introduction - Participatory Biological Monitoring Guidelines

Introduction

Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring:
Guidelines for Scientists and Managers
David Pilz, Heidi L. Ballard, Eric T. Jones
©2005 Institute for Culture and Ecology

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These guidelines are specifically designed to help forest managers and scientists address the challenge of inventorying or monitoring biological phenomenon (especially biodiversity), by providing a “How-to” manual for incorporating other participants in such projects and for documenting that process. Specifically, these guidelines are intended for use on discrete monitoring projects that could also be parts of a larger monitoring program. Some projects within a monitoring program might lend themselves to involving participants, while other projects might not. These guidelines will help managers and scientists decide which are appropriate for a participatory approach and offer guidance for involving participants.

Throughout these guidelines we use a number of related terms such as participants, collaborators, stakeholders, and sponsors. These terms are interpreted differently throughout the literature and organizations referenced herein, so we define our usage as follows:

§ “Stakeholders” are all individuals and organizations that have an interest in the project, its outcome, and its products, regardless of whether they are directly involved or not.

§ “Participants” are any stakeholders actively involved in a project. Depending on the level of their involvement they might or might not have input into the design or implementation of the project. For the purpose of these guidelines we define “participants” as lacking decision-making authority in the project.

§ “Collaborators” are any stakeholders actively involved in the management or administration of a project. They have or share decision-making authority.

§ “Sponsors” are any organization or group providing official long-term financial or in-kind support of a project, regardless of active participation.

Managers and scientists might consider a participatory approach to monitoring for a variety of reasons, including: stretching limited resources, building understanding among user groups, improving community relations, building cohesion through group learning, reducing conflict and litigation, providing educational opportunities, supporting community development, addressing public concerns, or incorporating local and traditional knowledge into monitoring designs. Participatory or collaborative monitoring may be an effective way to meet NEPA requirements, for example. Once other stakeholders are involved, however, the spectrum of project goals may change according to their unique interests and motivations. Participation helps pool intellectual and physical resources and converts potentially adversarial relationships into mutually beneficial ones. Participatory monitoring is inherently collaborative in the sense that we choose to work together to reach common goals. Participation can be initiated and sponsored by land management agencies and organizations, community groups, resource users, government agencies, non-government organizations or special interest groups. In the literature cited and Appendix 1 we list a number of references and organizations that have materials on collaboration specific to their interests or situations. Often participation is described as a spectrum with differing levels of relative responsibility and control that are arranged in categories such as consultation, cooperation, collaboration, or co-learning; although each participant’s role often overlaps these categories and changes over time.

Although these guidelines (and the companion curriculum) are primarily designed for forest managers and scientists in the United States who wish to start participatory biological monitoring projects, or who would like to incorporate other participants into on-going projects, we believe that they will also be useful for community groups or other organizations that want to initiate their own participatory monitoring projects. Similarly, the guidelines also should be widely applicable to other forms of natural resource monitoring.

We discuss sampling designs and methods only to the extent that such topics pertain to involving participants. The first reason is that statistical considerations and the details of species and ecosystems must be tailored to the specific project and its context. Secondly, voluminous information exists on monitoring methods and statistical designs. Elzinga and others (2001) and Mueller and others (2004) are good examples. Third, most forest management organizations already have specialists on their staff or appropriate expertise can be obtained. Not all such experts, however, are familiar with how participants differ from employees in practical or logistical considerations, so reference to this manual will allow them to make better decisions about sampling designs and methods.

While preparing the guidelines, we encountered a wide array of pertinent and useful resources for designing participatory monitoring projects. Much can be learned from the numerous organizations that have complied syntheses of lessons-learned. We discuss the focus and applicability of each resource in our annotated Literature cited section and the Appendix of Organizations. The information available in these documents and on the organization web sites, however, usually differs from this manual in one or more of the following ways. Some are focused on helping community groups or other organizations (rather than managers) create their own monitoring projects. Some concentrate on sampling designs and methods for certain organisms or environmental conditions. Others concentrate on overseas sustainable development activities. In most instances, the participants, context, and monitoring goals are pre-defined. None of the other resources that we have encountered provide a generic, comprehensive, and broadly applicable “How-To” manual for managers to use in planning, implementing, documenting, and evaluating a participatory monitoring project. We hope the user will find these guidelines to be a versatile and useful tool that engage interested stakeholders in becoming participants, collaborators, or sponsors in projects that monitor the biological diversity of forests in the United States.

These guidelines also are accompanied by a teaching curriculum that training personnel can use to instruct managers on effective use of the manual for planning, implementing, documenting, and evaluating participatory monitoring projects.