Measuring the success of the Management Capacity Building Program for Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of California

Abstract

Knowledge management and monitoring are important for conservation work. Because resources for conservation are limited, it is important to identify conservation approaches that are most likely to succeed. This case study describes our methodology to link field conservation impact with the implementation of a capacity building program to increase management effectiveness in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Gulf of California. The program uses results chains to link program components to desired outcomes and expected conservation impact. Selected indicators are used to measure short- and medium-term results, while monitoring longer-term impacts relies on measuring and monitoring overall MPA management effectiveness as a predictor of success and an indication of expected conservation impacts. The results chain combined with indicators and the predictor of success has allowed an effective engagement with key stakeholders around a ‘theory of change’, as well as providing the program with a manageable set of indicators that reflects the interests of multiple stakeholders, helping us measure program progress and guiding the effective investment of resources to optimize conservation impact.

Acknowledgements

The CAPAMP Program is implemented jointly by WWF (Diana Crespo), CONANP (Vladimir Pliego, Natalie Rodríguez and Ricardo Juárez), TNC (Karen Wong, Nirari Cárdenas, and Diana Bermúdez), NOAA (Mary Sue Brancato and Anne Walton) and the Mexican Fund for Nature Conservation (Cecilia Blasco and Gabriela Díaz). We are very thankful to all CAPAMP collaborators, participants, instructors and mentors.

Notes

1. Key impetus for the program has been Mexico's commitment, signed at the 2006 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to effectively conserve at least 10% of the marine ecological regions in areas under national jurisdiction. Following this commitment, Mexico's National Commission for Protected Areas (CONANP) identified the most urgent capacity building needs to increase management effectiveness in the protected areas. The CONANP report identified several key management challenges (conservation planning, social engagement, sustainable finance, partnerships, communication, legal frameworks, and monitoring), as well as four critical threats (unsustainable fisheries, unsustainable tourism, climate change, and coastal development pollution). A joint strategic plan by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), using data from a regional report (Anaya et al. 2007) reached similar conclusions, identifying key conservation targets (rocky reefs, coastal shallows, seamounts, migratory species, estuaries, shoreline, and insular species) and suggesting a focus on the three major conservation threats related to unsustainable fisheries, unsustainable tourism, and climate change. These various events and studies formed the basis of the CAPAMP program.

2. TNC's Conservation Action Planning (CAP) methodology is one of three key analytical methods that support the application of TNC strategic framework for mission success, called Conservation by Design (The Nature Conservancy 2006). For more information about TNC's CAP visit, see http://www.conservationgateway.org/topic/conservation-action-planning.

3. The implemented projects are: (1) Development of a site conservation plan for the adjacent marine zone of Isla Cerralvo; (2) Socio-economic and governance indicators for the management effectiveness evaluation of Archipiélago de Espíritu Santo National Park; (3) Development of the Effectiveness Evaluation Mechanism for the Vaquita Marina Protection Program; (4) Development of the Management Plan for Balandra, Municipal Protected Area; (5) Consolidation of social participation in the community of Alto Golfo Biosphere Reserve; (6) Espíritu Santo, as a social participation model: first steps to improve the participation of the fisheries sector in the resources management within Espíritu Santo National Park; (7) Social participation strengthening for the Fisheries sub-council of the Bahía de los Angeles Biosphere Reserve and San Lorenzo National Park and (8) Economic development of Cabo Pulmo community: sustainable tourism activities.