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AdaptNRM > Adaptation Planning > The NRM Adaptation Checklist

Monitoring

In this section we consider how monitoring may be different when dealing with climate change adaptation and the need to support flexibility of your actions. 

We also consider the need to monitor triggers that could indicate when actions and approaches may need to be changed.  Effective monitoring can be costly and we emphasise the need to be targeted and to develop partnerships to increase the scope of monitoring activities.

The following five questions have been designed to help you to consider monitoring under a climate affected future.

  • GeneralDo you track emerging climate futures for your region?

    If you answered yes

    You will be well placed to fine-tune your planning and implementation actions as you progress towards a new climate future. Consider how you can disseminate this information to build consensus around your plan. This will contribute to your stakeholder engagement and capacity building.  Also start to think about what triggers can be used to determine when to change actions.

    If you answered no

    Thanks to technology, social media and the strengthening of citizen science, we now have multiple sources of information that could aid with monitoring. Consider information from sites like Climate Watch. It is an online system for collecting, storing, interpreting and reporting indicators of biological responses to climate, with the aim of increasing public awareness of biodiversity responses to climate change. You can even register the variable you would like others to track.

    It is one way of keeping track of the current state of play against planning decisions you are making for the future.

    Have limited resources?

    Monitoring can be a significant investment of time and resources and is generally insufficiently resourced at the moment. Consider what existing information is collected or monitored already and whether you can make minor adjustments to this to consider broader adaptation issues. Note also that tracking your region’s likely future may actually be less time and resource intensive than specifically assessing the effectiveness of all implementation actions.

  • GeneralDo you monitor triggers for future decisions?

    If you answered yes

    You will be well placed to change your planning or implementation actions in time for new options to be effective. Ensure your monitoring considers unexpected changes that may need to trigger unexpected actions. Ensure your monitoring feeds into your plan (4.3.3 and 4.3.4).

    If you answered no

    Review existing monitoring or data collection considering both your activities and those of other organisations. You may find national (e.g. Bureau of Meteorology), state (e.g. http://www.water.wa.gov.au/Tools/Monitoring+and+data/default.aspx) or local data collection agents.

    For broader information on identifying trigger points and using the monitored information, see some of the adaptation pathway references. Figure 2 in the following paper particularly shows how the value of a monitored indicator could trigger a decision such that there was enough lead-time to effectively implement new actions:

    Have limited resources?

    Monitoring programs can be built on existing resources. Consider what pre-existing monitoring or data collection is occurring (including by other organisations) that might be useful sources of indicator data. Monitoring data related to triggers is likely to be fairly simple to collect or source from others (e.g. average sea level rise, summer soil moisture levels, etc.), and may not need much analysis, which makes it much less resource-intensive than traditional monitoring.

     

  • GeneralDo you consider whether monitoring is likely to give you useful information about effectiveness of your actions given monitoring effort and time frames, and then implement monitoring only where it will be useful?

    If you answered yes

    You will have a prioritised monitoring plan in place and will be able to justify your monitoring activities to your stakeholders. Remember, you should reflect on this over time and make changes if new information or resources become available.  A good monitoring approach will include consideration of changes to adaptive capacity.

    If you answered no

    You may wish to work through your monitoring approaches and logic to ensure that you are not monitoring for monitoring sake and are aiming to help steer your adaptation efforts.

    The UKCIP document “Monitoring & Evaluation for Adaptation” provides a review of monitoring and evaluation tools and discusses the merits and rationale for monitoring. This might help you establish what you to focus on what you are seeking to improve your climate adaptation through monitoring.

    Have limited resources?

    It is a virtual certainty that all regional NRM groups currently have limited resources for monitoring. However, the intention here is to be more targeted with those limited resources, and expend them only where you will be truly able to use the information to support adaptive management.

  • GeneralDo you monitor changes in your region’s adaptive capacity?

    If you answered yes

    You are aware of the adaptive capacity of the people and natural communities in your region and are able to make informed decisions that best suit them.  Building partnerships to monitor adaptive capacity will help with cost effectiveness of monitoring.

    If you answered no

    Seek out the following online handbook that attempts to assist natural resource managers to assess and monitor adaptive capacity within their jurisdiction:

    • Marshall NA, Marshall PA, Tamelander J, Obura D, Mallaret King D, Cinner J, M. (2010) Sustaining Tropical Coastal Communities & Industries: A Framework for Social Adaptation to Climate Change. IUCN – The International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Gland, Switzerland
    • http://ccsl.iccip.net/2010-022.pdf

    The capacity of a landscape to support long-term viable populations of species may be the best indicator of the adaptive capacity of natural systems. While these things aren’t easy to measure, Michael Drielsma at NSW Office of Environment and Heritage has been working on ways to model them, specifically for monitoring purposes.

    Have limited resources?

    Partnering with scientists can be a great way to monitor adaptive capacity, particularly as it is currently a subject drawing strong research interest in both social and natural realms. On the social side, it is also possible to design very simple surveys yourself and collect data relatively infrequently to reduce the work load.

  • GeneralDo you explore potential partnerships for building monitoring programs?

    If you answered yes

    You are likely to be selecting  monitoring options that achieve good outcomes, are cost effective and are seen to be important by stakeholders.  You can now begin to reflect on what you are learning.

    If you answered no

    You may wish to take steps to determine which other organisations in your region are undertaking monitoring activities and build relationships with them. This can support discussions about shared funding and can result in real partnerships.

    There are several reknowned monitoring programs based on the efforts of partnerships.  These include the Healthy Waterways Program in South East Queensland.

    Citizen science is an increasingly useful tool for getting your communities engaged in monitoring. While it’s not without its drawbacks, the UK’s Environmental Observation Framework recently relased a guide to getting the most benefit from citizen science:

    Have limited resources?

    Building partnerships will involve some investment of time to discover and foster relationships. Consider existing contacts and what benefits might be derived for these potential partners and therefore their willingness to drive the building of the partnership.