisational priorities that are not
aligned with individual monitoring programs. The misalignment of
organisational priorities can be particularly concerning if it jeopardises
commitment to ongoing monitoring.
Fig. 34.6. Evaluation of monitoring programs according to institutional category.